Launch report:

Abarth 500C

by David Finlay (21 July 2010)

When the Fiat 500C was launched in the summer of 2009 there was no suggestion that there would be an Abarth version. In fact, if anything Fiat seemed to be at pains to imply that such a thing was deeply unlikely, on the basis that the convertible version of the cute and popular 500 hatchback was strictly a style car rather than a sporting one.

A year on, here it is. On the face of it, the new car is simply a combination of the Fiat 500C and the Abarth 500, and if you read those articles you'll certainly have a pretty good idea of what the Abarth 500C is all about.

But not entirely, which is just as well because otherwise this article would already have come to an end, and I could justifiably be accused of getting money for old rope. The are several Abarth 500C-specific things to talk about, and if I pick a style-related one first it's because you can't discuss the 500 for long without referring to its looks.

Okay. One of the options for the 500C is a two-tone paint scheme which is not offered with the hatch. Why not? Because 90% of Abarth buyers are male, and we are altogether too busy and serious to bother over two-tone paint schemes. But if any Abarth is going to be a hit with the ladies, it's going to be this one, and as we know they are sufficiently fluffy to worry their pretty little heads over this sort of thing.

I'm not sure I buy this idea (which, you'll be pleased to hear, is not expressed by Abarth in quite those terms - I was exaggerating for comic effect, promise). To me the two-tone thing works brilliantly, and I think it improves the already splendid looks of the 500 whether the roof is retractable or fixed.

There are a couple of other differences to consider. First, the 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine in the 500C is slightly more powerful than the otherwise identical unit in the 500, with 140bhp rather than 135bhp, and that's simply to make up for the fact that the 500C is heavier because extra strengthening has had to be added to stop it shaking itself to bits.

According to the official performance figures, this has worked well. Top speed is 128mph for both cars, and the 500C is only 0.2 seconds slower from 0-62mph at 8.1 seconds. Combined fuel economy (43.5mpg) and CO2 emissions (151g/km) are only trivially different from those of the 500, though I'd expect the convertible to use more petrol in real life.

A much more significant difference is that, while the 500 uses a conventional manual gearbox, the 500C has an electronically-controlled one which removes the need for a clutch pedal and can act as a manual if you ask it to. There's no gearlever, only a collection of four buttons in the middle of the dash, and if you want to change gear yourself you have to do it using the paddles mounted behind the steering wheel.

Now, this is not one of those clever twin-clutch jobs which has already selected the next gear before you want it. Apart from the electronic control it's a plain ordinary manual, and that poses a problem. Nobody - not Alfa Romeo, not Citroen, not smart - nobody who has developed a system like this has ever been able to avoid making upward gearchanges feel desperately sluggish. Abarth hasn't managed it either, and I doubt that the thing can be done.

This is not in itself a reason to avoid buying a 500C. The plan is that in the near future the car will become available with a proper manual box (hurrah!) while the electronic one will be offered on the 500 hatch (boo!). So at least there is going to be a choice, though it's not one I would spend much time over.

Things I don't like about the 500 in general are that there is no specific resting place for your left foot, which isn't required to drive the car, the visibility is generally awful, and the steering wheel, amazingly for a car designed so recently, is not adjustable for reach. Call me shallow, but I'm less concerned about any of these things in the 500 than I would be in a less attractive-looking car.

To get back to the specific car under review, it feels pretty good on the road, though inevitably a bit wobblier than the hatch. A brief run on the slow but technically complicated Teesside Motorsport Complex test track showed that it handles better than I thought it would despite the extra weight and reduced body stiffness, though I have no doubt that an Abarth 500 hatch would be at least a second quicker.

The biggest problem with the car is that, as with the more modest Fiat versions, it's more than £3000 costlier than the equivalent hatch. The list price is £17,500, and I think you would really have to want one badly to be prepared to pay that much. On the other hand, if you love the looks, you want the extra performance (not available, or anything like it, on any of the Fiat-badged 500s) and you like convertibles, perhaps the cost is worth it.