GTP Cool Wall: 2008+ Fiat 500 Abarth (US Spec)

2008+ Fiat 500 Abarth

  • Total voters
    92
  • Poll closed .
Uncool, the cutesy shape screams "chickmobile" to me, the only way to make it cool is if it came with a hot supermodel with a scorpion tattoo on the back of her neck who likes to play with whip cream.
 
homeforsummer
How is it not a hot hatch? It's a hatchback with significantly more power than the standard car - that makes it a hot hatch.
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The "in" term for these now is "baby" hot hatches. Like the Fiesta ST, 208 GTi, Corsa VXR etc. Superminis that are significantly more powerful than standard but are a size smaller than the traditional hot hatch.

At least that's the term they use here anyway...
 
homeforsummer
How is it not a hot hatch? It's a hatchback with significantly more power than the standard car - that makes it a hot hatch. It's not as powerful as a Focus ST say, but you can't really draw a line at power since it's going up all the time.
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Because TopGear said so :sly:
 
The most important thing to remember about the 500 is that any young man who goes to pick up his female date driving one will almost certainly have them squealing about how cute it is right from the off, which is a fairly good way for them to improve their chances of the rest of the date going well.

Last time I checked, wasn't this the traditional way to measure coolness?

Cute = cool.
 
Solid cool from me. I had a 500 Sport for 3 days, and it left me wanting to drive an Abarth. And the Abarth is probably heaps better than the Sport.
 
Think it's cool. Fun little car and it looks neat enough without being totally silly.
 
Murcie_LP640
The "in" term for these now is "baby" hot hatches. Like the Fiesta ST, 208 GTi, Corsa VXR etc. Superminis that are significantly more powerful than standard but are a size smaller than the traditional hot hatch.

At least that's the term they use here anyway...
Click to expand...
That makes sense, though obviously that still renders them hot hatches. There's pretty much always been two levels of hot hatchery, though over the past decade the game has moved so far on that even the baby ones now are as potent as the proper ones from back then.

Case in point, the 208 GTI, Fiesta ST, Clio RS etc all have 200hp. The first hot hatch to cross that (if I recall correctly) was the EP Civic Type R back in 2001, which at the time was considered pretty ridiculous.

Now, even stuff like that 500 Abarth has more power than the mid-90s top-level hatches like the Clio Williams. It's pretty crazy when you think of it. I like to think of the category as being fairly wide - I'd happily describe the Twingo Renaultsport as a hot hatch (having driven one, it's hard to argue that it isn't) and that "only" has 130 horsepower.
 
It's pretty broad nowadays, can range from stuff like Twingos and Swift Sports all the way up to way overpriced and overpowered stuff like RS3s and A45 AMGs that cost almost as much as sports saloons like RS4s and C63s.
 
I've seen 4 of these so far. Each and every time they were driven by either :
A) College girl(s)
B) A Mother reliving her youth as a teen
C) High School girl

See a pattern here ? Not that this is detrimental to the coolness of the car, but why are there only women driving these things ? Where are the guys at on this car ? Is it or is it not guy car as well ?

In my book, it is still a cool ride. I think it would be a blast to cruise around in one of these things. They look cool, have decent power for what it is (turbo adds to this), it's just an overall sharp looking, moderately powerful economy ride.
 
Nicksfix
I've seen 4 of these so far. Each and every time they were driven by either :
A) College girl(s)
B) A Mother reliving her youth as a teen
C) High School girl
Click to expand...

I've only seen men in them, to be honest. Not the regular 500, but the Abarth, yes. To the college girls and the high school girls that actually know how to drive a standard transmission, more power to them.
 
homeforsummer
That makes sense, though obviously that still renders them hot hatches. There's pretty much always been two levels of hot hatchery, though over the past decade the game has moved so far on that even the baby ones now are as potent as the proper ones from back then.

Case in point, the 208 GTI, Fiesta ST, Clio RS etc all have 200hp. The first hot hatch to cross that (if I recall correctly) was the EP Civic Type R back in 2001, which at the time was considered pretty ridiculous.

Now, even stuff like that 500 Abarth has more power than the mid-90s top-level hatches like the Clio Williams. It's pretty crazy when you think of it. I like to think of the category as being fairly wide - I'd happily describe the Twingo Renaultsport as a hot hatch (having driven one, it's hard to argue that it isn't) and that "only" has 130 horsepower.
Click to expand...

It's crazy to think about the power levels, yeah. An E46 M3 was a big deal a dozen years ago, now you can get a 335iS that'll match the horses and demolish the torque rating. A Camry 10 years ago made 70hp less than it does now, something like a 35% gain.

I think you're right about the Civic; I'd never count the old Lancia Delta as a real hot hatch, so it doesn't qualify, though there's the contentious issue of the Audi S3 (and possibly its stablemate, the Seat Leon Cupra, depending on when the 210ps version was released). I know hot hatches typically need to be driving only two wheels, not four, but if that's the case, then the new MB A-Class wouldn't be considered one either.

Anywho, voted cool. Too bad the car doesn't technically exist, since it definitely didn't make it over (and therefore into US-spec) until much later than 2008.
 
I gave it cool. They're quite common in here, and you can hear the turbo quite clearly over that lovely snarly sound.
 
Anyways, solid cool. Actually thinking about buying one, but not sold on the leg room just yet. It isn't bad, but it isn't great either.
 
Nicksfix
I've seen 4 of these so far. Each and every time they were driven by either :
A) College girl(s)
B) A Mother reliving her youth as a teen
C) High School girl

See a pattern here ? Not that this is detrimental to the coolness of the car, but why are there only women driving these things ? Where are the guys at on this car ? Is it or is it not guy car as well ?
Click to expand...

May not be. Looks obnoxiously cutesy to me, which is why I said Seriously Uncool.
 
Went with Sub-zero. It would've only been cool, but I saw one a few weeks ago and the sound that little thing puts out is so much nicer than I could have expected.
 
Retro styled Fiat wearing a badge that last meant something in Motorsport 40 years ago... uncool in multiple ways... it would be seriously uncool, but that would leave nowhere below it for the 'Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari'.
 
^ Don't forget the 'Tributo Maserati'

Meh. It sounds sweet, doesn't look too bad and has an Abarth badge. Unfortunately, pretty much every hot hatch on the market (in the U.S.) is faster and handles better.
 
It gets a 'cool' on the exhaust note alone from me. It's a great sounding little runabout that'll carve up corners, and all-in-all, the price isn't half bad either... Competitive in class, if a bit more expensive than the competition.
 
In and of itself may be a sporty/hot version of a little car, but it still has the image that it's driven by women. Cool if a girl drives it, uncool if a guy drives it.

It's like the New Beetle Turbo. It may be turbo, it may even be pretty fun, but it's still not cool because of its image.

Uncool.
 

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