Monday, March 12, 2012

2012 Fiat 500 Abarth (US Spec)

There has been an ongoing debate between car enthusiasts on the real joy of driving. Does the real joy of driving come from a high performance super/hyper car that you have to take to triple digits in order to appreciate, or does it come from driving the most out of an ordinary "civilian" car?

Sports cars in the US has generally been one extreme or another. They are either beefy, cheap muscle cars from Detriot or high end, highly refined German or Italian examples of the pinnacle of motoring. This debate doesn't have to go on for much longer. In Europe, there has always been a third category of cheap "hot hatches" that are finally making their way to the States.

There are benefits to being on the "right side" of the pond. The Fiat 500 Abarth we get in the states is actually more powerful than their counterparts in Europe, in addition, the car still gets a combined 31 miles per gallon. That is amazing!

Automobiles and gasoline has always been prohibitively expensive in Europe (and frankly the rest of the world) so consumers and auto companies that cater to them have adapted with "hot hatches" that provide the practicality of a people mover with the fuel economy of a hybrid along with the sporting performance of a  sports car, all in a package that costs about as much as a fully loaded Honda Civic or a base Honda Accord.

Let the games begin!

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