► We drive Abarth’s new pocket rocket
► 42kWh battery, £34k, 7.0sec 0-62mph
► Loadsa torque + controversial noise
Abarth’s head of design, François Leboine, reckons the Abarth 500e is like a tennis ball. An explosion of vivid colour bouncing, ricocheting and generally getting to its destination very quickly and with minimal effort.
Stellantis leading man Carlos Tavares goes even further, saying that it’s ‘better than a (Abarth) 695 to drive’.
On paper it looks like the two men agree with each other. But in fact, the designer is correct and the boss is wrong. Still, we’ll give you a spoiler here: it made our list of the best electric hot hatches.
Tell us more about the 2024 Abarth 500e
It’s pretty easy to understand. This is Abarth’s version of the Fiat 500e city car. It shares the same battery (42kWh) and motor, but ups the power by 35bhp (to 152bhp) and torque by 11 lb ft when compared with the regular 500.
There’s a new fixed gear ratio (from 9.6 to 10.2) for a different balance of acceleration and top speed compared with the 500. Official range drops to 164 miles, compared with 199 from the Cinquecento. While the maximum charging speed is the same at 85kW, meaning a 35-minute charge time from a rapid plug.
The 0-62mph time (7.0sec) is around a second slower than an Abarth 695. But it’s ‘quicker where it matters’ according to Abarth. Specifically a second quicker from 20-40kph and from 40-60kph.
It also benefits from new springs, shocks and disc brakes all round. There’s also an intriguing sound generator.
Sound generator?
Sound is one of Abarth’s four brand pillars. So it’s important. ICE Abarths pop and bang obnoxiously, but the fake noise reverberating from the rear-mounted subwoofer in the 500e is more muted. On start-up it sounds sweet enough, but it soon fizzes out as the speed increases. It becomes a bit of a drone at motorway speed.
Confusingly you’ll have to wade through eight different sub menus on the driver’s binnacle to access it and you can’t make changes once you’re moving. Which is unfortunate as we can imagine a scenario where you might like to do the slow part of your commute with a bit of enhanced noise but turn it off the motorway slog.
What’s the inside like?
It’s much like a regular 500. So the boot is quite deep but not that wide, the rear seats aren’t all that useful, but up front there’s more than enough room for two large adults not to bump elbows.
In other words, it works fine as a city car. The materials are good too. There are a few cheap plastics and we’ve broken the door release on a Maserati Grecale that uses the same buttons, but apart from that it’s fine. The dark interior contrasts the shiny, lairy paintwork.
How does it drive?
It’s remarkably grown up. The ride is composed and especially comfortable around town speeds and it’s easy to drive quickly too. The steering is light but with plenty of feel and feedback is quite analogue considering how modern the car is. At 1,440kg it’s still a bit of a porker and it feels heavier on its toes than ICE hot-hatches. But it definitely feels sharper than semi-hot EV hatchbacks, such as the, admittedly larger, Cupra Born.
The braking, aided by discs all round, quite unusual for a cheap-ish electric car, is spot on. You’re never left wondering how much pressure to apply and there’s no shuddering or weird regen feeling. One pedal driving turns the regen up, allowing the car to slow without touching the brakes.
Turismo is the lightest of driving modes. This turns power down in order to help eke out range. Scorpion street turns the power up to full, while Scorpion Track turns off the one pedal driving.
Compared with a 695 the seating position is spot on. You sit low and the steering wheel is not too large, with a good view of the instrument binnacle.
It just feels like it could do with another 50bhp. Sure, there’s no getting round that heft of torque out of low speed corners. But it begins to run out of puff before 60mph. Perhaps that final ratio could increase even more. Surely no Abarth buyer would mind a sub 90mph top speed in favour of a racier 0-62mph time?
Verdict
Abarth reckons it has three main buyers. Traditional pistonheads, well-heeled city types and gamers. The last group can buy a car all within the safe confines of the metaverse, the affluent elite have something pointy and great at low speeds, but the traditional pistonheads, well, they’re left wanting a bit. Better than a 695, Carlos? Not quite.
Here’s looking at you, Alpine. Your A290β has the unenviable task of creating the first EV hot-hatch.