The Abarth 595 Competizione wearing the black and white dual-tone paint option.

Those of you who either grew up with the Pixar movie Cars or who have children who loved this movie probably agree with the concept of the video that certain cars seem to have a certain personality that is reminiscent of a particular type of person.  If you were to find the sort of person who would be best represented by the Abarth 595 Competizione, then the best one would be one of those little competitive gymnastics girls.  She may be small and she may be cute but she’s agile and she can seriously whip your butt if you mess with her (and will probably out-perform you when working out).

That’s pretty much the Abarth 595 Competizione in a nutshell.  There’s no denying that this is a very cute looking car.  Who could resist the appeal of those rounded headlights in combination with the equally doe-eyed front fog lights and daytime running lights?  The overall body styling is sweet and chubby-cheeked, rather like the original Fiat 500 that it’s based on.  If you go for one of the two-toned paint options available (black and dark grey, black and light grey, black and blue, black and white or black and red) (I love the red accent on the black and white version), the Abarth 595 Competizione looks even cuter and more diminutive.  However, there are those little telltale signs that let you know that this is not a three-door sports hatchback to be trifled with – things like the red callipers on the Brembo brakes at the front, the 17-inch alloy wheels, the dual mode Monza quad-tipped exhaust and the roof spoiler (to say nothing of the Abarth badging).

On the road, the Abarth 595 Competizione is certainly agile enough to warrant the comparison with a gymnast.  OK, it might not be able to do back flips, handsprings, flick-flacks and other acrobatics – but I don’t think anyone would really want a car to be able to do this. However, the front and rear adaptive suspension with KONI frequency selective damping gives the Abarth 595 Competizione all the nimbleness you need around the corners, especially when you select the sports setting via the drive mode selection button.  (Come to think of it, I know a few gymnasts and acrobats who wished that they came with suspension and shock absorbers even half as good as the McPherson with anti-roll bar on the front and the torsion beam with anti-roll bar on the rear of the Abarth 595 Competizione.)

The really fun part of the Abarth 595 Competizione that makes all the difference and stops this hatch being merely cute and fun – although it is both of those – is what’s underneath the hood.  The Abarth 595 Competizione boasts a zesty 1.4-L turbo petrol (inline 4, 16 cylinders, multiport fuel injection). This unit may be small but thanks to the Garrett turbocharger, it’s capable of delivering a fiery 132 kW of power and a generous 250 Nm of torque at 3000 rpm that are capable of gunning the Abarth 595 Competizione from nought to one hundred km/h in an impressive little 6.7 seconds for the five-speed manual (6.9 seconds for the Dualogic automatic transmission).

The interior of the Abarth 595 Competizione is what really speaks volumes about this hatchback’s sporting heritage. The leather-trimmed sports seats are just the start. The aluminium trim on the gear knob and the sports pedals nicely complement the carbon fibre accents in the leather-wrapped multifunction sports steering wheel.  The steering wheel has been styled shape-wise with a flattened bottom to make it look and feel like a real racing car. If you get a Abarth 595 Competizione with the Dualogic automatic transmission, you’ll also get paddle shifters (of course).

Overseas model shown.

The Abarth 595 Competizione is all about having fun when you’re driving, so the bells and whistles have been pared back to a minimum. The driver and passengers (a maximum of three passengers) get to enjoy a pretty good sound system that has full Bluetooth audio/phone connectivity as well as USB and AUX input – and the driver can operate the volume, etc. with the steering wheel mounted controls. The information about what’s playing is displayed on a 5-inch colour screen, which also displays the navigation information, which comes as standard.  Driver aids come in the form of an electronic stability package and rear parking sensors; the assumption is that if you drive the Abarth 595 Competizione, you know what you’re doing behind the wheel and enjoy it, so you don’t need all the other assistance hoo-hah that you find in other cars.  The privacy glass helps keep things cool and shady, as does the automatic climate control system.  The Abarth 595 Competizione has the full range of airbags (driver, passenger, knee, side curtain and side head), as well as pretensioned load-limited seatbelts in the front. While your Abarth 595 Competizione is not your typical family car, it still has ISOFIX child seat preparation in the rear seats.

It may be one of the newer releases from Fiat/Abarth at the time of writing, but I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if the Abarth 595 Competizione was made into the star of one of those Herbie-style car movies, as this is a car with real personality as well as plenty of poise and pep.

Current model series include:

• Abarth 595 Competizione

For any more information on the Abarth 595 Competizione, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Abarth and Fiat dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!