2013 Fiat 500C Abarth

An alfresco flyweight with a steroid habit.

6

26

TESTED

Describing Fiat’s 500C convertible as a scalped 500 might be disingenuous, but calling out the 500C Abarth as an Abarth coupe minus its roof sure isn’t. In fact, it’s probably a compliment. The hardtop’s peppy turbo four, spicy suspension setup, and mighty-mite looks nearly guarantee a modicum of fun. To see how mixing the 500C’s sliding roof—it peels back like a sardine can lid, leaving the roof rails, doors, and side glass in place—with the Abarth goods worked out, we snatched up one for a test.

Fun to Drive, Scrappy Styling

Like the coupe’s, the 500C’s compact dimensions, light curb weight (2596 pounds, which is 51 pounds heavier than the last coupe we tested), 160 horsepower, and 170 lb-ft of torque make it a great urban assault vehicle. The Volkswagen GTI and the Ford Focus ST are quicker and larger, but the feisty Abarth outmatches them in maneuverability. Fittingly, it excels more at dicing in and out of traffic than carving up a back road; the minuscule wheelbase and the tall body make for nervous behavior on long sweepers or under hard braking.

Right-angle urban corners, however, are handled with aplomb, and the skilled pilot can coax the Abarth’s little butt into oversteer with judicious trail-braking. Greenies will like that the 500C sipped a gallon of premium every 26 miles during our (largely flat-footed) test. Enthusiasts will enjoy the vigorous turbocharged 1.4-liter four and smooth-shifting five-speed manual that returned a 7.3-second 0-to-60 time in our testing, trailing the coupe’s performance by 0.4 second. Torque steer is manageable, and for giggles, tiny, narrow burnouts are an extended push of the “ESC Off” button and a quick clutch drop away.

Forget Opera—This Is the Soundtrack of Italy

The little Fiats are becoming a more ubiquitous sight, but our tester—decked out with Rosso Red paint, optional black-painted 17-inch wheels, and black side stripes and mirror caps—turned heads. More likely, much of that interest stemmed from the Abarth’s exhaust note that, as in the coupe, pours from dual outlets at a borderline-illegal volume. A melody of pops, fizzles, and burbles is occasionally joined by a backfire that sounds like a gunshot. Cool.

The aural wick can be cranked higher by lowering the two-stage top with the header-mounted button. First, only the horizontal portion of the cloth roof opens; a second tap lowers the lid completely. The folded-up roof places rear visibility at a premium; raised, the top’s thick C-pillars and gun-slit rear window further diminish the view aft. Curiously, raising the roof requires three button presses. The first press returns the lid to just above the C-pillar, leaving a panoramic opening above; the second press brings the roof to within a foot of the header, leaving a sunroof-sized opening. Closing it all the way necessitates pressing and holding the button, most likely to keep lawyers happy and appendages from getting pinched. Despite keeping its roof rails and full-frame doors, the Abarth still suffers minor cowl shake over rough roads, thanks to the stiff suspension and less-stiff econobox structure.

Other niggles include a top-speed governor that cuts in around 90 mph when the top is lowered (top up, it’s good for 131), a blustery cabin top-down, a slightly cheap-feeling (but stylish) interior, a small trunk, and a driving position that continues to frustrate longer-legged North American drivers. (As in other 500s—and old Ferraris!—the pedals are too close, and the nontelescoping steering wheel is a reach for most drivers.) Our Abarth’s $31,100 as-tested price is kind of expensive and is similar to that of a larger Volkswagen Beetle Turbo we recently sampled. A number of bigger sporty droptops are available for that sum, including a V-6 Ford Mustang, Mini Cooper S, and Mazda MX-5 Miata.

Even so, losing the $350 stickers and mirror caps, $1000 leather seats, $700 Beats Audio system, $650 Comfort and Convenience package (heated seats, automatic climate control, and XM satellite radio), and $500 portable TomTom navigation system our test car came with would make things more palatable. For vanity’s sake, we’d keep the $1200 17-inch wheels. Stick close to the car’s $26,700 base price, and its excited-puppy virtues might outshine its eccentricities, at least to buyers seeking originality and fun.