Abarth 695C Turismo Fast Fleet test – 10,000 miles in the Italian hot hatch

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to form much of a bond with the Abarth. Yes, I love hot hatches, and yes, I liked the idea of a fizzy little car with a snorty engine and a manual gearbox, but previous short-term exposure to an Abarth saw me struggle to get beyond the church-pew driving position and slow steering.

Fast forward six months and in the immediate wake of its return to Abarth UK I can tell you my predictions of a rather lukewarm Fast Fleet experience proved to be considerably wide of the mark. Truth is, I miss it.

RE23 TGX arrived at evo having served a short spell on the Abarth press fleet. It wore those early miles well, retaining enough of that satisfying box-freshness for it to feel like ‘my’ car, which is always a good start to a long-term loan. I didn’t have that new-car fizz of excitement ahead of its arrival, but looking back, my main problem was a hatchback 695 Competizione would have been my first choice, not the soft-top 695C in Turismo spec. Even my hairdresser took the piss, but by the end of the loan I’d got over the image problem, and even came to enjoy it.

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The turbocharged 1.4-litre engine was central to the Abarth’s infectious appeal. Boosty in an old-school way, and accompanied by a raspy exhaust note, it gave the 695 its rowdy character and was a reliable source of amusement on every trip. With 178bhp and a generous 184lb ft of torque it made for rapid progress and a surprising turn of speed. I won’t commit its natural cruising speed to print, but all I’ll say is underestimate a 695 at your peril.

Sport mode became my default as it pepped-up the powertrain and added some weight to the steering. A little too much weight actually, but I still preferred it to the overly light feel in Normal mode. Sport also unleashed what can only be described as a proudly flatulent exhaust note. The parrps and fwaarrps as it hit boost were a bit Whoopee Cushion, but being a child I enjoyed playing tunes with the throttle. Mrs M was less amused.

Chassis-wise the Abarth was flawed but fun. Never less than choppy, the ride could be crashy at low speed and get a bit lively at speed on awkwardly spaced undulations. Still for the most part it was an amusing thing to thread down the road. I learned to work with the available grip and traction so as not to lean too heavily into the ESC, which was non-switchable and lacking in nuance.

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Considering its small size and wheel-at-each-corner stance it should have been really chuckable, but the balance was resolutely nose-led, which was a shame. There’s a rough-and-tumble hot hatch in there somewhere, but it would take some work to find and hone it.

The 695 found its groove on faster and more open roads. Being small means more road to play with, while the generous torque meant you could slot a high gear and enjoy the surprisingly big-hearted performance. I never had the chance to put the 695’s claimed 140mph top speed to the test (though I did make a nuisance of myself at one of evo’s Bedford Autodrome track evenings), but I reckon it would have given it a good go.

It certainly made a much better fist of long journeys than you might expect, although fuel economy always seemed to hover in the mid-to-late 30s. That’s good by evo standards, but thirsty for a small, light car. For comparison my ST200 Fiesta will easily do 43mpg on a motorway run.

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The driving position took a while to adapt to, but it eventually ceased to be an issue. The seats themselves didn’t offer a great deal of support but proved surprisingly comfortable. Room in the rear was limited, and the roll-back roof restricted boot space and access. It was often easier to roll the roof right back and place large cases on the rear seat.

The roof itself was impressively slick, with three pre-set stages of retraction. Finding the sweet spot where buffeting was minimised could be tricky, and it did look a bit pram-like with the top fully rolled back, but some of the most enjoyable drives I had were with the roof open. It’d still have preferred a Competizione hatchback, but concede the cabrio had its moments.

At £32k the 695C seemed like a lot of money to me, especially as the Fiat 500 base car is so cheap-and-cheerful. The build quality was pretty good and equipment levels generous, but the interior’s hard plastics were a bit low-rent. Alcantara and carbonfibre injected a sporty vibe, and the big boost gauge was amusing.

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What I came to like most about the Abarth was its simplicity and honesty. I can’t tell you how liberating it was to spend six months with a car that had no bings and bongs, nor a phantom (and clearly deranged) driver tugging at the steering wheel. I also loved the manual transmission and having an actual handbrake lever. You didn’t even need to depress the clutch to start it. There’s a lot to be said for driving as it used to be.

It wasn’t perfect by any means, as reflected by our honest 3.5-star rating, but the 695 and I became 5-star friends. It wasn’t big or flashy, but the Abarth managed to inject a bit of harmless fun into every journey. God knows we could all do with a bit of that.

This story first featured in evo issue 327.