Well after looking around for a while at various options for something a bit quicker than my 1.4 sport, I have test driven most things that would be comparable....ish to the Abarth 500. The one car missing from that test was the Abarth itself as there was no demo car at Arnold Clark when I enquired but the got a bunch of cars on Thursday and I was finally able to drive one yesterday.
Firstly, I know that Arnold Clark come in for a fair bit of stick in some circles (although my previous experiences have been positive) and as the only Abarth dealer in Scotland, I hoped the service would be good. Well no worries on that front. I dealt with John who was excellent and extremely knowledgable and arranged for one of his colleagues to take the test drive with me.
I hoped that the test drive would give me a range of roads and a decent run in the car. Again no worries on that front. Got a chance to go out north of Glasgow to Strathblane and on some excellent roads which would show off the handling very well. 30-40 minute test drive covering about 16+ miles which was great.
Ok, so onto the car. They had the car in various colours and for me personally I like the plain white. Funk white a bit too bling for my taste, red looks ok. Black looks mean as hell, very agressive looking. The gray I questioned at first as I had only seen an SS before with the white wheels which I didn't like. But with the 10 spoke 17's on the gray looks a different car and I quite like it.
Inside the car feels very familiar and nicely finished. Like the seats a lot, grippy but without resorting to massive bolsters on the sides. Love the steering wheel, slightly on the big side maybe but feels good. I do question the boost gauge a wee bit as it is in your sight line and I am not sure realistically how useful it is. Seating position is fine for me, a bit high for some maybe but as a bit of a short arse it suits me.
So to the drive, sport button was on all the way through so I am not sure how it drives with it off. Slow start through a bit of traffic and I was very impressed at slow speed, the suggestion that I have seen elsewhere that it is stiff and crashy in town on rougher roads confuses me as it felt well composed. Out towards the country I build some speed with very little effort, due to the torque that this engine has, all the way from just over 2000rpm it keeps pulling really well.
We get beyond a few of the small towns and I run into a couple of oldies. This is a disaster but one pulls over and the salesman tells me there is a straight beyond the next corner, so I drop to second and am able to plant the right foot out of the corner and boy does it fly, it absolutely took off and left the oldies almost out of sight in a matter of seconds. So along some twisty back roads next and the car is amazing, feels so composed in the corners, dives in and sits flat all the way through, I am very impressed indeed. I am driving it with a huge smile as it darts into the corners and shoots out very quickly indeed.
On the way back into springburn I get to have a bit of fun at the lights. Two forward lanes which merge to one and a Jag pulls alongside. Middle aged guy with his woman to impress and I hear him start to rev a bit wanting to impress the woman probably, so I do likewise and he forgets that despite his 3 litre engine his car probably weighs the best part of 2 tonnes. So i drop the clutch and leave him for dead, he probably hadn't noticed the scorpion badges I suspect, till I pulled in front of him that is.
So all in all a very impressive test of a cracking wee car. Leave me with an interesting decision to make but from all the test drives I have done so far I suspect the order that I would rank them is as follows:
1. Abarth 500 (Just)
2. Renaultsport Clio 200
3. Renaultsport Twingo 133
4. Alfa Mito (155)
5. Mitsubishi Colt (Ralliart)
So a couple of weeks to analyse everything now and make a final decision.
Firstly, I know that Arnold Clark come in for a fair bit of stick in some circles (although my previous experiences have been positive) and as the only Abarth dealer in Scotland, I hoped the service would be good. Well no worries on that front. I dealt with John who was excellent and extremely knowledgable and arranged for one of his colleagues to take the test drive with me.
I hoped that the test drive would give me a range of roads and a decent run in the car. Again no worries on that front. Got a chance to go out north of Glasgow to Strathblane and on some excellent roads which would show off the handling very well. 30-40 minute test drive covering about 16+ miles which was great.
Ok, so onto the car. They had the car in various colours and for me personally I like the plain white. Funk white a bit too bling for my taste, red looks ok. Black looks mean as hell, very agressive looking. The gray I questioned at first as I had only seen an SS before with the white wheels which I didn't like. But with the 10 spoke 17's on the gray looks a different car and I quite like it.
Inside the car feels very familiar and nicely finished. Like the seats a lot, grippy but without resorting to massive bolsters on the sides. Love the steering wheel, slightly on the big side maybe but feels good. I do question the boost gauge a wee bit as it is in your sight line and I am not sure realistically how useful it is. Seating position is fine for me, a bit high for some maybe but as a bit of a short arse it suits me.
So to the drive, sport button was on all the way through so I am not sure how it drives with it off. Slow start through a bit of traffic and I was very impressed at slow speed, the suggestion that I have seen elsewhere that it is stiff and crashy in town on rougher roads confuses me as it felt well composed. Out towards the country I build some speed with very little effort, due to the torque that this engine has, all the way from just over 2000rpm it keeps pulling really well.
We get beyond a few of the small towns and I run into a couple of oldies. This is a disaster but one pulls over and the salesman tells me there is a straight beyond the next corner, so I drop to second and am able to plant the right foot out of the corner and boy does it fly, it absolutely took off and left the oldies almost out of sight in a matter of seconds. So along some twisty back roads next and the car is amazing, feels so composed in the corners, dives in and sits flat all the way through, I am very impressed indeed. I am driving it with a huge smile as it darts into the corners and shoots out very quickly indeed.
On the way back into springburn I get to have a bit of fun at the lights. Two forward lanes which merge to one and a Jag pulls alongside. Middle aged guy with his woman to impress and I hear him start to rev a bit wanting to impress the woman probably, so I do likewise and he forgets that despite his 3 litre engine his car probably weighs the best part of 2 tonnes. So i drop the clutch and leave him for dead, he probably hadn't noticed the scorpion badges I suspect, till I pulled in front of him that is.
So all in all a very impressive test of a cracking wee car. Leave me with an interesting decision to make but from all the test drives I have done so far I suspect the order that I would rank them is as follows:
1. Abarth 500 (Just)
2. Renaultsport Clio 200
3. Renaultsport Twingo 133
4. Alfa Mito (155)
5. Mitsubishi Colt (Ralliart)
So a couple of weeks to analyse everything now and make a final decision.
