| By Neil Briscoe.
Dedicated cineastes will have noticed that the A-Team will very shortly be appearing on screens around the country (big silver ones this time, as opposed to small ones in your living room on a Saturday afternoon). That can only be a good thing. After all, no matter what the cribbing critics will say, the A-Team was an eighties high point of mindless, but harmless, fun. Loud, silly, and explosive, it slotted perfectly into that gap between playing in the garden and having dinner.
And another thing that's loud, silly and explosive is the Fiat Punto Abarth, tested here in 180bhp Essesse form. It's also a throwback, to the days when Carlo Abarth himself was a living legend, not to mention an engineering magician who could make tiny little Fiat 500s and 600s go like the clappers. A throwback also to the heady days of the eighties when the A-Team first ruled the airwaves and hot hatches were macho, fun and unapologetic.
The recipe for an Abarth Punto is pretty simple. Take the standard Punto (our test car was an older Grande Punto bodyshell but the current Abarth is based on the improved and updated Punto Evo) and stuff in a 165bhp 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine. Then, if you fancy, order the Essesse kit, which is essentially a bit of factory-licensed Max Power-ing. That boost power to a more muscular 180bhp, apparently without doing too much damage to the economy or emissions figures.
Of course, it helps that the Punto is a compact, tightly-dimensioned little thing. It's also flipping gorgeous in Abarth form. A realtively subtle bodykit swells out the arches and bumpers, blacked -out headlight surrounds make it look more menacing and the sexiest little set of 18' titanium grey alloys completes the mean and moody look. The only shame is that the new Punto Evo bodyshell is about 10% less handsome than the Giugiaro-designed Grande Punto. Just proof that you shouldn't mess with perfection.
Inside, it's all jet black, with only the light grey of the headlining to lighten the mood. The seats are terrific; deep buckets with seventies-style ribs that envelop you without pinching or squashing. The driving position is pretty good, with the lower-set seats making things more comfortable than the standard Punto Evo. The instruments looks neat, the surfaces are mostly well-finished and, as a good hot hatch should, it provides practical, useable space in the back seats and in the boot.
But you won't care about that. Not after you give that long-travel throttle pedal its first solid push to the carpet. You'll have to hold it there, momentarily, as there is a bit of (appropriate) old-school turbo lag, but when that little 180bhp mill gets pumping, the whole world starts going backwards in your mirrors. Objectively, 0-100kmh in 7.9secs isn't all that quick, and beaten by the likes of the Mini Cooper S Works and RenaultSport Clio 200, but it feels ballistic, all huffing turbo and midl torque steer.
The steering is actually much better than it is on the regular Punto, where it's too light and way too artificial. Here it's meatier and better weighted, if still ultimately pretty numb. But it's perfect for coaxing the Abarth into tight corners. Sorry, coaxing? More like Flinging. There's lots and lots of grip here, those 18-inchers gripping tenaciously to the tarmac. Again, the Mini and the Clio provide a slightly more sophisticated sensation, but the way the Abarth grips and goes, bouncing along on top of its stiff springs as it does so, is just very, very engaging.
And that pretty much sums it up. Yes, the RenaultSport solution to hot-hatchery is probably more sophisticated and more the purist route, but the noise, the styling, the bounciness and the sheer damn fun of the Abarth make it a much more enjoyable companion. It brims over with character in a way that we thought car makers had forgotten how to do, and it really does give off the feel of being less of a tarted-up Punto, and much more a mini Ferrari or Maserati.
The A-Team isn't going to be up for any Oscars next March; it'll be too silly and to busy blowing things up for that. But I'll be sitting there, munching my popcorn, laughing my head off at the silliness of it all and being thoroughly entertained. Sound familiar?
Facts & Figures
Fiat Punto Abarth
Price: POA
Capacity: 1,368cc
Power: 180bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Top speed: 213kmh
0-100kmh: 7.9sec
Economy: 6.0l-100km (47.0mpg)
CO2 emissions: 142g/km
VRT Band: C 20% VRT. €302 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 3-star child, 3-star pedestrian |
