Ciao Abarth Fans! Studio Fiat has 3 automatic Abarth on the way! A Bianco (White) one, a Granito Lucente (Granite Grey) hard top, and a Rosso (Red) hard top one! We have people asking about them, so put down a deposit and secure one. We know how much our drivers love taking the wheel of the FIAT® 500 Abarth, and now we’ve given drivers one more reason jump behind the wheel. For the upcoming 2015 Abarth & Abarth Cabrio models, we are happy to announce that we will be offering a six-speed automatic transmission option! And while you manual-maniacs out there will still be able to get the classic five-speed manual transmission, we think this new option will open up the wicked world of the Abarth to a whole new faction of drivers. Quick spin: 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth with new automatic Aaron Bragman, Cars Fiats plucky little 500 Abarth has gained a reputation among performance enthusiasts as a fun, snorty, raucous little hot hatch. With its 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder pumping 160 horsepower out of a specially tuned, snapping, popping, rasping exhaust system and its go-kart-like handling, its a monster on the track — and something of a monster on the street as well. Its mainly been an enthusiasts toy because its only been available with a five-speed manual transmission. But stick shifts are falling out of favor with U.S. buyers, so in the interest of expanding the Abarths appeal Fiat added a six-speed automatic transmission for 2015. I had an opportunity to drive the new automatic Abarth Cabrio at Chryslers Chelsea Proving Grounds in Michigan and it wont let enthusiasts down. The new 500 Abarth got a couple of other upgrades beyond the newly optional transmission, including a completely digital gauge cluster behind the steering wheel. Switch into Sport mode and it even reconfigures to show more performance-oriented information against a checkered-flag background. Sport mode also changes the shift pattern, power delivery and exhaust note, holding gears longer and keeping the 500 Abarth in a lower gear for more immediate response. The automatic is surprisingly good at knowing what gear the 500 Abarth needs to be in given its environment — I took the car on Chryslers road course handling track, a twisty loop of fast curves, a couple of long straights and one or two long sweepers, and it felt as composed and eager as the manual-transmission version. On a longer high-speed highway loop, the automatic felt smooth and calm, kicking down quickly for passing when necessary. I was actually more comfortable in the automatic than in the stick-shift car due to the fact that I could sit farther away from the steering wheel. Since there was no need to get close enough to fully depress the clutch, I was able to get into a more natural seating posture and could comfortably drive the car for a longer period of time.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 21:20:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015