We know Abarth's tuned Fiat 500 is fun to drive in Italt, but does it have what it takes to handle UK toads? hen it comes to the Fiat 500 I blow hot and cold. Part of me applauds Fiat's nouse for setting its sights on a market segment and then designing and marketing a product that so perfectly fits it. I just wish it drove with the same flair and enthusiasm Fiat invested in the aesthetics. But now there could be a 500 to win me over, one that swaps its Fiat badges for those of revitalised tuning brand Abarth. The 500 follows briskly on the heels of the Abarth Punto, a car good enough to banish the memory of some dubious Abarth-badged Fiats and rekindle the character of Carlo Abarth's original creations. And when we first sampled the Abarth 500 last July, the signs looked equally promising. But that was on home ground at Fiat's Boloceo test track, a notoriously flattering venue. Today will be a much tougher test, on some of Wiltshire's most challenging roads, and in the trickiest of conditions, with a mixture of snow, mud and damp patches. If the Abarth 500 can cut it today it'll have me convinced.
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