L.A. Auto Show: 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth

17" wheels are optional.

A city car without option of automatic transmission is a huge mistake.

its not noticeable from these photographs, but the man showing off the car stands only 4 feet high.

I like the fact that it's manual only.

"A city car without option of automatic transmission is a huge mistake."

Can you get any model of the Fiat 500 with an automatic in Europe? (they have cities too)

its not really that light for 160 horse power. i doubt it will be faster than a mini cooper s

kyolml

Maybe not but it should be a lot cheaper.

It weighs the same as a Fit, think of it as the Fit Honda would have built if they still cared.

Pity no autoshift tranny like DSG, PDK or SMG, maybe later.

Looking good

I think I can see a "For Sale" sign appearing in the window of IL's long-term 500...

At least you aren't still claiming it's 135hp, but really, all you have to do is read the press release to know that the 17" wheels with summer tires are an option. IL's auto show coverage so far has been terrible :(

Don't e-diffs like this just cook the brakes on a track? With that and the weight this car was not all I had hoped it would be. If the price is right all will be forgiven, what I would expect to pay has been revised downward. It better start right at or under $20k.

Geez Josh, you are a credentialed professional automobile journalist and you didn't even ask the Fiat reps about the 17" wheels/tires?

Or you could have just read the official Fiat Press Release about the Abarth which explains nearly everything.

Then again, you don't read owner's manuals either! :-P

So you read the press release for the suspension part, but not for anything else? Piss poor reporting.

firstwagon

You must have missed the title L.A. Auto Show: 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth. Los Angeles. This is not the version to be sold in Europe.

It doesn't matter, his point is the same. Europeans deal with city traffic too, and yet somehow manual transmissions actually do work there.

Most of the time I'd rather have a manual with a well-sorted clutch than the horribly calibrated "crawl" in most automatic transmissions when I'm stuck in stop-and-go traffic.

"This is an all season car, all season tires make all the sense in the world."

This is a performance cars. All season tires give you lesser performance in all seasons. AS tires don't really work in the snow. If I lived some place that had seasons, I'd rather have two sets of tires that worked when they were applied then a single set that never really worked.

The Fiat 500 is an all season car, the Abarth is the performance version. It should come with performance tires. A 911 can be an all season car as well, but you wouldn't expect a 911GT3RS to come with anything less than road legal race tires. Same thing, just toned down several, several notches.

I can't believe they would offer this without an automatic. You can't holler about sales being low if you aren't willing to go mainstream, i.e. and automatic on a car at this level is a must.

M

I can't believe they would offer this without an automatic. You can't holler about sales being low if you aren't willing to go mainstream, i.e. and automatic on a car at this level is a must.

M

I'm looking at those 17" wheels, and remembered how awful the roads are in SoCal, so I'll take the 16s and put perf rubber on them.

I dont understand why people are complaining about a Abarth only coming in a manual transmission. Are you telling me that there is a massive market for this car in Automatic? I seriously doubt that. The standard 500 Sport is more then sufficent for normal drivers who are worried about driving around in traffic, which can be had with a auto. The Abarth is a driving enthusiasts car (altough I dissagree with the all season tire selection). Is the STi offered in Automatic? Is the GT500 offered in Automatic? Is the BMW 1 Series M Coupe offered in automatic? No. They are drivers cars. And I think that is the way it should be. It seriously bothers me that more and more cars are coming without a third pedal.

Personally I love this thing. I am seriously considering purchasing it once it arrives in the spring.

I hope that I am never forced to buy a car with an AT. However, I sympathize with those looking for one in this car since there are too many otherwise interesting cars out there saddled with only bore-o-matics. Anyway, this baby has a stinkin' 5MT. I thought it would come with a 6MT. What century are we in?

@joemt: what does the year/century have to do wtih anything? If the gears are spaced properly, five is plenty. My Z4 M Coupe (another manual-only M--division car) has 6 gears, and day-to-day I rarely go beyond 4th. I've done entire road trips going no more than 5th, depending on the traffic.

My other car is a Z3 Coupe with 5-speed, and I just use 5th for highway cruising. More gears for the sake of more gears makes no sense. With the proper ratios, the 500 Abarth should be fine.

I was excited about the Abarth, ever since seeing the commercial during the Super Bowl. After researching this car for a couple weeks, I was planning on purchasing one - UNTIL I FOUND OUT THERE IS NO AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION!

What a pity.