Cars Auto Review

Looking car this the impatient driver in the Mercedes-Benz E-class never had a chance. While driving the new Fiat 500 Abarth along the A13 autoroute just outside of Paris, we somehow missed the sign indicating the speed limit had jumped far above our current pace. Suddenly, the big German luxury sedan was looming in the rear window, its three-pointed star only inches from our rear bumper. The polite thing to do would be to move over and make way, but the 135-hp Abarth does not take kindly to being bossed around.

 A quick gearchange from the five-speed manual transmission elicited a bark from the Fiats little turbocharged-and-intercooled 1.4-liter four-cylinder, and the car shot down the road. In a couple seconds, the Benz became a tiny speck in the rearview mirror. Although its size is deceiving, the Fiat 500 Abarth is a full-blooded Italian sports car in a small-car package.