well me a mate (who is getting a grey A500) decided to take the abarth for a proper spin down some long country lanes, the road is very demanding and has numerous tight bends and bridges and long straights.
the weather was perfect, dry and cold so the engine was working perfectly, also with it being 1am there wasnt many cars about.
took a while to remember where to road was but then we found it, sport mode went on and so did the TTC, started to press on and WOW what an amazing car. i even managed to get it on 3 wheels on one of the really tight corners that i took abit fast, handled amazingly and was extremely repsonsive, the car just felt alive and like i was in 100% control, powering out of the some of the tight corners (dropping to 2nd) the front was pushing wide but not so much that it was unmanageable. suspension felt great (if a little bouncy at times) i also had to dodge a stray dog very quickly which the abarth handled brilliantly and just reacted like i wanted it to.
the torque coming out of a bend is a great feeling and i was changing at 4-5k noway near the 6k limit and it still felt quick.
now i had the clio 200 down this road and it felt very similar, the clio felt abit more planted round some of the fast swooping bends but the abarth was defiantly more fun than the 200 down this lane and felt alot more like i was in control and felt more responsive (due to its low weight), i couldnt keep the grin off my face, not often does a car make me say this but WOW.
little things like the pops and double pops from the exhaust when changing up at certain revs and the way the ttc pushes the front back in line make it a very very addictable car to drive.
lynden
