Well, I went to pick up my standard Abarth 500 yesterday and whilst I was there the dealer offered me the keys to the first 500 SS in Holland and said enjoy myself.... so I did!

The car already had 15000km on it and so once the engine was warm I was able to give it full beans without hesitation.

The extra power in 2nd and 3rd gears is immediately noticable, a real step up from the normal Abarth.  When the time comes to scrub off the speed the brakes are great - having only done 300km in my Abarth, I cant say how much better the SS ones are, but they certainly inspire a lot of confidence and have heaps of feel.

This car was sitting on the 'gunmetal' rims, which I think work better than the white ones.  The only disappointment was that the exhaust is not upgraded... however the dealer is importing manifold back full stainless steel systems for about 800 euros.

I will be fitting an SS kit in about 6 months time, probably via a UK dealer and before then the nice exhaust..... so watch this space!!

A couple of pics of the SS, and one cheeky snap of my new toy

Lucky man, that sounds like a lot of miles already on that demo car.

Tomcat, you dont really beleieve what journalists write do you? (Alex dont ban me!! )
I cant find the article now but I remember when all the journos were saying that the ESP was too intusive on the G.P.
Abarth then gave the car to Alam Prost (who can really drive) and guess what? He said the ESP didn't flash once in the laps he did. Just goes to prove that the ESP only came on when you got into trouble.
As far as the steering goes, I drive an Abarth every day and sure its different to pnumatic steering but he says which setup is better? By stiffening the steering with sport mode, it helps prevent oversteer. If your reading this richbrowne, your input would be good as its unbiased.
If the ride of the 500 is similar to the G.P. then its no way too stiff.

I can understand the "crashy" comment.That will happen with any car where the travel of the shock absorber hsa been shortened. Its just the nature of the beast. Still if you want to go around a corner quickly then thats the price you will pay.

Tomcat, you dont really beleieve what journalists write do you? (Alex dont ban me!! )
I cant find the article now but I remember when all the journos were saying that the ESP was too intusive on the G.P.
Abarth then gave the car to Alam Prost (who can really drive) and guess what? He said the ESP didn't flash once in the laps he did. Just goes to prove that the ESP only came on when you got into trouble.
As far as the steering goes, I drive an Abarth every day and sure its different to pnumatic steering but he says which setup is better? By stiffening the steering with sport mode, it helps prevent oversteer. If your reading this richbrowne, your input would be good as its unbiased.
If the ride of the 500 is similar to the G.P. then its no way too stiff.

Hi John,
I would say that the steering in Sport mode felt just about right with good feel. Regarding the ESP system, I seem to remember it only came on during my EsseEsse test drive when I was pushing fairly hard into a fairly sharp right turn that induced understeer and it certainly didn't seem intrusive (I remember focusing on the road and not the gauges though ). I would have to drive the car quite a bit more to be sure as one test drive does not provide the full feel of a car to really appreciate the chassis, but I was impressed! The suspension settings on the GP EsseEsse seemed fine, however my only recent comparison is my 911 993 S and that is substantially stiffer, as expected, but that's not really a fair comparison.

I'm really looking forward to driving the 500 Abarth; any news yet John?


Rich.

Watch this space. May not be too much longer

Okay, thanks John.