The Abarth 500C is now available for nearly £1,000 less, thanks to the introduction of a five-speed manual gearbox. The robotised manual 'Competizione' transmission is still available.
Power comes from the same 135bhp engine but the change of transmission improves the quoted performance and economy figures. Top speed is now 128mph and 0-62mph takes 7.9 seconds (127mph and 8.1 seconds for the automatic). Combined cycle fuel consumption is 43.5mpg with emissions of 155g/km.
The rest of the specification remains the same; including seven airbags, torque transfer control (TTC) and Blue&Me hands free telecommunications system.
John Lambert - 4 Jul 2011