WHEN Fiat refreshed its funky 500 city-car range last year, the Italian car-maker took the opportunity to re-jig its performance-orientated Abarth line-up too.

Gone is the former top-spec Abarth 500 Esseesse, replaced with the mechanically identical – and more importantly, cheaper – Abarth 595, available in two different flavours, Turismo and Competizione.

The Turismo is now the entry-level variant, retaining all the go-fast goodies from the Abarth 500, and the Competizione adds racing bucket seats, a specially-tuned exhaust and it is available with a drop-top, tested here.

With a butched up bodykit, bigger wheels, beefier brakes, an eager 1.4-litre turbocharged motor and a crackling exhaust note, the Abarth 595 sure looks and sounds like a proper hot hatch, but can it find a place in the already hugely diverse and fiercely competitive market?

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