Mini hot hatch wins in power struggle

Abarth's 500e quells range anxiety, writes Julie Marshall

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In a rare stroke of luck rather than good judgment, our road test of the Abarth 500e cabriolet coincided with the start of the June heatwave in the UK.

The only snag was that a 450-mile round trip to Brighton was on the cards. Should we trust the electric Abarth and risk running out of power at a crucial moment or slum it in our elderly Fiat Punto without air conditioning?

The Abarth won out and after a bit of research as to likely 'fuel' stops off we went.