ABARTH 600e

Our new hot hatch is fast, but has a sting in its tail

- Ellis Hyde

I WAS among the first people to drive the Abarth 600e when it was launched late last year, and I came away from the experience with a huge amount of respect for this cartoonishly evil-looking electric hot hatch and the engineers who created it.

It may use the same platform as run-of-the-mill family cars including the Vauxhall Mokka and, of course, the Fiat 600, but around Abarth’s test track in Balocco, Italy, the car felt genuinely agile and responsive. Not to mention capable of enduring the punishment my colleagues and I inflicted while trying to push the Abarth EV to its limit.

However, as impressive as its ability and fortitude on track were, I wasn’t sure the Abarth 600e was practical or refined enough to be the kind of hot hatch you would want to live with day-to-day. But now I have the chance to find out, because I'll be running this Hypnotic Purple beast for the next six months.

Abarth has been making go-faster versions of Fiat cars for 76 years, and threw all its hot-hatch know-how at the 600e. So there’s a mechanical limited-slip differential, a new brake system, stiffer suspension and anti-roll bars. Plus the car’s track has been widened by 30mm up front and 25mm on the rear, and its 20-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres.