{"id":359574,"date":"2010-02-24T13:28:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T18:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2010\/02\/24\/abarth-500c-punto-evo-geneva-preview\/"},"modified":"2010-02-24T13:28:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T18:28:00","slug":"geneva-preview-abarth-500c-and-punto-evo-are-pocket-rockets-wed-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/359574","title":{"rendered":"Geneva Preview: Abarth 500C and Punto Evo are pocket rockets we’d welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filed under: Convertible<\/a>, Performance<\/a>, Geneva Motor Show<\/a>, Europe<\/a>, Hatchback<\/a>, Fiat<\/a><\/p>\n

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Abarth 500C (above) and Punto Evo (below right) – Click either for high-res image galleries<\/small><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

\nFiat<\/a>‘s plucky Abarth<\/a> performance division manages to do a whole lot with very little. The in-house tuning garage has based their entire lineup on two Fiat hatchbacks: the Punto and the 500. So when Fiat rolled out new versions of both, it was only a matter of time until Abarth got their hands on them, and both are slated to make their debut at the fast-approaching Geneva Motor Show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First up is the 500C<\/a>. The pseudo-convertible version of the popular (and soon to be U.S.-bound) retro mini, the 500C features a retractable roof section sliding between solid roof rails. The base Fiat version is doubtlessly a fun ride, but doesn’t look much like a performance driving tool. Abarth, however, seems to have done a lot to rectify that shortcoming. First, the goods: a \"\"<\/a>140-horsepower 1.4-liter turbo four mated to a five-speed robotized manual, complete with paddleshifters, drive the hot open hatch to 62 miles-per-hour in 7.9 seconds. Complementing the added oomph are bigger wheels and brakes, a sportier suspension, an aggressive body kit and a two-tone paint scheme that, to our eyes, does the shape some big favors in the attitude department.<\/p>\n

The second model starts with the new Punto Evo<\/a> – a recently revised version<\/a> of Fiat’s bread-and-butter hatchback – and gives it a shot of adrenaline, courtesy of a 165-hp 1.4-liter turbocharged MultiAir four. A 178-hp Esse-Esse version of the Abarth Punto Evo will be available from launch as well, but buyers looking for the added boost in retro-cabrio form will presumably have to wait a little longer for the Abarth 500C Esse-Esse to come along. Press release after the jump, and images in the galleries below.<\/p>\n

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Gallery: Abarth 500C<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Gallery: Abarth Punto Evo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n[Source: Abarth]<\/p>\n

Continue reading Geneva Preview: Abarth 500C and Punto Evo are pocket rockets we’d welcome<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Geneva Preview: Abarth 500C and Punto Evo are pocket rockets we’d welcome<\/a> originally appeared on Autoblog<\/a> on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Permalink<\/a> | Email this<\/a> | Comments<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Europe, Hatchback, Fiat Abarth 500C (above) and Punto Evo (below right) – Click either for high-res image galleries Fiat‘s plucky Abarth performance division manages to do a whole lot with very little. The in-house tuning garage has based their entire lineup on two Fiat hatchbacks: the Punto and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}