MODEL ON TEST: SCORPIONISSIMA – MILEAGE – 5,825
Having lived with the Abarth 500e Turismo for the last six months, I’m very pleased to say that its spot in my parking bay is now being filled by its bigger brother, the 600e. It’s in the same eye-catching shade of Acid Green (although, interestingly, it looks greener on the bigger car, the 500e always looked yellower), and much about it is familiar so the learning curve won’t be too steep. It’s got a couple more doors, a jot more range, a bit more power… well, actually, a lot more power. We’re talking 278bhp here. Anyone who grew up playing Gran Turismo on the PS1 will know the gentleman’s-agreement 276bhp figure was the preserve of all the very coolest cars – the Nissan Skyline GT-R, the Toyota Supra Twin-Turbo, the Honda NSX… and here’s that much grunt wrapped up in a shape that can comfortably accommodate the whole family and a decent(ish) amount of luggage. What a time to be alive.
The specification list of this car is really impressive too.The 600e in entry- level specification comes with 237bhp, which is a heck of a lot anyway, but this one is in the fancier Scorpionissima specification; as well as the extra power, it’s got a limited slip differential, Alcon brakes, Sabelt bucket seats, and
of course the entertainingly silly noise generator (which, yes, you can switch off). And beyond the performance-oriented bells and whistles, there’s a lengthy list of stuff to make for pleasant everyday living; this car is equipped with the winter pack (handy, since it’s winter) which includes heated front seats and a heated windscreen, and there’s also adaptive cruise control, Apple CarPlay and integrated nav, passive entry and keyless go, a wireless phone charger, and a whole bunch of other neat toys. Naturally they’ve gone hard on the gimmicks too – the big flappy thing in the centre console that covers the cubbyhole is a bit weird, I’m not sure anyone needs ‘velour floor mats’ (how will they cope with wet and muddy shoes? Time will tell…), and I’ve never been a fan of electrically powered tailgates, that feels like a whole load of motors and wiring to solve a problem that didn’t exist. But hey, it’s not all about me. People expect convenience as much as they expect quirkiness, so you can see why Abarth would shoot for mass appeal. Ah yes, and it’s the silliness that makesit shine, of course. If you’re going to offer
a car in a colour as bananas as this (the other option is a rather delicious purple), you don’t want the thing to be a shrinking violet.This is a car that boasts about its sporting prowess, with massive ABARTH graphics down the sides and a squared-off tailgate spoiler that supposedly evokes the propped-open engine lids of the diminutive Abarth race cars of yore. My kids are absolutely delighted that it’s got Scorpion logos everywhere – the 500e did as well, and they were keen to point out that they’re not actually scorpions, they’re lobsters, and they adored the little lobster car. When an even bigger lobster car arrived, this was reason to celebrate indeed.
Now, I’ve sat down to write this update before actually driving the 600e very much, and that’s deliberate. When it arrived, I sat in it to pair my phone with the car and get the seat nicely adjusted where I want it, and then I drove it a few miles down the road just to get used to the positions of all the controls and what-have-you, but I want to start here with a clean perspective. I’ve spent the last six months living with
the 500e Turismo and, as I waxed lyrical at length last month, I thoroughly enjoyed living with it – it was a fantastic little car that was great fun to drive every day; yes, there were a handful of niggles and irritations, but nothing that detracted from the overall experience.
So, that little car has left some big shoes to fill. How will the 600e measure up? Well, my first impressions are that while there’s much about the two that is the same, there are some core differences. On that first little drive, the driver aids are immediately more intrusive; the 500e had a foible whereby it would sometimes spot a speed limit sign on a side road and think that it applied to the road you were driving on, so you could be doing 50mph perfectly legally on a dual carriageway but the dashboard is flashing at you to slow down because it thinks you should be doing 30.And the 600e does this too,but it also very loudly and insistently beeps at you until you slow down.Thankfully,there’s a prominent shortcut button to the menu where you can switch that off.
Another thing is that it doesn’t remember which drive mode you left it in when you restart.With the 500e,I always drove it in Track mode because, hey, I never grew up, and the car would remember that – but the 600e defaults back to Street mode every time. Not really an issue, just an observation.
However, it’s pleasing to note that the 600e does also have proper manual heater controls, the cabin is a high- quality affair, the quirky design inside and out looks completely fabulous, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what this car is like to live with.The extra range will be handy, more room for the kids is a big bonus, and… two hundred and seventy eight horsepower.Yes, I think this might well be very good indeed.
DANIEL BEVIS
WHAT’S HOT: Outstanding specification, and it looks fabulous.
WHAT’S NOT: The traffic sign recognition can nag erroneously.
STANDARD EQUIPMENT: 7-inch digital instruments, 20-inch alloy wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport EV 225/40 R20 tyres and tyre repair kit, 40/60 split/fold rear seats, 180-degree reversing camera, Abarth Green front brake calipers, Adaptive cruise control with stop and go, Alarm system, Aluminium pedals and footrest, Anti-lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution and brake assist, Auto- dimming rear-view mirror, Automatic headlights, Autonomous emergency braking with vulnerable user protection, Blind spot detection, Climate control, DAB radio with 10.25-inch touchscreen, navigation system with 6-speakers, USB-C sockets, voice control and steering wheel controls, Drive mode selector, Driver drowsiness detection, Driver, passenger, side, and head airbags with passenger side de-activation, Electric and heated mirrors with power folding, Electric driver’s seat, Electric park brake, Electric rear tailgate, Electric windows front and rear, Electronic stability programme with traction control, Emergency e-call system, Front, side and rear parking sensors, Heated front seats, Heated front windscreen in wiper blade area, Intelligent speed assistant, ISOFIX child seat, safety fasteners for front passenger and both rear seats, Keyless entry and start, Lane centring, Lane keep assist, LED daytime running lights, LED front fog lights with cornering functionality, LED headlights with automatic high beam, Limited slip differential, Puddle lights, Rain sensing windscreen wipers, Rear privacy glass, Sabelt Racing sports seats with integrated headrest, Sound generator, Sports body kit, Traffic sign recognition, Tyre pressure monitors, Wireless Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Bluetooth smartphone compatibility and Wireless smartphone charger
OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT: Acid green paintwork (£0)
FACTS & FIGURES
Our cars: Abarth 600e Report 2
MODEL ON TEST: SCORPIONISSIMA – MILEAGE – 6,333
Goodness, I like this car. It’s really, really good fun, I think it looks terrific, and the extra range it offers over the 500e means that travelling further afield doesn’t always necessitate lots of forward planning in terms of charging.
So it’s with a heavy heart that I’m afraid I’ll have to open this update with a minor rant about the electronic tomfoolery this car can occasionally present. We’re all well versed in how modern cars love to nag the driver with relentless bonging, although thankfully the 600e has a handy shortcut button on the dashboard that takes you to the menu where you can disable things. I mentioned in my last update how this car (much like the 500e) has a traffic sign recognition system which is hit-and-miss at best, so the first thing I do when I get into the car is press the handy shortcut button and turn off the bongs
for the speed warnings. Except that the button is mischievous – the infotainment screen can be quite laggy on occasions, and sometimes when you press the button… nothing happens. So you press it again, and nothing happens. Then it tries to catch up and attempts several things at once, goes blank, then returns itself to the home screen. It doesn’t always do this, it’s maybe 20% of the time, but it is irritating. And while I’m on the subject – the method for starting the car is to put your foot on the brake and press
the start button, pretty standard stuff… although sometimes it just doesn’t react, so you then go to put the car in Drive and the dashboard tells you off, saying ‘oi, you need to press start, stupid’ or words to that effect, despite the fact that you already have.
Alright, now I’ve got that out of my system, let’s lighten the mood. The aforementioned glitchiness is a bit annoying, but it’s a very minor fly in the ointment really, as on the whole I’m finding this to be an utterly fabulous car. It’s proving to be extremely practical for family life, there’s plenty of space for kids and luggage, and the audio system is impressive. My final observation here would be that the suspension is perhaps a bit stiff. I’ll caveat this by assuring you that I absolutely do not care, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. In fact, I think it wholly suits the sportiness of the car. With my own cars, the first thing I usually do is to junk the stock suspension, stick it on a set of coil overs and wind them all the way down because I’m a juvenile idiot. So I’m well versed in living with harsh suspension and I actually rather like it. The only reason I bring it up is that when I have the family in the 600e, they have mentioned it.“This is quite stiff, isn’t it? It’s like that silly MX-5 you ruined,” sentiment of that nature. Something to bear in mind if you have a spouse with a bad back.
DANIEL BEVIS
WHAT’S HOT: Practicality eases the 600e seamlessly into family life.
WHAT’S NOT: It’d be nice if the buttons reacted every time they were pressed.
FACTS & FIGURES
Our cars: Abarth 600e Report 3
MODEL ON TEST: SCORPIONISSIMA – MILEAGE – 6,640
The noise generator is one of my favourite things about the 600e. For the uninitiated, this is an externally mounted speaker underneath the car that mimics the sound of a burbly exhaust, which is linked to the accelerator, so the sounds rise with the speed. On the Abarth 500e I previously ran as a long-termer, I immediately switched the noisemaker off as it seemed silly – but in the bigger, faster 600e it somehow makes more sense.It makes me smile. Plus, people can hear you coming in car parks.
The speed of this thing has been really impressing me. (And the noise does perhaps encourage you to be sillier in it than you should.) One of my initial thoughts when I first got the car was that if I didn’t know it had 278bhp, I’d assume it had less – it’s serriously quick off the line, but it’s an EV, they all are… but having wrung its neck on some country lanes recently, I’ve revised my opinion. It’s not just quick off the line, it’s quick all the time. That huge power is available whenever you want it. You know how a powerful
EV pins you back in your seat when you accelerate from a standstill? The 600e Scorpionissima does that at any speed you like. If you’re cruising at motorway speeds and decide to bury the throttle, it’ll throw you back in just the same way. The performance is insane. Relentless. Endlessly impressive. It’s certainly done interesting things to my neck muscles.
The car’s been getting so many positive comments when I’ve been out and about. A regular at the Southside Hustle car meet on Wimbledon Common, it always gets a lot of great feedback and people keen to ask questions. The guys at the local recycling centre love it (and with the rear seats down you can get a lot of garden waste in there, it’s a superb tip-run car.) The only bad response I’ve had this month is when I got ICEd in a Lidl car park. I didn’t know this was a thing.A man in a diesel X5 was parked in the EV charging bay; I asked whether he knew he was in the EV bay and he said he did. I politely asked if he could move so I could charge the Abarth, and he responded “**** off you ****, get a proper car.”Which was nice.
I’ve had a fun comparison this month too, taking brief custodianship of a Genesis GV60 Performance. This isn’t really a comparison at all, actually, as the Genesis costs £73,715 in the specification tested (a clear £30k+ more than the Abarth), so you’d expect it to be better, and it is.The interior’s like a Bentley’s, it has 483bhp, and it’s likely that the gear shifter was pinched from The Crystal Maze. There’s not really any point judging the two cars against one another as they’re nowhere near being rivals, but I could tell that the Abarth was jealous of the new toy. Its little face looked all cross.
My only gripe with the Abarth this month is that the faux harness hole in the front seat, made of hard plastic, is exactly the height of my teenage daughter’s head. So if you’re going to have a front seat passenger, make sure they’re fairly tall. Other than that, it’s all been fun and games. The Scorpionissima is so entertaining, I’d highly recommend trying one, as it’ll bring a lot of joy into your day. And definitely try the Genesis too, if you’re able – although you may need to pawn a kidney to buy one.
DANIEL BEVIS
WHAT’S HOT: It’s a feelgood car, it spreads joy all around…
WHAT’S NOT: …except to an inexplicably angry man in a car park.
FACTS & FIGURES
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