wyatte543: Official: 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth priced from $22,000*

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Official: 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth priced from $22,000*

Filed under: Car Buying, Performance, Hatchback, Fiat

Fiat has announced that the 2012 500 Abarth will be priced from $22,000, *not including destination charges. That's a healthy jump from the tiny Italian's $15,500 base MSRP and higher still than the open-air 500C that starts at $19,500. For all that extra lira, buyers get Fiat's turbocharged 1.4-liter MultiAir engine producing 160 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque. Power is routed through a five-speed manual transmission and the super Cinquecento also receives an upgraded suspension and brakes, 16-inch wheels and dual exhaust system. The cost of admission also includes free tuition to the Abarth Driving Experience hosted by The Richard Petty Driving Experience.

The Fiat 500 Abarth can be difficult to place among its class competitors because it's the smallest kid on the block, but we've constructed a handy-dandy table to compare pricing, power and weight-to-power ratios for some likely adversaries. Despite being the smallest in size, the Abarth 500 actually ends up with the highest weight-to-power ratio. The upcoming Hyundai Veloster Turbo stands out as having the least amount for each horse to lug around, though without pricing information, the Abarth 500 presently stands as the least expensive in-road to the kingdom of hot hatches.

	Price*	HP/Torque	Weight	W/P Ratio
2012 Fiat 500 Abarth	$22,000	160/170	2,533	15.8
2012 Volkswagen GTI	$23,995	200/207	3,034	15.2
2012 Mini Cooper S	$23,100	181/177	2,668	14.7
2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo	N/A	201/194	2,800	13.9
*Does not include destination charges