Fiat Abarth 500 spotted at the 'Ring

This diminutive roller-skate of a car, as seen in Car Magazine, looks positively angry. And somehow, I love it. The Abarth 500 is aimed somewhere between a Brabus ForTwo and a Cooper S in size and performance, which is no bad place to be. The 1.4L turbo-four from the sleek, hot Abarth Grande Punto is likely going to put out the same 150 hp and 170 lb.-ft., making a pretty nice way to save a little gas money. If you're in Europe. The wheels are larger than on the base model and where low-profile tires, sacrificing yet more ride comfort for some by-the-seat-of-your-pants fun. There's a small roof spoiler at the rear, and most of the chrome from the base model is swapped for body-color or black, which definitely works. Even with the ridiculous 'camouflaging' duct tape, I think it looks cool, and inspires maybe some creative striping ideas.

It's high time that we start aligning our taste in cars here in America with that of the Europeans. We've been rather slow on the uptake, but hot-hatches, while being a smaller market (pun intended), are definitely a growing one, albeit slowly. The fact is, if I - a power-hungry, tire-smoking, gasoline-sniffing, recklessly driving mid-western whitey - am getting excited about a microcar, maybe it's time to box a few and send them over. You know, get a head start on boosting the market. Wha'dya think, Fiat? Wanna send one over with it's Grande Punto counterpart so I can drive them and tell our readers how cool they are?

[Source: Car Magazine]