Abarth 695 Biposto Record car review: an indulgence that sounds like a supercar

This special edition Abarth is hard core, but, Sean O'Grady concedes, it’s an awful lot of money

The Abarth 695 Biposto Record certainly looks the part

What do you call a Fiat 500 with only two seats, no radio or sat nav, no air con and a piece of red cloth for a door handle? And which costs close on £40,000?

Why, an Abarth 695 Biposto Record, of course, and we shall call it the “Abarth 695 etc” for short. Some explanation of the nomenclature is required. “Abarth” is the sub-brand Fiat launched a few years ago for the top-end performance versions of its cars, so there is also a version of the new Fiat 124 Spider, and there used to be an Abarth Punto. There are a few varieties of the 500 given the Abarth treatment, but this special edition model is the hard core one, and, I concede, an awful lot of money to pay for a Fiat 500. Before that Abarth was the name applied to various fast Fiats tuned by the Abarth tuning/racing house.

The “695” is a historical reference to the original Abarth versions of the old Fiat 500, the “Nuovo” of 1957, which had its 500cc engine bored out to about 695cc, but of course the modern Fiats/Abarths have engines from 1 litre to 1.4 litre, which sometimes deliver economy close to the little originals, but with vastly more performance and sophistication. “Biposto” just means “two seater”, but sounds miles sexier, just like Quattroporte, as a Maserati model name, sounds much better than “four door”. The Abarth’s back seats have been taken out and replaced with half a roll cage and some netting, by the way.


 The inside provides little in terms of thrills, but this car is all about the speed

“Record” refers to the occasion for this very special edition – marking the work of legendary Fiat driver/engineer Carlo Abarth, who broke a world acceleration record at Monza, fifty years ago. Apparently the slightly portly 57-year old Abarth was so frustrated at failing to find a suitable driver that Carlo decided to do the job himself – by losing 30kg (nearly 5 stone) so he could get into the car and make a decent go of it. Fiat are making 133 examples of this car, reflecting the 133 record-breaking race appearances his Abarth-tuned Fiats achieved in the golden era of motor sport.

The spec

Price: £36,610
Engine capacity: 1.4 litre 4 cyl petrol
Transmission: 5sp manual
Power output (hp @ rpm): 190@5,500
Top speed (mph): 143
0-62 mph (seconds): 5.9
Fuel economy (mpg): 45.9
CO2 emissions (g/km): 145
Weight (kg): 997
Front suspension: Macpherson + anti-roll bar
​Rear suspension: Torque arm + anti-roll bar

So now you know: the only car I know that celebrates a male slimming breakthrough (of which I am personally envious). It is a strange experience, the Abarth 695 etc. Abarth call it “the world’s smallest supercar”, and they’re about right, leaving aside doorless wonders such as the Caterhams and Ariels. It certainly sounds like a supercar, burbling away in a gorgeously honeyed symphony – and it does sound best at idle. Thank you, Akrapovic, for turning twin exhausts into music. It looks the part too, in an “exclusive” modena-yellow finish complemented by “tar-cold grey” rims, plus an enamelled “695 Record” badge on the side, with obligatory Italian tricolore. (Please note, though, that despite milking the Italian heritage for all its worth, the Abarth is made at the appropriately named Tychy plant, in Poland, so it probably ought to have a Polish flag on the side as well).

In fact the Abarth 695 etc isn’t that slimline, even with the carbon fibre seats, aluminium bonnet and titanium pedals, and the deletion of much of the trim and the spare wheel. A Fiat 500 1.2 Lounge, for example, weighs about 100kg less, presumably because all the weight lost in the Abarth was been put back on again when they got to the mechanical bits, such as the new differential (which helps this front-driver get its formidable power onto the road) and various other upgrades to brakes and suspension. Yet the sheer muscle available still pushes the power-to-weight ratio to one of the best in its class. That means there’s 190hp to propel every tonne of the Abarth 695 etc; as against 80hp for every tonne of a base model Fiat 500. The Abarth is competitive in its class, and boasts around the same power-to-weight ratio as the Mini Cooper S Works. And yet the Ford Focus RS, the current hot hatch of choice, boasts a whole 250hp per tonne of car. The Focus is also a thrilling machine, but you can also fit your family in it and listen to Radio 3, and all that for less than £30,000. Much the same goes for the even more lairy Honda Civic Type R. There’s some perspective for you.

The truth is that I would love to own an Abarth 695 etc. It has the same quality that all the Fiat 500s possess, and it is enormous fun. I am conscious, though, that Fiat are making a “less car for more money” offering here; I suppose what I really mean is that I wish I was the sort of super-rich playboy who could waste a teacher’s annual salary on a banana-coloured toy. Can I be that shallow?