Fiat's 160-hp 500 Abarth will come with a free day of track time, much like partner Chrysler offers those who buy its SRT muscle cars.
Fiat’s little 500 may be cute but it doesn’t quite fall into the performance category – or, at least, it hasn’t until now. The new Abarth edition transforms what Italians know as the Cinquecento into a pint-sized muscle car.
The new version will boost the base Fiat 500’s output from a modest 101 horsepower to 160 by adding a turbocharger to its 1.4-liter MultiAir engine. The Abarth edition also features what Fiat describes as a “track-tuned” suspension.
Buyers will have a chance to find out what that means. As part of the $22,000 purchase price the maker is including a full day of track time. Specific details likely won’t be available until around the time the first Fiat 500 Abarths go on sale in U.S., in late March, but a spokesman said the plan is to stage as many as 20 Richard Petty Driving Experience events around the country this year.
They’ll coincide with a program Fiat’s U.S. partner Chrysler already has in place. Anyone who buys one of the maker’s many SRT models, such as the Chrysler 300C SRT8 or Dodge Challenger SRT8 has been eligible for the Petty program, which moves from track to track around the country each year.
And Chrysler isn’t alone. A number of manufacturers are now offering buyers the chance to check out the capabilities of their most high-performance models in a safe and controlled environment. It’s a great way to learn how to safely handle products that can, in some cases, push well north of 500 horsepower and race from 0 to 60 in less than 3 seconds.
And considering the speed limits on U.S. roadways, such programs may provide the only opportunity a buyer gets to test a vehicle’s limits without keeping a constant eye on the rearview mirror looking for flashing red or blue lights.
Along with Chrysler and Fiat, here are some of the other automakers are offering:
- Cadillac operates its own V-Series Performance Academy which, like Fiat/Chrysler’s Petty Experience, travels around the U.S. during the summer and autumn. The maker invites owners and “select non-owners” to participate free of charge. Caddy also provides the vehicles so an owner doesn’t have to worry about wearing out a set of tires or blowing a clutch by the end of the day.
- Chevrolet operates two official performance programs for buyers of its ultimate Corvette model, the ZR1. One is at the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School, in Pahrump, Nevada, the other at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, in Chandler, Nevada.
- The Mercedes-Benz AMG Driving Academy is open to anyone, not just owners, but those who purchase a product from the German brand’s most high-performance line-up will get a free day at one of five tracks across the U.S., this year, from Lime Rock, a couple hours outside New York City, to the challenging Laguna Seca, near Monterey, California.
- Ford’s 2012 Mustang Boss 302, a 440-horsepower muscle car, will get a free day at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
Porsche, meanwhile, doesn’t offer any free driving deals, but it does operate its own driving program, the Porsche Sport Driving School at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. And it is in the midst of setting up two dedicated driving courses, one at the new U.S. headquarters it is building in Atlanta, the other in the Los Angeles suburbs. Both should be open next year.