Abarth 600e review

Abarth 600e verdict

Small crossovers have never been the most fun cars to drive, but the Abarth 600e makes a pretty good attempt at swinging the needle the other way. Brightly coloured, boisterous in character and with punchy performance, it’s one of the handful of cars in this segment you could give the “hot hatch” tag.

It isn’t perfect though. A 207-mile range is nothing special these days, and despite the car’s performance and confidence through the corners, it’s not as fun to drive as you might expect. Plus, it retains some of the downsides of the Fiat 600e it’s based on – notably, a distinct lack of rear seat space.

Details, specs and alternatives

You’re looking at the most powerful Abarth yet. No, it’s not some low-slung sports car evoking the storied brand’s 1950s road-racers, but a hotted-up version of the family-friendly Fiat 600e. 235bhp and 278bhp variants give the Abarth 600e real punch, while the most powerful of the two comes with Scorpionissima trim, featuring extra equipment and, of course, a higher price tag: the 600e range starts at £36,975 and the Scorpionissima is £5,000 more, both with the same 51kWh of usable battery capacity and 207-mile range.

It’s no mere body kit and sticker package, though. The top-of-the Abarth 600e gets a Torsen limited-slip differential, sports tuned suspension, 20-inch wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres, and even a wider track, by 30mm at the front and 25mm at the rear. Essentially, it’s an electric hot hatch, or electric hot crossover at least, given its slightly taller body – consider it a rival to cars like the MG4 XPower, or the recently-introduced (and mechanically similar) Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce.

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A claimed range of 207 miles doesn’t stand up particularly well when you can find superminis that go further on a charge. Take your 600e on track, as we did at the launch, and you can use up electrons at a frightening rate – the display showed 1.2 miles per kilowatt hour, which means at full chat you’d empty the battery in 65 miles. Of course, regular road driving won’t be anywhere near this energy-intensive, and official efficiency is around 4mi/kWh, but in the real world you’ll be relying on gentle driving, ideal weather, and probably the power-restricting Turismo mode to cover 200 miles (and you’d ideally want to charge up a good distance before empty too).

With 100kW fast-charging Abarth claims a 20-80% top-up in just under half an hour, while on a home 7.4kW wallbox, you’re looking at around eight hours from completely empty to completely full. And a much cheaper bill, obviously, with a typical overnight tariff being around 9p/kWh, compared to the 75p/kWh on a public rapid charger at peak times.

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Compared with traditional petrol hot hatchbacks the all-electric Abarth 600e is off to a good start in terms of overall running costs. Even if it’s not the most efficient EV on the market, charging at home should keep your cost-per-mile well below that of a petrol hatch.

EVs will attract VED from April 2025, at a rate of £10 for the first year and £195 thereafter (though top-spec cars that are over £40,000 are also subject to the expensive car supplement that adds a further cost of £425 from years two to five), though this too undercuts a lot of combustion models. If the 600e is on your company car list, you’ll save even more - the 2025-2026 rate is only 3 per cent.

Insurance might cost a few bob more, with the regular Abarth 600e being in group 35, and the Scorpionissima one group higher than that. Again, neither insurance group is excessive for a fairly sporty car like this, though for comparison a regular Fiat 600e sits in group 25 or 26, depending on specification.

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Performance is one of the Abarth 600e’s real highlights. Firstly, with a 235bhp electric motor in standard form and 278bhp as the Scorpionissima, it’s no slouch, either off the line or while you’re already rolling. 0-62mph takes only 6.2 seconds for the standard car, and a Golf-GTI-matching 5.9 for the more powerful model.

The Scorpionissima also gets Abarth’s sound generator, as introduced on the 500e. It’s audible from outside the car as well as inside, and if it becomes a bit much, you can now turn it off on the move, rather than having to stop as you did when the Abarth 500e debuted.

Power delivery is linear and is at its strongest in Scorpion Track mode; Turismo mode kerbs power slightly if you’re not in the mood for the full whack. However, with a Torsen limited-slip differential, the 600e is able to put its power down in any mode, and chunky 380mm Alcon disc brakes help you stop again, though Abarth hasn’t quite nailed the pedal feel.

It’s a capable handler though; we tested the 600e on road and track, and found that it works well on both. On the road, the firm suspension doesn’t result in a crashy ride, even if it’s far from the smoothest hot hatch around. On track, it’s a bit of a blast. Ultimately it’ll understeer if you push too hard, and while it again can’t top some of our favourite hot hatches for fun, it’s happy to make quick changes of direction. The suspension settings keep body lean in check, while the Torsen differential lets you put the power down, too.

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The Abarth 600e’s interior will be familiar to anyone who has spent time in a modern Fiat, and especially familiar if that Fiat is the regular 600e, since the architecture is basically the same. The dashboard layout is relatively straightforward; there’s still a 10.25-inch touchscreen taking up the centre of the dash, along with a two-spoke steering wheel between your hands.

The materials are racier though, predominantly a mix of black plastic, black leather, and black Alcantara – enlivened slightly by Acid Green contrasting details (even if you opt for the Scorpionissima in the other wild colour, Hypnotic Purple). The Scorpionissima gets a set of heavily bolstered Sabelt seats which look fantastic and hold you in well.

Abarth models also get slightly different infotainment graphics from their Fiat counterparts, and while most functions are the same (including standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), there are some extra performance pages aimed at more enthusiastic driving and track use – from lap timers to a torque gauge and battery temperature info. The system itself is easy enough to operate, with clear graphics, while its high-mounted position keeps your eyes focused on the road.

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Crossover-like styling belies that the Abarth 600e is relatively compact. At under 4.2 metres long, it’s a touch shorter than a Nissan Juke, and smaller than most modern hot hatches, which now compete in the segment above.

Front seat passengers won’t have much to complain about, as the 600e is quite accommodating whichever spec you’ve chosen – while even those of a broader frame will find the Sabelt bucket seats comfortable. In the rear seats though, children will be better off than adults. Put someone six-foot tall in the front seats and those in the rear don’t have much space left to play with, while the cabin is also quite narrow, and a hump in the floor restricts legroom. There aren’t many cubbies either – no cupholders, door bins, nor front seat map pockets. There are at least Isofix mountings for a pair of child seats.

While the 600e is Juke-sized outside, it doesn’t quite get a Juke-sized boot: 360 litres is your lot, though if you’re trading up from a Fiat or Abarth 500e, then it’s a huge improvement over that car’s 185 litres.

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There’s no Euro NCAP crash-test rating yet for the Abarth 600e, nor its Fiat equivalent. The most recent platform-mate to be tested was the Jeep Avenger, whose three-star rating doesn’t bode especially well, though the Abarth isn’t short of safety kit, with a list including lane-keep assist and lane departure warning, autonomous emergency braking, drowsy driver detection, and in Scorpionissima form, adaptive cruise with lane-centering, blind spot detection, and traffic sign recognition.

Reliability is an unknown, too – both Abarth and Fiat versions of the 600e are too new to have appeared in the Driver Power survey, though Fiat’s overall 31st place from 32 brands in 2024 (ahead of only MG) isn’t something to celebrate. The older petrol-powered 500 came second-last of 50 individual models, narrowly beating the Mk8 Volkswagen Golf.