Just because a car is small doesn’t mean it’s not an absolute blast to drive. 
Geoff Maxted of DriveWrite Automotive Magazine examines in this latest Letter.

At the time of writing this, your friendly English correspondent is driving what on the face of it is a Fiat Cinquecento city car (aka the 500), but this is no ordinary diminutive Italian runaround. The front and rear badges proudly declare this to be an Abarth. The mainstream name of Fiat does not appear anywhere because an Abarth is something different entirely.
In 1949 an Italian-Austrian fellow named Carlo Abarth founded the eponymous racing and road car brand, its logo being a shield with a stylized scorpion on a yellow and red background hinting at the intention. Old Carlo sold out to the major Italian brand in 1971 and the Abarth name is now attached to an independent unit within the Fiat organisation. The brief: take the standard car and breathe upon it with fire and brimstone. The 500 Becomes The 595
The version this writer is driving is the 595 Turismo, a hot hatchback that offers a whole heap of fun, all the while oozing character and that quintessentially Italian charm. It costs around $24,000 in the UK and is worth every hard-earned penny. The 595 in this case is powered by a 1.4 liter turbo-jet petrol engine developing 165 bhp. That?s plenty for a car that weights about the same as Sandra Bullock. I don?t know why I thought of Sandra Bullock at this point. Maybe it?s just me. Reese Wither...