Living Up To The Legend

At last – it’s the Abarth we’ve all been waiting for! The Grande Punto version whetted our appetite last year, but fans have been desperate to get their hands on the 500 ever since Fiat confirmed it was to relaunch the scorpion badge.

With a turbocharged 1.4-litre engine producing 135bhp, the newcomer has much more power than its famous ancestors. So, will it make the same kind of impact in the 21st century as the original did in the Sixties? To find out, we’ve put it head-to-head with a car from another sporty brand on the comeback trail. Mitsubishi’s Ralliart tuning arm made its name tweaking the Evos that used to dominate the World Rally Championship. Now, the performance specialist has turned its attention to the revised Colt.

We’re already fans of the supermini’s new look. The big question is whether it can eclipse the trendy 500 with its racy extras and 147bhp 1.5-litre turbo engine. At £12,049, the Colt Ralliart certainly has price on its side. Let’s see how Japanese performance compares with Italian style in the smallest of packages.