Don’t be fooled by the Abarth 695 Biposto’s small size and toy-like appearance – it’s a full-blown special model built with the same track-focused philosophy in mind as the Renault Megane R26R.
Also, despite its small cubic capacity of 1.4 liters, it still puts out 190 PS / 187 hp and it claws its way to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.9 seconds. Now anything under six seconds is impressive for a front-wheel drive hot hatch, but given this car’s dimensions it’s even more so.
The Biposto makes full use of titanium (the Akrapovic exhaust) and carbon fiber (engine cover and various other bits) and manages to tip the scales at just under 1 ton. It’s full of unique touches inside and out, some of which are optional and bring the price of a fully-specced example up to (wait for it) ~€68,300 or $80,000.
It drives pretty well too, and those exposed (manual) shifter linkages look really nice and add to the experience – it’s an optional extra, but at least you get none of that vague cable nonsense here.
Were it not for the ludicrous price, this would be one hell of a hard core hot hatch, as Henry Catchpole will attest in the EVO review posted below.