Abarth Punto EVO gets esseesse boost

Abarth Punto EVO esseesse gets an extra 15 horses

The Fiat 1.4 litre lump which powers the Abarth Punto EVO is already a lively little thing.

Despite its rather modest capacity it manages to deliver a healthy 165bhp, enough to scoot the Abarth Punto EVO to 62mph in 7.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 133mph. Far from shoddy.

But even though Abarth is to Fiat what AMG is to Mercedes, there is a step up from simple Abarth makeovers, and that’s the esseesse (which, if it weren’t for the unfortunate connotations, would simply be the Abarth SS).

So now Abarth has decided to give us the full-fat Punto Evo with the launch of the Abarth Punto EVO esseesse (and no, esseesse isn’t supposed to start with a capital letter), which ups the power and tweaks the suspension.

The esseesse gets 15bhp more than the regular Abarth for a total of 180bhp and a 0-62mph sprint of a much-improved 7.5seconds.

The ride height gets lowered with Abarth springs and Koni FSD dampers and there’s Brembo M4x40 front calipers to make sure the essesse stops. You also get an Abarth switch to go from ‘Normal’ mode to ‘Sport’ mode.

Abarth has left a lot of the ‘Eco’ stuff that Fiat use intact – like stop-start – which means that the Punto EVO esseesse manages to achieve 47.1mpg and emit 142g/km in offical tests. You’ll get nothing close in the real world, but those figures do mean cheap road tax.

The esseesse kit for the Abarth Punto EVO will push the price up to £20k and will be available later this year. Owners who’ve already bought an Abarth Punto EVO will be able to get their dealer to retro-fit the esseesse pack for around £3k as long as their car is less than a year old and done under 12,500 miles.

Although what that’s got to do with it, we fail to see.

By Cars UK