At only 12 feet long, the 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth was a tiny machine, well over a foot shorter than a Honda Fit, VW Beetle, or Ford Fiesta. And yet, its turning radius is larger than that not only all three of those cars, but also than that of some three-row SUVs.
This is a fairly random blog, I’ll admit, but this weekend I hung out with Autopian contributor Carlos Ferrerra, a designer who studied at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, the alma mater of car-design GOATS. He showed up to my new house to help me build a shed, and his transportation was a 2014 Fiat 500 Abarth, a vehicle that I’ve driven many times, and that comes from the factory without a muffler.
It sounds awesome, it handles great, and the little 1.4-liter turbo puts out 160 horsepower, which is a ton for a 2,500 pound car. Everyone loves the 500 Abarth, and to me — as a relatively new resident of Los Angeles — I’ve admired it as a great city car that’s efficient, easy to park, and easy to maneuver. Except that last point isn’t actually true, as Carlos taught me this weekend.
The regular Fiat 500, shown above, has a steering diameter/turning circle of 30.6 feet, which is fantastic. That’s almost two feet smaller than that of the BMW i3, whose turning circle is notoriously tiny thanks to the car’s small size and super skinny front tires. It’s also almost five feet smaller than that of a Mini Cooper. It’s a fantastically maneuverable car, and extremely easy to park. Seriously, as a city vehicle, there weren’t many cars that were better than the 2012 to 2019 Fiat 500.
But it turns out that the hot-hatch version of the Fiat 500, the Abarth — the one that we gearheads love thanks to its power, handling, and fantastic five-speed manual transmission, and the one we remember from that Catrinel Menghia Commercial (see Jason Torchinsky in the video below) — hugely compromises that nimbleness.
The Fiat 500 Abarth’s turning circle is a ridiculous 37.6 feet. Thirty seven point six! That’s over seven feet larger than that of the standard Fiat 500!
To put that into context, the three-row Toyota Highlander has a 1.2-inch smaller turning radius than the Fiat 500 Abarth:
And the huge three-row Honda Pilot Trailsport’s turning radius is pretty much the same as the 4.5-foot-shorter Fiat 500’s:
You’re probably wondering why the Fiat 500 Abarth shares the nimbleness of a cargo ship, and your’e not the only one. Google Fiat 500 Abarth turning radius, and you’ll see plenty of complaints from owners:
Let’s click on that last one, which is from a San Franciscan who is hellbent on reducing their 500 Abarth’s huge turning radius. From that post:
I drive in San Francisco for a living. Tight turns are why you see the pop literally every two blocks in this city (I am not joking, don’t play slug bug with Fiats in SF). I want the same on my abarth. If I swap to the pop steering rack, what issues am I likely to encounter? Which other parts are going to need to be modified? I’d like to get an idea of how much it will cost me to safely and effectively decrease the turning radius without damaging myself nor the vehicle. Is it just a matter of clearance, or safety/reliability? I won’t be taking this to the track any time soon. Any good starting points?
Also, apparently it’s built this way to prevent torque steer? Any way to decrease turning radius while also keeping the improvements in torque steer?
In that forum, there are lots of discussions about potential pitfalls of simply swapping over a steering rack from a standard Fiat 500. Some folks say the remote-mounted intercoolers for the turbo — intercoolers that are located on the corners of the car — restrict the motion of the front wheels. Others note that the Fiat 500 Turbo shares those intercoolers, but maintains the tight steering radius of the non-Abarth:
Just to clarify…you do not need a FMIC to shorten the turning radius. The 500 turbo has the same turning radius as the older Pops and they have the same side intercoolers as the Abarth. The difference is in the half shaft design. The Abarth uses a stiffer different design passenger side CV axle that restricts the wheels side to side movement. Perhaps, don’t quote me on this, it might be as easy as switching to the turbo models regular half shaft but that’s assuming the tie rods are the same between cars. If they aren’t, then you’d need to switch out the whole steering rack and the half shaft, which seems prohibitively expensive.
Just FYI – the current president of the local Fiat America club replaced the steering rack in their Abarth with one from a Sport (which is the same for Lounge and Pop I believe). They have stock Fiat rims, don’t recall if 16 or 17 -but the car now has the non-Abarth turning circle at the very small cost of slightly more turns lock-to-lock.
I can offer a guess why – these folks live not too far from me. Sometimes, in tight parking lots or some smaller roads, turning around or backing up is surprisingly tedious with the stock turning radius. The parking garage of my old office location was down right diabolical when trying to get into parking spaces because you couldn’t round the corner and turn into a spot in 1 go. Odd to think of such a small car with such truck like behavior at low speedÂ
I toyed with the idea but I’m too cheapÂ
 also I’m using the 500e for most commuting misery and it has a nice tight turning radius like the non-Abarth 500s so no need for me there.
As for the Abarth steering at speed, my car has only really had 1 high speed track day. For a tiny car, some high speed sweeper turns can be ‘exciting’ – I’m guessing the quicker steering response is supposed to be noticeably better but honestly if you aren’t racing I wonder how much it makes a difference. Comparing my old 500 Pop with the Abarth on back roads, the difference in steering lock-to-lock was never something I really noticed. More power, different thing entirelyÂ
An Abarth in autocross, perhaps that is where it might be most noticeable/advantageous
As a kid, the FIAT Abarth was my dream car…the only genuine one I’ve ever seen was an 1968 595 EsseEsse variant.
In Japan we got the modern 595 and 695 variants. Never noticed an issue with the turning radius, but guessing it has the same issue. Great cars, but I passed as it was a bit out of my price range for what I was getting (sort of regret it now). I never drove the North American Abarth 500, so not sure if the 595/695’s were better.
Wonder why those never came to the US…would they not have sold well?
One of the many things that make this car way worse than it seems.
My mom has one, it charms you with its personality until you realize it is what it is – a city car that was given more power than it can handle, and all the compromises that come with that.
I want one of those little cars so much. I’ve driven several and few cars can put that big a smile on your face no matter what you’re doing. Miata and Mini Cooper S (older) are the only other things I’ve driven that are at the same level.
I love my Abarth to death, but this is the reason I don’t use for getaways.
https://tenor.com/oV4R.gif
Wife has a 2013 Abarth and it’s a hoot to drive, especially around town. Oddly likes to pop headlight bulbs every six months or so.
Really if the manufacturer builds crap like this it is behooving of the Autopian to call out the manufacturer to explain the reasoning. Top Gear and Grand Tour held manufacturers accountable. Now Autopian needs to decide list stats or evaluation based on honesty. I know that the site will state honesty
My v70r has a radius of 41 feet or so
“The Fiat 500 Abarth’s turning circle is a ridiculous 37.6 feet. Thirty seven point six! That’s over seven feet larger than that of the standard Fiat 500!
To put that into context, the three-row Toyota Highlander has a 1.2-inch smaller turning radius than the Fiat 500 Abarth:”
Are you mixing measurements sir?!
Turning circle and turning radius? What would your 5th grand math teach, Mrs. Schick(?) think?
Short turning radius aside, these things are FUN!
One of my best friends owned one for years and just got rid of it due to it starting to become a money pit. Probably the best sounding stock 4 cylinder car I’ve ever heard. I giggled like a child every single time I drove it.
As Ferris said; “I must be honest here, I love driving it. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
To further put things in perspective, a 2011 Lincoln Town Car had a turning circle of 40ft
You beat me to it; my 2004 TC always shocked me with how maneuverable it was for such a long, wide car.
Also, adjusting perceptions to 2020s standards, they’re really not that big in comparison to what people drive today. My 2008 CVPI practically disappears parked next to a newer pickup, looks like a dinky compact in comparison. I think the roof is about even with the bottom of the door window in a RAM 2500
I can definitely vouch for the go-kart-ian nature of the 500 Abarth, though I never had any trouble maneuvering, parking, etc. due to the turning radius.
It would remain flat when whipping through 90-degree turns, which never ever ever got old.
Also – David, I think we need some details on the shed. 🙂
And that’s what hand operated e-brakes are for in those.
Having owned one, it wasn’t that much of an issue, but for some reason the similarly large turning radius in our Volvo s60R felt much more annoying, maybe because the car was longer?
Also kinda funny, Land Rover Discovery 3/LR3’s Also have a 37.6ft turning radius and in that thing it feels pretty nimble!
My old MX5 needed more steering angle for drifting (it lets you catch slides you’d otherwise turn in to a spin, and you get more points for bigger angles), so it had had spacers fitted to the rack for more steering rack travel when I bought it.
However that made the wheels hit the suspension wishbones, the the wheels had to be spaced out to get clearance.
Spacing the wheels out meant that the tyres rubbed on the fenders, so I made a pair of replacement fenders from a single layer of carbon fibre and polyester resin, with an inner support structure away from the edge where the tyre rubbed.
The tyres chewed their own clearance in the carbon, and the circle of exhausting and annoying mods was complete.
Tiny turning circle though.
I too loved If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
Yeah, I can tell you exactly why. Short wheelbase + high center of gravity +fast tight turn =360, but in the expensive direction. Rest In Pepperonis to Sex Dwarf, my dearly beloved 500 Abarth, who died that way at autocross 8 years ago.
Great name, great song!
I know it’s a larger car, but the Focus ST was like turning a battle cruiser whereas the SE’s was fine. I always figured it was the wider tires not having as much room, but stronger CV joints and axles were probably part of it, as well.
The RS is even worse. The internets say 38.6 feet. It’s super noticeable during any maneuvering.
It’s always amusing when little cars are less nimble then much larger cars. I always found Ford is able to do fairly amazing things with turning radius and ram has caught up.
Front wheel drive also affects turning circle since the CV joints limit wheel cut angle. My 20′ long 4×2 pickup turns tighter than our old Buick LeSabre, and IIRC tighter than a 4×4.
Fortunately our Fiat 500 is a Pop so it darts into tiny parking spaces with aplomb. It’s also entertaining even with automatic so cheap and cheerful for the win.
This makes me wonder, whats the current new car on sale that has the smallest (and on the other end, largest) turning radius?
Its got to be one of those Chinese EVs that can do tank turns.
For smallest, the EV G-wagon and some Chinese EVs can technically tank turn in place (not recommended on pavement as you’re scrubbing the tires the entire time, but you can do it).
The Bronco also has “Trail Turn Assist”, which again is an off-road only function, but will lock one of the rear wheels so you can pivot around it on loose surfaces. Same concept as a cutting brake on a tractor. I don’t think it quite turns in place, but it’s very tight radius.
Got my 88 wagon cheap because it’s tight turning radius. It found both sides with poles and its rear 1/4 panels . Downside often overlooked is how much the rear swings.
Yes 185 wide tires turn at huge angles.
Years ago I would dream about replacing my 12-foot long 2012 Scion iQ with the 500 Abarth, but the 26.4-foot turning radius is one of the things I bought the iQ for in the first place, and knowing what the Abarth had was always a bucket of cold water.
(I still have the iQ, no regerts)
*10-foot long iQ, that is …
I’m always impressed by the turning circle of the Subaru lineup. I’m impressed how far the wheels turn – with the Forester’s 35.4feet (10.8m) making parkinglot maneuvers nimble.
No wonder my Outback ate CVs for breakfast…
The fifth Gen Forester always feels much bigger then it actually is to me and turning is not great for me. I think the front wheels are a bit far back compared to previous generations. My 4th Gen ram feels more nible. So do many other full size things like mid 2000s f150s and expeditions , Highlanders. It’s actually one of my chief complaints of the fifth Gen Forester.
Fun fact, wheels are always in the same place since the legacy moved the front axle line somewhat forward. In 1989.
The modern tradeoff is ever wider rims. 2004 a Sti rolled on 225 wide tires. Now base Foresters do, if not 235.
Could be I put 225s on it with better tires it helped a lot but still not great. Ive put it next to a 4th Gen and the front overhang appears bigger. I’m convinced that example was built on a Friday evening just before or a Monday morning just after a big holiday though.
Wanna see some crazy turning radius? Check out Alanis’s video about the Hummer EV having a tighter tuning radius than her Miata!!
https://youtu.be/jQCaEtyDE5g?si=LS9bR35puV6hO17f
I owned (and LOVED) a ’13 Abarth from new. It had the standard 16″ wheels and I found the turning circle to not be any sort of problem. No better car for parking in odd spots on the “pay and display” streets of Portland, ME. And an absolute laugh riot to drive. Shoulda kept it, but the siren song of European Delivery had me selling it and buying a BMW M235i that I did not like as much.
That last animation looks a lot like how I imagine the original MS Encarta would have put in its entry for “Steering, Car” but I was too busy downloading Cindy Crawford gifs on 14.4 baud to bother with any of that book learning.
Kia has a really bad habit of sneaking their cars into other ads. For example, I once saw a 500 commercial with Sorrento in the background. And that Honda Pilot has a Sedona behind it if you look hard enough. Yeah, I’ll show myself out.