Abarth 600e long-term test

The car Abarth 600e Scorpionissima Run by Mark Pearson, used cars editor

Why it’s here To see if a small electric sports SUV can cut the mustard against combustion-engined rivals

Needs to It’ll need to be fun, but it’ll also need to dispatch commuting, work and family life without any range anxiety issues and cope with a wide variety of everyday duties

Miles covered 4101 Price £39,885 Best price £35,995 Price as tested £39,885 Official range 199 miles Test range 160 miles  Options None

14 November 2025 – Stepping into a warm Abarth

Growing older, I have found, is a deplorable process. Faculties diminish, one’s abilities reduce, and eventually, enthusiasm wanes. There is, in short, little to be said for it. 

However, I have recently found salvation from ageing in several short-term tonics that have helped rejuvenate the soul. Last year, I had a drive in a tiny Abarth 500e electric car. Though not a vehicle specifically aimed at someone like me, I had to admit it was good fun. So much so that to tackle the ageing process head-on, I have decided to take on its larger sibling, the Abarth 600e. If anything can get the sap rising, I’m hoping this is it. 

Abarth has traditionally been a racing and tuning outfit that produces high-performance versions of everyday Fiats, but it is now a standalone brand. Here, it’s taken a humble Fiat 600e and turned it into a sports SUV. It’s added more power, more aggressive styling, a wider track (the distance between the left and right-hand side wheels) and some very snazzy 20in alloy wheels. On top of that, the suspension is firmer, the car sits lower, the brakes have been upgraded, and the steering has been made more direct. 

It comes in two versions, the standard car with 237bhp, or the one I’ve gone for, the limited-edition Scorpionissima version with 276bhp. With so much power, it might come as a surprise to learn that my car comes with a relatively small 54kWh (51kWh usable capacity) battery, with one electric motor that drives the front wheels. The power is then sent through a grip-enhancing, limited-slip differential (LSD) that distributes it to the front wheels. 

Performance, at least on paper, should keep an old man happy – it should see off the 0-62mph dash in 5.9sec and head on to a top speed of 124mph. 

Of course, with my sensible hat on, there’s more to an electric car than mere power and speed; there are the small matters of range and charging. Well, a 100kW fast-charge from 20-80% takes 27 minutes, which sounds decent enough, while the official WLTP range for my car is 199 miles, which I must admit sounds pretty low by today’s standards. 

I’m hoping that last issue doesn’t prove a stumbling block, if only because I do occasionally do some longer journeys, and my experience with public charging points is spotty at best.. My plans for youthful rejuvenation do not include walking home when the car runs out of charge, nor do they involve waiting at charging stations in the dark with a bright purple hot hatch with a huge wing on the back, such as might attract unwanted attention from the sort of person who hangs around empty public charging spaces at night. 

However, there are three different driving modes in the Scorpionissima: Scorpion Track, Scorpion Road and Turisimo, and the last of these is effectively the ‘eco’ setting, which reduces the power to enhance the range. I expect to be relying on this mode rather a lot until I can get home to my own charging point.  

Inside, it’s fair to say the interior billing lives up to the exterior swagger. There are figure-hugging sporty front seats to hold you in place tightly and a racing-inspired and nicely finished steering wheel. There are aluminium pedals and various bits of Abarth branding dotted about the dashboard. The driving position itself is spot-on, and there’s plenty of adjustment in the driver’s seat for placing yourself down reasonably low for a sporty feel. 

If you’re familiar with other cars in the mighty Stellantis Group’s arsenal, cars such as the Alfa Romeo Junior, Jeep Avenger and Vauxhall Mokka, you’ll recognise a lot of the interior architecture. The 600e's 10.3in infotainment touchscreen is positioned high up on the dashboard, and underneath there are a couple of handy shortcut buttons for some of the infotainment system’s features as well as, hurrah, physical controls for the climate control. 

Meanwhile, lower down in the centre console are the push-button controls for Park, Reverse, Neutral and Drive. This positioning is all very familiar to me because it’s the same as you’d find in the Avenger, and I actually ran a long-term Jeep Avenger Electric for six months last year. I rather liked it, as I recall, although it did prove to be unreliable. Fingers crossed, I have a less stressful time with the Abarth. After all, at my age, I want to be entertained, but I don’t want too much drama.  

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