The Abarth is one of those things I’ve been trying to get my head around for some time. Now motoring enthusiasts amongst you can be forgiven for thinking me a tad slow, but maybe a tad uninterested is closer to the mark. That is, up until I got to experience the full might of the Abarth in two quite different forms.

Travelling up to the Abarth event through the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire in the gorgeous Fiat 500c (sadly didn’t get to experience it in cabriolet form due the rain after weeks of sunshine), I wondered why anyone would require or need anything more than this. It’s cute, stylish, pelts alone very nicely on the motor way, is a delight along the country roads and is utterly stunning to look at. Mine was glowing white with a maroon top.

I sat through the chats about the Abarth, both the 500C and the Punto Evo. My interest was slightly prodded as the UK head of the Abarth waxed lyrically about its attributes – 1.4 Turbo T-Jet engine, 140 bhp, MTA gearbox with gear shift paddles, high specs, electric hood, striking alloys and the Abarth philosophy of making the ordinary extraordinary. I was getting rather hot and just wanted a bite to eat and my bed.

So when I finally got into the Abarth 500C and my co-driver allowed me to go first, I popped it into the automatic mode, put down the roof and off we went along roads slicing through quite breathe-taking scenary. I didn’t want to go too fast as I always get slightly self-conscious driving with someone new and he was white haired and I felt that was reason enough to go at a modest pace.

It was then my white-haired friend’s turn at the wheel. We’ll call him Mr R. Having already told me that his wild driving days were far behind him, now that he was a man of more mature years with nothing to prove, I assumed that our pottering ride would continue.
Never judge a book by it’s cover! I have never had so much fun as a passenger that during the next hour as Mr R put the car through its paces along the wide, open country roads. Paddles all the way as we flew along at rather an alarming but exhilerating rate with the wind in my hair (despite the wind shield). Overtaking was a doddle, with this little car having so much to give. Of course it helped that the sun was shining, no police cars in sight and only the poor sheep to occasionally dodge.

How could I have missed the opportunity to drive as if the vehicle was stolen, which by the end, I felt like doing!?

I still don’t get paddle shifts and prefer a gear stick every time (there is talk of producing a manual one but for the moment they seem to want to show off their technolgy). The automatic gearbox in automatic mode felt jerky, but this can be reduced by playing with the accelerator pedal and anticipating the gear changes I was told – not something I managed to achieve. And all this fun will cost you £17,500.

I still can’t equate the look of the 500C with a hot hatch although it certainly behaves like one, having further proof of this on a track with a professional driver at the wheel. But apart from having great fun, why would you want to throw this gorgeous car around a track – I’d much rather be seen on the open road where it leaves other cars standing as you stylishly zoom past in a cloud of cheeky, Italian elegance!

See also our Focus RS first drive feature here

Ford are very proud of the Focus RS as a stunningly effective driver’s car, with good reason if the reviews are anything to go by (see our First Drive story here). Anything that gets Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar so animated must be pretty special. But Ford are also proud of the fact that they’ve been able to bring this car to the market at all, let alone with a £25,000 price tag, which is where our factory tour came in.

As if we needed any more reasons to be weary of our old chum The Credit Crunch, producing cars that enhance a brand’s image but don’t actually make any money is something manufacturers can no longer indulge in. Ford had to make sure that this new RS could be produced on the same line, at the same time and in the same factory as every other Focus. They couldn’t take cars off the line for ~any reason, or slow the line down to add extra components. Previous incarnations of the RS had to be whisked off to specialist suppliers for the “fast bits” to be fitted, which made the car expensive and slow to make. ~It was also a process that allowed quality issues to creep in because the process couldn’t be as accurately managed.

I was lucky enough to be asked by Ford to fly to Saarlouis in Germany with Richard Bremner for an article published in Autocar magazine. While doing the stills photography I also made the short video you can see above with the hope of showing what goes on behind the scenes in an ultra-modern car factory. It’s an awe-inspiring experience because of the sheer scale of the operation, although I’m always impressed by how calm and measured everything seems, despite that fact that 1,600 cars a day come out of this building!

Of course we missed the last flight back from Luxemboug and had to hire a rental car to hurtle back to the UK in time for work the next day, but that’s a story for another time…

I did wonder whether the dark rear windows were just asking for trouble, and as soon as I put the GTI into gear and pressed my right foot down on the shiny chrome accelerator pedal I knew that was precisely the case. Fast and furious – just like my heart-rate. I felt I was in a bumper car (thankfully without the bumps), zooming along, changing direction instantly. But I could never live with a car like this – it would end badly, and probably in court. I know my place: I’m just a Polo-type of girl despite aspirations to the contrary.

Now if the GTI is a boy-racer, then the GTI with the six speed DSG double-clutch is definitely for the ‘man-racer’ out there (5-door £24,905). Almost as much fun, but so effortless. Still fast, furious and thrilling and great for those who no longer feel the need to rev the engine for effect, but zoom on by in a blur of class, quality and style. Yet more money, of course.

The thing is, driving a speedy, beautifully made, high kerb-appeal vehicle just makes you feel so good. It’s very seductive. Perhaps that’s why there will always be those prepared to splash out for a Golf GTI.

I suppose the GTI is the ultimate for a driver of a certain age (I imagine late-twenties), but there are other Golfs of course, and the range offers something for everyone – if you have the cash.

Boys and Their Toys

See also our Focus RS Factory Tour Blog here

I’ve recently launched myself headlong into the dubious world of forums, of the motoring variety.

My experiences so far have been pretty unpleasant and occasionally amusing. People seem to think they can write whatever they like with little regard to how it might affect the person it’s aimed at…In all fairness to them, it was rather like waving a red rag to a bull, so perhaps they weren’t completely to blame and they were, as a far as a could tell, all men. Need I say more?

The object of their attack? Me, in the all new, singing and dancing Ford Focus RS. It was white, with a huge grille, spoiler and wheels and to me looked exactly what it was, a boy-racer with more brawn than brain – sound familiar lads?

I happened to be at a media test day and this was one of the cars on offer. Not something I would normally aspire to drive, but I managed to have a great time in it and gave a first drive review and video, which, as ever, was driven by practicalities.

But the Focus RS isn’t about practicalities so the video went down like a lead balloon. It did, however, give those fiends something to bitch and rant about – namely me and how boring, middle-aged, unfit looking, small (actually referred to as a dwarf), hair too short, can’t say my ‘rs’, possible lesbian, likes wearing flat shoes (obviously haven’t seen my collection of heels) and what is a ‘bint’?

My skin is getting thicker, but I’m working hard on it with that constant mantra in my head ‘I am what I am and it’s alright with me’.

The moral of this story? Don’t go looking in places you don’t belong. I think I’ll stick to letter-writing, and family hatchbacks.

I’ve managed to go for my entire driving career without ever having been in an Alfa Romeo – but not for lack of trying.

When the new MiTo appeared on my doorstep, I was suddenly reminded of a time when, working as a newly qualified staff nurse, hating every moment of it, I was dazzled by a certain doctor, who, if I passed in the street today, wouldn’t get a second glance…

I like to think it was the Alfa Romeo that dazzled me and not his stethoscope. But I was young and impressionable! So, like it or not, Alfa Romeos have always meant unobtainable men.It was therefore very pleasing to be able to climb into this lovely machine and no man around to make me giggle pathetically.

My heart was racing though, and while I knew it’d be fast, I didn’t appreciate just how much fun I had at my fingertips. I was almost relieved to give it back at the end of the week – at least the risk of getting into trouble with the law was over. So I found myself back in my husband’s runaround – previously my father’s pride and joy – a Vauxhall Corsa of a certain age. I tried to convince myself that I could have just as much fun with its stiff gears, uncomfortable seats and top speed of 70 mph with the wind behind it.

I was pleased with the way it coped with all the speed bumps, scoring better than the otherwise lovely MiTo with its very firm, sporty ride. I zoomed up the hill towards the gym, approached the lights that can either make or break me getting to my class on time and zipped through them rather neatly just as they were turning from amber to red. I had a nanosecond of smugness before I heard the wail of police sirens and a police van, lights flashing, screeched to a halt behind me!

I almost lost control of my bodily functions as I sat ramrod straight thinking “what the hell do I do now?” Having lived in the States, I was told to always keep very still, hands on the wheel should I ever be pulled over (which I never was, I hasten to add). The sheer relief as they strode out of their van to attend to a previously unnoticed car was amazing. MiTo paranoia perhaps? After collecting myself and ensuring that I was back in control of my body I arrived at my gym class, on time, but still shaking.

I will never, ever try and beat the lights again, whatever car I’m driving!