Abarth 696 Esseessee

Nimble. Shouty. Agressive. Abarth.

Normally I would need a bit more words to describe a car, but in this case it perfectly suits the characteristics of this Italian Scorpion.

What is an Abarth?

It all began back in 1949 thanks to Carlo Abarth. What’s funny, is that the man was born in Austria, where he was named “Karl Albert Abarth”, and then later when he became an Italian civil, they literally added an ‘o’ to his name, which is the most Italian thing I’ve heard today, haha. The well-known scorpion is said to be Carlos’ zodiac sign, just so the mystery is out of the way.

Now enough Carlo talks, let’s dig into what he has created. Abarth started off as a ‘tuned Fiat’, which it still is to this date. His performance modified cars achieved success in every competition and with Carlo Abarth at the wheel, took many records.

In the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, the Abarth brand continuously and incessantly made a name for itself in the public mind as the synonym for sport, tuning and performance, changing the sports car world back then.

These days though, Abarth basically takes a normal Fiat 500 as well, and builds the car off of that.

The 695 Esseesse

This to me, first sounded like ‘just another special edition’ from Abarth. But oh boy was I wrong. The 695 makes itself recognizable by a few key design elements. For example, this Esseesse comes with a (manually) adjustable spoiler. At full tilt (60°) and a speed of 200 km/h, the “Spoiler ad Assetto Variabile” – adjustable from 0 to 60° – provides for an increase in aerodynamic load to up to 42 kg, resulting in improved stability on bends and greater responsiveness in mixed sections. Furthermore, there’s the seats that are embroidered with ‘1 of 695’, which does make you feel that tad bit more special.

Things such as bumpers both front and rear, and body panels have a way more pronounced look to them.

In its creation, the team of Abarth engineers and designers drew inspiration from the 1964 model, the “Cinquino” tuned up as a 695 Esseesse with its displacement raised to 690 cc and 38 hp so it could achieve 140 km/h. It was designed for everyday use and as a sporty city car, but aimed at those who were seeking the best performance on everyday roads, and produced in only 1,000 units. In addition, the “mean little Scorpion” stood out for its distinctive badges with the monogram "SS" in capital letters on the bonnet and "esseesse", all in lower case on the dashboard. And it was immediately a success for fans of Italian sportiness. All in all, this is the fastest car in Abarth’s line-up currently.

The driving

Reflecting on how this car drove, I can only express feelings of joy and fulfillment. Although the positioning of the steering wheel is not fully adjustable, and the ride might be a little harsh, this car impressed me every time I drove it, and that’s exactly what Abarth wants you to experience as well.

The car is equipped with an extremely shouty Akrapovic exhaust, which has valves that remotely open and close, depending on your driving style or speed. When you leave full-throttle from a stand-still, they will be open all-the-way-through. If you’re cruising, they’ll open up from 58 km/h. Btw, the car only has 5 gears. So that means you’re doing high Rpm’s on the motorway, aka you get to be noisy constantly! What a blast, really.

You see, I used this little rocket as a daily driver for 7 days straight. I enjoyed it by taking it to some B-roads, just having fun. But that’s exactly what I want to clarify; it is not a practical daily driver. I did a 4 hour road-trip in it, resulting in 8 hours total driving time in a day. And let me tell you, I was just worthless the day after. The fact the cars’ suspension picks up every bump in the tarmac, and it has such a small and noisy cabin, really doesn’t make it a car suitable for road-trips. I mean; it is possible, I just don’t recommend.

On the other hand, on that roadtrip I amazed people driving sport cars like an M3, 911, F-Type, with how the Abarth was able to eat corners like none of them could. I was literally 20m’s ahead of them at all times on B-roads, it even amazed me whilst driving.

During small breaks we did, I was also the most tired one though, which they cheered me for haha. It was fun to drive this car amongst big GT cars/heavy sport cars, because it was also an eye-opener for them that you don’t necessarily need 500hp and 4WD to go fast.

Some technical specs

What’s funny is that only after driving the car I searched for its performance, and it did surprise me, because it felt way faster to me. The 695 Esseesse is equipped with the 1.4 T-jet engine, delivering 180 hp of output and 250 Nm of torque at 3,000 rpm, offering a top speed of 225 km/h (with the spoiler adjusted to 0°, although I always left it on 60° for the looks, haha) and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in about 6.7 seconds.

I absolutely loved the simple, straight forward dashboard in front of me, combined with the very basic but cool-looking Turbo-Bar meter. It was funny to see the turbo’s spooling up, combined with the noise. The dashboard itself has a very informative and clear lay-out, and is also driver focused. I like!

Who buys this?

I would say anyone who either has a passion for Abarth, or wants to collect it. I don’t think their target audience are new customers. This is a car for a very specific audience, which is also why they make it limited, I feel like.

Summary

I absolutely do not want to be biased because of my partly Italian roots, yet I do love the little car. It gave me a completely different understanding of what an Abarth is actually capable of, and how you can properly enjoy them. Also, it’s one of the few (affordable) modern cars, that allowed me to have this much fun in, and still be very shouty while doing so, haha. The only downside is the fact that those loud valves only open above 58 km/h, or when you leave full-throttle from a stand-still. I wouldn’t see that as a negative, since you’re neighbors won’t hate you, apart from the obnoxiously loud cold start then… I absolutely recommend this car to anyone who is looking for a fun weekend car, that won’t depreciate all too much in its value over time. Thanks for reading up on this little gem!