Abarth 595 boot space, practicality and safety

• Abarth 595 not tested by Euro NCAP car safety examiners
• Fiat 500 on which it’s based scored five stars in 2007

The Abarth 595 hasn’t been tested by Euro NCAP and the Fiat 500 on which it is based was last put under the microscope back in 2007 – under the old, less stringent system.

Even so, it scored five stars for adult occupants and three stars for child occupants – impressive results for such a small car.

What lets it down most, however, is the lack of any crash prevention or mitigation systems. For example, many new cars come fitted with autonomous emergency braking (AEB), technology that detects when an accident is imminent and applies the brakes if the driver doesn’t.

It’s helped improve safety and reduce insurance premiums on a raft of new cars, yet due to the car’s ageing design, is absent on the Abarth 595. Cross traffic alert, lane departure warning and hill-start assist are other electronic safety aids absent from the Abarth.

• Boot space falls short compared to the 595’s rivals
• Rear seats only suitable for short journeys or kids
• Reasonable storage within the cabin

There’s no getting away from the fact that the Abarth 595 is a small car, and while the Fiat 500 on which it’s based scores well for practicality compared to its city car rivals, the 595 doesn’t fare as well in the hot hatch sector.

With the rear seats in place the Abarth boasts 185 litres of luggage capacity – increasing to 550 litres once they’re folded down. This lags far behind the three-door Ford Fiesta ST (290 litres with the seats up, 974 litres with them down) and Peugeot 208 GTI (285 litres and 1076 litres).

The available space is perfectly usable in its own right however, and will fit a couple of medium-sized bags with ease.

Sitting in the back seats yields a surprising amount of legroom, although a real shortage of headroom means they’re only suitable for short journeys. Note that there’s no middle seat, either.

Every 595 comes with two small bottle holders between the front seats, a glovebox and door pockets – all of which offer usable amounts of space.