Used Abarth 595 review and buying guide (2008 to present): which one to buy and what to check

Which used Abarth 595 should you buy?

No single year or version of the 595 stands out as the safer buy, because there are no known faults logged against it and only a handful of owners' reports. That's a thin record, not a clean one. The one clear steer in the editorial notes is on wheels: it's at its best on 16-inch rims and loses some of its feel on the 17-inch ones, so let that shape your shortlist.

The other thing that decides it is the paperwork. Servicing and warranty work on these cars has to go through an Abarth dealer rather than a Fiat one, so buy the car with Abarth dealer stamps. It's a rare sight on the road, which means there won't be many to pick from, but don't settle for one with holes in its history just because it's the only one near you.

Which Abarth 595 engines and gearboxes are the safe choices?

Nothing in the evidence tells you to avoid a particular engine or gearbox, because there are no known faults recorded for the 595 and no service interval data either. That doesn't make every car safe; it just means no pattern has been pinned down. The two drivetrain reports on file each concern one car, so treat them as things to test for rather than reasons to rule a version out.

On the gearbox side, a 2013 car badged Abarth 500 lost drive at 30,000 miles when a shaft sheared or the gears stripped, and the editorial notes also mention a report of serious transmission trouble. Its owner's warranty claim was refused because the car had been serviced at home. It's a single car, but it's why a smooth, quiet run through every gear matters when you drive one.

The engine story is also one car. A brand new Competizione's engine failed at 363 miles and was replaced, turbocharger included, under warranty; then at 1,630 miles it suddenly lost power with no warning light and wouldn't rev past 3,000rpm. That isn't a fault pattern, but it's a good reason to make sure the engine you're looking at pulls cleanly all the way up the rev range.

What should you check when viewing a used Abarth 595?

Open the service book before anything else. Every stamp should be from Abarth's own dealers, with no Fiat dealer or driveway jobs in there, because that's where these cars have to go for servicing and warranty work. Ask for the receipts that go with the stamps, and don't accept a missing year with a shrug: a home-serviced car has already cost one owner a gearbox warranty claim.

Test every light, and do it with the tailgate in mind. One 2010 car lost its speedo, its indicators and its brake lights after the wiring under the tailgate twisted and snapped from the hatch opening and closing, so work the tailgate a few times with the lights on and watch the dash. Blown bulbs have come up in more than one report, so walk round and check none are out.

Run the heater from cold to hot and back again. One owner's car at 43,000 miles got stuck on full heat, with a temperature sensor, a broken flap or its motor in the ducting as the suspects. It's worth a sniff round the car for petrol too, since a March 2010 car had a serious fuel leak that one dealer denied and a second dealer found and repaired.

On the drive, go through every gear and hold each one to the top of the rev range. Any clunk, slip or loss of drive points at the gearbox, and an engine that goes flat or won't rev freely with no warning light is exactly what one Competizione owner got. Don't let a seller brush either off as the car just needing a run.

Paste the advert into the free check and it runs these against the listing, the MOT history and the DVLA record before you travel.

What does a used Abarth 595 cost to run?