Nothing shocks me anymore especially when it comes to the cars that scamper the streets of Ghana. I know and can tell you for a fact that we have a Lamborghini Aventador and a Huracan in Ghana. We are also blessed with the presence of the Jaguar F-Type on our roads and we have from the Germans, the mighty in smaller body, the Mercedes Benz AMG GTs, at least more than three of them freely roaming our streets. The lists goes on and on and on so you see, it would be very hard for me to be shocked about a car that is rare in Ghana that would shock me, however, I have seen one that has and it has a badge on it............................
From the Italians who do things with too much passion, we have this, the Abarth. The car in question is the Fiat 500 Abarth. Please don't get me wrong, I have seen a couple Fiat cars around; I have seen the 500x, the 500L and the base 500 around. But seeing the badge got my attention. Safe to say this is the only Fiat 500 Abarth in Ghana. What does that mean? Well, for those who don't know, Abarth is to Fiat what AMG is to Mercedes. And I can tell you for a fact that scorpions are not to be meddled with, they will sting you and inject poison into you, so, seeing one on the badge of a performance car says it all.
The specs aren't that impressive when you hear then; 1.4L turbocharged 4 cylinder engine producing 160hp sounds like nothing, but with a car this small and engineered with passion by people who know what fun is changes things. It is just a cute little thing that can get vulgar and mad and then go back being harmless and cute again. I didn't drive the car when I saw it but it put a smile on my face already.
On the track, not that we have one in Ghana, this car will bring joy where there is none and go on to make the day exciting despite its not as powerful as a Lambo or Ferrari but bear in mind that it is very small and its weight to power ratio is respectful. It weighs less than 1000kg looks good but is simply a fun car. It has the face that would either make you smile or laugh and a body which is absolutely cute.
People will say it looks girly and I may agree with them, nonetheless, its friendly, insane, welcoming and mad all at the same time. I would personally love a drive in this. There is something about this car which just say so much. I believe everybody has a happy side, even though some don't like showing it, and this car will definitely bring that out.
Now, back to why I am shocked to see this car in Ghana. For starters, we or should I say, most of us like to see wild and eye popping adrenaline pumping madly styled vehicles, so everyone's notion is to have or bring cars that would get attention. So, they bring noisy Americans and very powerful cars. I have also come to notice that most us don't really know cars that well so they just go for anything at all. The ordinary Fiat 500 isn't a boring car but the 500 Abarth is like being overpaid. You don't get terrified yet you have all the fun you can get, either in the city or on the track in fact where ever.