ONLY Fiat offers anything beyond the vanilla in the micro car class in Australia, in the beautifully proportioned form of the 500-based Abarth 595.

This is baby-gone-bonkers stuff, with a beefed-up, slammed-down aero-enhanced body bulging with a high-blow 1.4-litre turbo, unique chassis mods and brilliant brakes.

We’re talking unhinged hot hatch – and one really not for the fainthearted at that. It’s also flawed in a few fundamental ways.