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Fiat 500 Arbarth 695 Tributo Ferrari: A Ferrari for £30k?

Hey, want a brand new Ferrari? Fiat's just unveiled the latest hot version of its 500 supermini and would you believe it, it's a tribute to Ferrari. No, we kid you not.

Rory Reid
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Good news, petrolfaces -- you can now buy a Ferrari for less than £30,000 There's one tiny catch: the car in question is not an actual Ferrari. It's a souped-up Fiat 500 created in tribute to the prancing horse, but apart from that, the offer is legit.

The Arbarth 695 Tributo Ferrari is designed in homage to Italy's finest sports cars. It doesn't look anything like a Ferrari, granted, but it has a Ferrari-inspired exterior, a tarted up interior, more power than the standard Fiat 500 Arbarth (which had plenty) and a price tag of just £29,600.

Outside, attention to detail abounds. You get carbon door mirrors, Corsa Grey alloy wheels, large, sporty-looking front vents and a rear diffuser that wouldn't look out of place on a Ferrari 599 -- provided the 599 had been shrunk in the wash.

There's loads going on inside, too. The 695 Tributo offers a Ferrari-style steering wheel, leather-finished bucket seats and paddle shifts to go with its Arbarth Competizione gearbox, which features manual and automatic modes.

The car uses the same 1.4-litre engine as the standard Fiat 500 Arbarth Esseesse hot hatch, but it now develops 180bhp -- 20 more ponies than the standard car. We've no official performance figures as yet, but with that amount of power, the 695 Tributo Ferrari should eclipse the Esseesse's 0-60mph of 7.5 seconds by a considerable margin.

And it'll sound great doing so -- the car has a variable-pressure sports exhaust that makes the engine note more sporty once you stray over a certain number of engine revs, just like on the 599.

We'll have more on the Fiat 500 Arbarth 695 Tributo Ferrari in due course, but in the meantime, watch our video review of the original Fiat 500 and let us know what you think of this model in the comments below. Is it better looking than Aston Martin's oddball Cygnet concept? Is it worthy of the Ferrari name? Or does it look like Postman Pat has done some pimping?

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Check out the sweet little rear diffuser underneath. We're not sure it affects the car's performance, but it gets two thumbs up from us.
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The inside's fairly well arranged. The contrasting red on the steering wheel and the leather bucket seats are a smart touch.

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