15 (Photo: Walla! system, Kenan Cohen)
If only it were also possible to freeze the Hubart on the production lines
Price:
NIS 140,000
We liked:
engine, behavior, appearance
We didn't like:
quality of materials, safety systems
Score
: 9/10
In the military parlance, this is called "peripheral damage" or "secondary damage", referring to all those injuries to life or property that occur as part of an action against legitimate goals.
Well, this blue Hubbart 595 is just the motoring example of the peripheral damage caused by the electric offensive taking over the automotive industry.
Because when we talk about the transition to electric cars and how important it is for the environment, we think of a lot of big, wasteful cars, with gasoline and diesel engines with high volumes and emissions, in which one or two people usually drive.
But definitely not small, purpose-built cars like this one.
In our case the Hubbart 595 is simply a car that got caught in the line of fire at the wrong place and time.
It's also definitely very strange to test a car that technically has already been introduced as a replacement in the form of an Abarth version of the new Fiat 500e and yet, as the miles went by with this little field on highways, side roads, in the city and in the mountains - we realized how much of a driving experience it is that we lack today.
The cabin wasn't a hit when it was launched, and it hasn't really improved since then (photo: Walla! system, Kenan Cohen)
Design:
Although it has been with us for more than ten years, every time you meet an Abarth car it is hard not to fall in love with it all over again.
She has that cuteness of lion cubs who are not at all aware of their relative size, to them they are a terrifying prey animal.
All these inflations and additions to what is basically a mini city car make it a hot visual candy and the matte color of the test car adds to this performance even more.
Passenger cabin:
If there is one place where the signs of age have not been skipped over, it is the passenger compartment.
It was not a place to fly on already with her show, the past years have not changed that.
The materials are very simple, a significant part of the switches are archaic in appearance, touch and use, the human engineering here requires many compromises and yet it is a minimalism that has magic on its side - as if to say: we are here to drive.
The driving position is still very strange, with a steering wheel that does not adjust in and out, sitting relatively high on rather narrow seats and a gear lever that we would have liked to have had a roughness, or at least a leather coating due to its frequent use.
Technically there are rear seats here, but you don't want to know what it takes to fold even a child there, let alone an adult.
Let's just say that given its minimal trunk, they will actually serve as the real trunk of this car.
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In any case, when you stop for shopping, it lowers the average speed, so who needs a trunk (photo: Walla! system, Kenan Cohen)
Equipment:
As a small car, focused on a goal and not young, the equipment here is not really dizzying.
There is a 7-inch multimedia screen with Android and Apple connectivity, a digital dashboard, climate control and these are more or less the things that are still worth noting.
The round Movalai screen makes it clear right from the start that you can forget about advanced safety systems.
Adaptive cruise control is the gas pedal, automatic braking is your responsibility with the brake pedal, lane departure correction is done with the steering wheel and vehicle detection in a dead zone with the mirrors.
Anyone who needs electronic aids for these things, move on.
not here
More agile than the dry data suggests (photo: Walla! system, Kenan Cohen)
Performance:
It is powered by a 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with 165 horses, an improvement of 20 horses from the previous base version thanks to the increase in the filling ratio of its Garrett 1446 supercharger.
The performance here is also not really something that will compete or even begin to challenge modern sports cars - 7.3 seconds to 100 km/h and a maximum speed of 218 km/h.
But all these remain on paper as soon as you turn the key (yes, indeed a physical key...) and bring her engine to life with a short and hoarse bark.
Combining it with the first one and starting urban traffic with it really requires restraint not to start threading it into every available hole and lighting up after two-wheeled riders zigzagging between the lanes.
This engine may not have many horses, but every one of them kicks and lives.
At the right rpm, in the right gear, the feeling you get doesn't match the numbers, it gives a much more agile feeling than the data sheet says.
Not comfortable, not spacious, without modern safety equipment.
Then comes a round and everything is forgotten (photo: Walla! system, Keinan Cohen)
Comfort and behavior:
No one will be surprised that a small sports car is not a comfortable thing, and indeed, the 595 Novolari does not for a moment hide its stiff and bouncy calibration.
This version has Eibach lowering springs and Koni FSD rear shocks.
But in order to enjoy the progressive damping of these shock absorbers you have to reach loads in the turns, the rest of the time it is a car that is not really isolated.
But those who buy it for davin' around the city will not only suffer from the stiffness, they will also lose the huge bonus that this car offers - the most fun for the weight on the winding road on four wheels period.
Late in the evening or early in the morning, 50 minutes away from the congested Dan Hapkok Gush, there are the narrow and winding roads, the ones with 200-300 straight lines are the longest you can hold a straight line.
There bursts from this small car a character that can be enough for several modern cars.
There you can speed it between the bends and between the gears (a shorter stroke of the handle would only do them good), there you can find out how much we are losing in the race after more and more horses in our usual fat and heavy cars.
This lightness is reflected in the ability to brake and plant it on its tiny weight just before a turn with 4 perforated brakes and then slam it in with the weight still on the front wheels.
When you can bury your foot in the accelerator pedal and speed it out of turns.
Suddenly you rediscover that for the basic fun of driving, the fun of those who love and know how to drive - not that of 0-100 and the rest of the chimpanzees, but the extinct art of controlling the car and making it dance on a winding road, you don't need 300 horses and north, you don't need gearboxes from the worlds of Formula 1 and driving Double, but only a car that knows how to challenge and reward in return.
is everything good
not really no.
Its steering wheel is still too detached to be one that really conveys what's going on down there between the road and the wheels.
And using traction control to simulate a limited slip differential doesn't produce anything close enough to the "real thing" either.
Even with Habart, less is more (photo: Walla! system, Kenan Cohen)
Fuel consumption:
The test drive in the Abart covered almost 630 very enjoyable kilometers in which we didn't miss any opportunity to speed it up and have a lot of fun. So it was very surprising to find out that the fuel consumption was actually a good surprise - 13.2 km per liter.
It's just a shame that it has a tiny 35-liter fuel tank, so a serious day trip will require you to make one or two refueling stops anyway.
The successor will be electric.
Will you be able to preserve the magic? (Photo: Walla! System, Kenan Cohen)
The bottom line:
in a car market where it has become completely legitimate to ask for NIS 150,000 for a regular mainstream family and for a small sports car like a Polo GTI you will be asked to pay NIS 194,000, meeting a car like the Abarth 595 Novular was a moment of sanity in the demonic dance of car prices around us.
True, it is an old car, almost historical in the terms of the automobile industry, the comfort accessories are limited, the service conditions are bad and the complete lack of advanced safety systems is definitely problematic.
But we just can't remember the last time we got so much fun from a car with a price tag of NIS 140,000.
There are a lot of good cars on the market, there will be more in the future - but a driving experience like the Hubbart offers is not only a lot of fun for a little car and money, it is also an opportunity to get one last shot of strong espresso before we are all forced to switch to caffeine-free car substitutes.
On the technical side: Abarth 595 Novolari
Engine, drive:
gasoline, turbo, front
power/torque:
165 hp/23.5 kg
Gearbox:
manual, 5 gears
Dimensions:
length (meters):
3.6
width (meters):
1.6
height (meters):
1.5
base Wheels (meters):
2.30
Trunk (liters):
185
Performance:
0-100 acceleration (seconds):
7.3
Top speed (km/h):
218
Fuel consumption (test):
13.2 km per liter
Safety:
European crash test score :
Not tested
Active safety:
No
Air pollution:
Group 13 of 15
Warranty:
Two years, unlimited km
Competitors:
No
vehicle
Vehicle tests
Tags
Abarth
