Opposites attract: Fiat 500 vs. Ferrari 458 Italia

Today we've brought together:

Ferrari 458 Italia and Fiat 500.

Because:

They're both Italian, both head turners and both feature in Michael Schumacher's garage. Actually, that's not entirely true, the 458 Italia not featuring in anyone's garage as yet, but there's no doubt Mr Schumacher will get one - after all he helped develop it. Ultimately they both come from the same company too, the tangled web of financing and ownership between Ferrari and Fiat a complicated one, but Ferrari's F1 cars wear a Fiat badge on them so that's good enough for us.

The differences:

It'd be easier to point out the similarities. Both are cars, both have four wheels, a steering wheel each and an engine. That's about it. The Fiat, though coming from a heritage of rear-engined vehicles has its powerplant in the nose and it powers the front wheels, while the Ferrari's is in the middle and powers the rear. In its ultimate form the Fiat 500 Abarth Esseesse pumps out 157bhp from its 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder unit, which is enough to fling this tot down the road on the way to 62mph in around 7.5 seconds. That's respectable, but the turbocharged output of the Fiat is no match for the high-revving naturally aspirated power of the Ferrari 458 Italia's 4.5-litre V8. It delivers 562bhp - or more than three times the power of the most powerful Fiat 500.

Try as the Fiat driver might they'll never be able to keep up with the Italia in a 0-62mph dash, the 458 taking under half the time to get there - Ferrari quotes a time of less than 3.4 seconds. The Fiat won't be able to keep up on a high speed run either; the Ferrari able to better 200mph, the Fiat running out of acceleration at around 130mph.

Where the Ferrari's shape is all wind tunnel honed and designed to provide downforce at speed the 500 is a retro-looking charm offensive from Italy, Fiat plundering its past to attract buyers to its city car. The Fiat excels around town, the upright driving position, decent visibility and ease of parking somewhat different to the low slung parking nightmare that the 458 Italia will undoubtedly offer. Ferrari has worked very hard in creating an environmentally friendlier supercar, but impressive as its 20.6mpg combined consumption figure is it's someway off the 500 Abarth's 43.4mpg. Choose a diesel 500 and that goes up to 67.3mpg. Perhaps a Ferrari in the garage for the weekend and a Fiat for buzzing around town might be the best solution? Oh, and then there's the matter of price. You could have ten Abarth 500s (and change) for the price of one Ferrari.

Any similarities:

Aside from the four wheels, steering wheel and an engine mentioned above they've not much in common. Both will turn heads and they sound great too. Expect big thrills in each; although their performance is on different levels they'll still surprise and delight you when you drive them. Both use animals as symbols, Abarth a scorpion in a shield, the Ferrari a prancing horse - again in a shield. The scorpion could no doubt give the pony a little sting, but then the horse could trample all over the tiny insect. Fitting, that.

If this pair was a double act, it'd be:

Usain Bolt and the kid at school who won the 100 metres at sports day. Both quick, but on completely different levels. The Ferrari is a sprinter, lithe, light and focussed entirely on performance, the Fiat quick, but backward looking - it keeping its school trophy on the mantelpiece even after all these years.

Kyle Fortune