Abarth 500 SS - Yesseesse! - 2008

Looks neat, huh?

The esseesse (that's Italian for 'SS', innit) is the hotter version of the already-hot Abarth 500, and gets - as you might just have noticed - the same bodykit as the Abarth (including that funky little rear diffuser) and a set of 17-inch wheels. We like those wheels.

You won't be surprised to hear that the cabin gets bucket seats and masses of scorpion logos with, no doubt, a whole bunch of other personalisation options if you're feeling flash with your cash.

Fastness? You wanna know fastness? How does a 157bhp turbocharged 1.4-litre engine grab you? Putting out 170lb ft of torque in 'boost ' mode, it'll fire the SS to 62mph in just 7.4 seconds, half a second quicker than the standard Abarth 500.

The SS's ride heigh has been lowered compared to the Abarth 500, too, and there's a front-wheel limited slip diff to keep things on the reasonably straight and narrow. Bad news for fans of torque steer, that.

And, as proof that you can be irresponsible in a responsible fashion, the SS will return a fairly miserly 44mpg and 155g/km of CO2, too.

We can't wait to see the 500 SS in Paris next week. And not because it'll likely be flanked by gorgeous Italian models. Definitely nothing to do with that.