You'll Need At Least £30k To Buy An Abarth 124 Spider
The new Fiat 124 Spider is supposed to be the Mazda MX-5’s softer, cruisey cousin. That’s just fine, and it’s arguably the better car for what a lot of potential MX-5 customers are after anyway. But what if you do actually want to drive your Fiazda MX-124 hard? You’ll be wanting the Abarth 124 Spider, which has now been confirmed to cost £29,565 for the six-speed manual, and £31,605 for the ‘Sequenziale Sportivo’ six-speed automatic.
Quite a figure, given that the range-topping Mazda MX-5 Recaro is over five grand less. However, the Abarth does look like quite a serious proposition: compared to the standard 124 it sits much lower on Bilstein dampers and stiffer springs, while a mechanical limited-slip differential has been added, and the anti-roll bars have been suitably beefed up.
There are four-piston Brembo brakes at the front, and a 1.4-litre turbocharged sitting under the bonnet kicking out 168bhp and 184lb ft of torque. That’s 10bhp and 36lb ft more than the 2.0-litre MX-5, giving it a 0-62mph time of 6.8 seconds - half a second quicker than the Mazda. You also get a fruity ‘Record Monza’ exhaust as standard, although four tips does seem like overkill…
Want one? Abarth 124 Spiders will be in the UK this summer.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
The struggle…
Hold on, let me just call a buddy who is an expert on Fiat 124s.
“And remember I’m taking a big risk here”
Seriously?! 30,000 quid for a nice looking, six speed automatic? Okay, this is not as good as the MX-5.
*not
Definitely not.
I think they come in manual aswell.
Would still want one over an ND.
Seems quite pricey considering its a similar price in $ in the US making it way more over here. I guess Fiat\Abarth arent quite as established over there
the Abarth 124 Spider in a nutshell
Mx-5 + Maserati GranTurismo = Abarth 124 Spider
Cheap Japanese fun + expensive Italian leather and exhaust = overpriced Mx-5
= improved MX5*
Expensive italian leather? Have you been in a granturismo?
… I don’t like how that thing looks. Apart from the interior. Front reminds me of a Kia Cee’d
still mx5 is better exept if its called phil
How is the mx5 better?
It looks better than the mx5 to me, not too much curve
Rear end looks more like an MX-5 than the ND MX-5 does!
This looks absolutely amazing, I’m in love
That is a bit of a joke, maybe if it has 6 cylinders it would make sense but nah. I love this thing but you could probably grab a 235i for that price (I think dealers discount them a lot) or a Golf R. Maybe though as your 4th or 5th car it makes a lot of sense?
Would much rather have this over a 235i or a Golf R.