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
I would still take the 2L mx5 over it.
I wouldn’t.
A full half second chopped off its time, beefed up breaks, LSD, better dampeners, mid-range turbo pull - its by far the better car.
Null
In my opinion, this power is too low for the version ‘’ Sport ‘’ of a Roadster, he should have at least a 240 Hp. After all is a SPORTING Roadster, priced Camaro, 240hp is the least he should have. I’m a fan of Fiat, but that Marchionne only do bad things.
Note: I’m sorry for Bad English
It sounds like it uses the same engine as the Abarth 500 which can be tuned to 300bhp for under 10k and tuned to 240 for about 4K
I think it’s fairly priced
Fiat version to me looks much better than the MX-5, it also sounds better and has slightly improved material cabin quality. Also suspension and brakes are upgraded compared to MX-5. Yeah, 1.4-litre and 168bhp don’t sound like a lot, but that should be enough to have loads of fun in this car
Although I still think that Abarth should have developed a 1.6-litre engine with at least 200bhp for this car, but no more than 250bhp
That crap doesn’t have anything on this
It’s too overpriced, 40.000€ + for a luxurious version of an mx-5… a 595 cost a lot less and it’s more funny to drive
30k - I guess thats because its getting shipped from Hiroshima?
Tad pricey compared to a 200hp Subaru BRZ or Toyota 86 but you get italian style interior with japanese build quality
I would rather have a 2l mx5. Think about it. Probably way more reliable. Natural aspirated, so that engine will basicaly last a decade. And i think a mx5 looks better.
Fiat USA has it starting at $28,195 usd. Pretty good price here in the states.