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From the album: Abarth Fiat 124 Spider
Thanks to NetCarShow.com for the pics. -
From the album: Abarth Fiat 124 Spider
Thanks to NetCarShow.com for the pics. -
From the album: Abarth Fiat 124 Spider
Thanks to NetCarShow.com for the pics. -
From the album: Abarth Fiat 124 Spider
Thanks to NetCarShow.com for the pics. -
From the album: Abarth Fiat 124 Spider
Thanks to NetCarShow.com for the pics. -
From the album: Abarth Fiat 124 Spider
Thanks to NetCarShow.com for the pics. -
I drove a Abarth Fiat 124 Spider So, my colleague at work this week had a demo Abarth Fiat 124 Spider for the week. Number 1 of 100, I took it for a little spin this morning. It's hard to get a proper feel for these cars I get to drive as most of the time I am limited to just driving around Pyrmont and can't give them a proper test. I also wasn't able to get any photos this time. Thanks to NetCarShow.com for the pics. The first thing I can tell you is that it wasn't made for 6'5" 110kg people. I almost had to shoe-horn myself into the driver's seat and then my leg was so significantly wedged in under the dash that I couldn't stop thinking about how much it hurt. It also really hindered my ability to use the clutch. So, it was immediately clear to me that even if I wanted to buy one, I simply couldn't. I did put the roof up to see how much of my head would need removing, but alas, this was fine with a good finger's width between my hair and the roof. The interior was very nice, but I did feel like I was in a new Mazda3. The dials and buttons and materials were all top notch, but not Italian. The indicator was also on the right, not left like a proper European car. But, that's a bit of a nit-pick from a European car lover. Remembering that this is just an MX5 in a new jacket, I tried hard to see it as an Italian roadster. That was hard as the interior didn't have any Italian feel to it, besides the red stitching on the dash and the red 'ABARTH' branded seats (which would be really nice for anybody who could fit in them.) I didn't know what engine was in it before I drove it and assumed it was one of Mazda's 1.5 or 2.0 offerings. I was a little underwhelmed with the performance and found very little down low and it was quickly out of puff up top. Meaning, it had a nice mid range and if you can keep it in that range with the 6 speed it would be awesome. It sounded quite tinny though with the odd bauble here and there. When I gave it back and had a read about it, I found out that it is actually a turbo 1.4. That's very impressive because it definitely behaved like a bigger engine and the lack of torque made more sense to me after that. But, I do not think that the engine fits the car. It needs more, it needs a bigger range, it needs more top end and i also think that 6 cogs for a 1.4 are a little much. Note that mine was obviously a right hand drive. Handling was great. Turn in felt a little like a Honda Integra Type R like it was a capable front-wheel-drive bordering on understeer. As it is a rear wheel drive, I didn't want to push and see what happened so I kept it sane. I was in Pyrmont, remember. I must admit that this little car got as much attention as the Porsche GT4 I drove the other week. All in all, very fun. I can't see how anybody could survive with this as their daily. The complete lack of interior storage, space and back seats would render this car entirely useless to most full-sized people. Would you pick this over an MX5? Some comparison; Mazda MX5 1.5L: From $42k, 96kw / 150nm Mazda MX5 2.0L: From $44k, 118 / 200nm Fiat Spider: From $44k, 125kw / 250nm, 0-100 6.8s. More pics in the Album.
