Saturday 9th July 2016

Fiat 124 Spider - video roadtest

Is the Italian sunshine enough to put Fiat's retro-modern 124 Spider in a favourable light?

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If Fiat wanted the 124 Spider to shine on home soil it had a funny way of showing it, the launch route basically a traffic-clogged tour of slow-moving roads between Verona and Lake Garda. With a stop-off for some manner of web broadcast press conference. And a big lunch.

Much as we liked the idea of the latter we decided to elope and take the 124 Spider off-piste, up into the mountains and onto some proper roads to really put it to the test. And here's the video of that drive, exploring the vital question of whether or not Fiat has put sufficient ground between the Spider and the MX-5 on which it is based.

Fiat 124 Spider video roadtest

 

[RanchoGrande]

How to make any car appear deeply uncool: Put this guy in it.

[RanchoGrande]

audidoody said:

Harsh and not fair. Not everyone can be Clarkson (as CE demonstrated).

You try speaking lucidly to a camera without 'humming' and 'aaahing" while driving in just one or two 'takes'.

Harsh but a fair assessment, he comes across as a total dweeb. I thought this when I saw the desperate PH TV on a random freesat channel the other day. Some people are just not right for TV work and this guy is one of them.