Abarth 124 Spider: PH Fleet
It didn't blow us away on the road test, but can the newest Abarth impress as a long-term prospect?
Imagine if it was just a tad lower...
As a car from the Abarth press fleet, rather than something brand new, RO17 DVK arrived with a fair few miles on it: 8,858 to be precise. More than a loan normally starts with, but that does at least mean the dinky 1,368cc turbo should be fighting fit after beginning its life with journalists... There are only three options available on the Abarth 124 Spider, and this car has all of them. There's the paint (Portogallo 1974 Grey, £600), the Visibility Pack (£1,250 for auto lights and wipers, plus parking sensors) and the Bose stereo upgrade with a subwoofer. Were it my spec, I'd probably go for a paint that contrasts with the black bonnet a bit more - both 'Costa Brava 1972 Red' and 'Turini 1975 White' are cheaper than the grey too - and could do without the Visibility Pack, though the stereo upgrade is welcome. On very early experience the sound quality seems quite good, and speakers in the headrest are particularly handy for phone calls with the roof down. One to report back on in more detail soon.
Because, to be honest, I've not driven it a great deal yet. It arrived last week, Ben took it for these lovely pictures, and I've used it for a couple of commutes. Pleasingly though, there are some good points already. Making that much noise in urban areas is entertaining (in a rather juvenile way), and the Abarth feels small, nimble and potent. The gearbox has perhaps got even better with a few miles in it too; roof down and darting through traffic, the Abarth is right giggle.
Well it should be the most PHey of the MX-5/124s...
So there will be a lot to keep the Abarth busy over the coming months, and I'm intrigued to see how it will fare. With the honeymoon period coming to an end, the real tests will begin in earnest soon. As ever, if there are any suggestions or ideas for what the car needs to do during it's time with us, I'm all ears!
FACT SHEET
Car: 2017 Abarth 124 Spider
On fleet since: August 2017
Mileage: 9,024 (delivered on 8,858)
List price new: £29,565 (As tested £32,210 comprising £600 for Portogallo 1974 Grey paint, £1,250 for Visibility Pack (LED headlights with automatic levelling and washers, Adaptive Front Light System, Dusk-sensing and rain sensitive wipers, rear parking sensors) and £795 for Bose Sound System)
Last month at a glance: A new Abarth arrives rather noisily on the PistonHeads long-term fleet
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I wasn't paying full attention and thought it was a genuine part of the article at first.This should get an outing at the Goodwood Sunday service trackday in December.
...popular motoring forum melts down because it's not a MX5.They look much nicer in a single colour with contrasting leather. Better looking to my eye than the overly fussy MX5.
Not a fan of the striped colour schemes. Just looks like they're trying too hard.
Will be interested to see how this fares as a long termer. Hope you get at least a few nice sunny days to enjoy the top down without needing the heaters on full blast!
As a designer, where do you start? Common sense would dictate fixed points such as steering wheel, pedals, gearlever etc as number one priority. Then move to stuff like dials and gauges, column stalks, control switches etc. Finally "nice-to-have" stuff like infotainment.
Here, the first thing I see is that bloody great screen sat on top of what looks like a perfectly nice dash. And FIAT are not alone: most new cars seem to have the same arrangement (although bigger ones integrate it more successfully).
If these distractions to driving are here to stay then designers need to find a way to incorporate them better.
As to the car: looks great. I saw a few in Italy on holiday last week (together with a load of Alfa Stelvios) and as homages to old models go I think they've done an OK job, actually.
You can almost see the FIAT marketing departments train of thought "Well, we did really well re-inventing the FIAT 500, no let's see what other part of our back history can we dredge up to try and add an extra 10% onto our margins with a nice retro play and base it on something existing so we don't have to spend any money on R&D...".
Even the cynic in me struggles to applaud such cynicism.....
I tried a standard 124 Spider because my wife likes the idea of one, but I found that (a) despite only being 5"10, I simply couldn't get the seat to go back as far as I wanted, and (b) despite not being having a particularly broad upper back, the seat back was too narrow between the bolsters, meaning that after about 10 minutes behind the wheel, I was feeling really quite uncomfortable and decidedly keen to get out. Would be a deal-breaker for me.
The seats in the MX-5 I tried did not suffer to the same extent, oddly enough, perhaps because they are slimmer.
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