Top down in the new Fiat 124 Spider, in Italy, by the side of Lake Garda on a brilliantly sunny morning. Yeah, it was a helluva job but somebody had to do it….
Such was the scenario confronting the international media as the 124 Spider came out for first drive duty last week.
Truth be told, I personally could have spent quite a fair amount of time guiding the new Fiat Spider around this particular location and not just because the backdrop is so alluring (and local gelato none too shabby, either).
The little Fiat, you see, turns out to be something of a gem: the classic, simple, lightweight two-seat sports car, quick to respond, decently quick, with well-weighted controls, feeling keen, intuitive and all of a piece. Good fun, in other words.
But then maybe that’s no great surprise seeing as it’s closely related to the Mazda MX-5 underneath and also built by Mazda on Fiat’s behalf in Hiroshima, Japan.
You’ll find some significant differences however and that starts with the styling which so clearly seeks to revive the look of the original 124 Spider, born exactly 50 years ago.
While the clean lines of that first Pininfarina-styled Spider seem to have aged remarkably well (Fiat had a fine early 1438 cc example parked up outside our hotel), the 2016 edition is altogether more ornate in design terms, particularly front on, a retro look which has drawn mixed comment, let’s say.
In fact, the whole sheet metal on the new car is unique and Fiat is also keen to stress that the 124 Spider comes with its own spring/damper settings, roll bar, steering tuning and stability control to give it further separation over the MX-5.
Power is also all Italian with the Fiat group’s proven 1.4 MultiAir turbo providing the beans. More punchy and low rev torquey than the zingy naturally aspirated MX-5 (and with a faint, endearing Alfa-like growl), it comes with 140 ps and in a sportster this small and light, performance actually feels plenty fast enough point-to-point without the need to buzz the engine hard. Fiat quotes 7.5 secs for 0-62 mph which subjectively feels about right.
At launch, you can have any gearbox you like so long as it’s a 6-speed manual (with different internals and gearing to the MX-5), but an auto will be coming. The Spider change is solid and precise if not the quickest around, but the gear set is such you’ll have trouble getting into the top two gears on the normal A-roads, so tall are the ratios.
Another big plus with the Spider is that it rides so well, the complaint suspension dealing admirably with variable, sometimes characterful Italian road surfaces. The body feels taut, there’s remarkably little lean into bends and it just feels so natural, forgiving – and fun – when you power it though a tight bend. That said, the absence of an LSD to stop the inside wheel spinning as you exit a tight corner has been noted.
The interior, with Fiat’s own seats and trimmings looks and feels a step up from the MX-5 in terms of quality. It’s snug, well-appointed although some of the smaller dash dials are hard to read and the frustratingly, the sat/nav on our Italian spec Spider had a wilful mind of its own…
The stylish, quick stowing manual roof is as per the MX-5 and that’s fine. In the UK, there will be three grades: Classica, Lusso and Lusso Plus, with prices kicking off at £19,545 OTR and heading up to £23,295 which makes it a tad pricier than the Mazda…