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Fiat / Abarth 124 Spider

F328NVL

F328NVL

New member
My days of 500 BHP monsters seem to be receding along with my hair. I therefore started looking for a fun car that was light and nippy. We've had MX5s and, say it quietly, they are brilliant, but there is a whiff of the Salon about them. You enjoy the car, but it's a slightly guilty pleasure.

I was therefore intrigued by the inexplicable decision of Mazda to let Fiat have the MX5 platform for the new 124 retro Fiat spiders. Yesterday I drove both the Abarth and the vanilla Fiat versions. It was a surprise.

The Abarth is pretty good if you don't mind the stupid trickster exhaust (but £10k extra for 30 BHP and some brakes?). The Standard car is nearly brilliant (and costs £20-23k). If you could get a standard one with the Brembo brakes and the Abarth suspension, I reckon it would be, pound-for-pound probably the best sportscar in the world. Everything the Alfa 4C promised, but didn't deliver, for less than half the price.

Review on blog if you are interested.
 
MX5's are superb things.

We looked at the abarth but it just doesn't excite enough in looks or fun to drive.

Think we will get on a 4C and get the alfaholics suspension mods.

Just waiting for the dealers to stop stockpiling used cars so we can see the real price sometime soon.
 
Modificato said:
MX5's are superb things.

We looked at the abarth but it just doesn't excite enough in looks or fun to drive.

Think we will get on a 4C and get the alfaholics suspension mods.

Just waiting for the dealers to stop stockpiling used cars so we can see the real price sometime soon.
Click to expand...

I had high hopes for the 4C, new Dino and all that, but it was a disappointment. Lumpy engine, no manual, suspension jittery. It is a pretty thing, but to live with? A bit Brangelina for me.

http://www.honestjg.com/2015/10/alfa-4c-crap-but-brilliant.html
 
I drove the Abarth last week and had high hopes for it after waiting over 7 years to see it finally arrive in the showroom. I was disappointed with it and really don't don't think it is worth the asking price. There is simply no comparison to the 4C whatsoever. The Alfa is a vastly superior car in every respect and the sales guy I went out with who I've known since I bought a 500 Abarth from him back in 2009 agreed. The 4C is starting to be appreciated by a much wider audience now with quite a few new UK owners on Pistonheads as well as in the US on F Chat. The front suspension modification by the Alfa Workshop in Royston cures the tendency of the factory set up to tramline/wander on cambered and rutted surfaces.
 
Definitely in the market for a 4C but need the prices to get real.

Currently they seem stuck all over the place with no one buying.

As mentioned suspension tweaks have sorted it and it's the car it should have been now.
 
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