The performance version of Fiat take on the Mazda MX-5 is the Abarth 124 Spider. It's going to be considerably more expensive than the Japanese roadster (and it's not officially on sale in Ireland), but it aims to overcome that disadvantage by offering more power and performance, courtesy of a turbocharged 1.4-litre engine. And it works, because this is a truly superb rear-wheel-drive sports car that we'd have over and above the genre-defining MX-5. That's how good the Abarth is.
In the metal
Looks are of course a subjective matter and the distinctive 'Heritage' appearance of the Abarth 124 Spider - in which its bonnet and boot lid are painted black, while various details are picked out in red - won't be for everyone. But you don't have to have that finish if you're dead against it and, more pertinently, we think the Abarth (and, by extension, the 'regular' Fiat 124 on which it is based) is better-looking than the Mazda MX-5. There's an elegance about its significantly different front- and rear-end design that is more cohesive than the Japanese car's slightly edgy appearance, with the net result being that the Abarth just seems to be more comfortable in its own skin than the squinting Mazda.
If it's different on the outside, though, it could not be much more similar within. There's an Abarth centre boss for the steering wheel, an alternative gear knob, a red finish to the rev counter, Abarth-branded seats and some Alcantara trim for the dash. And that's it at first glance. The shape of the steering wheel, its size, the buttons on it, the dials in the instrument cluster, the blue LCD digital displays, the rotary knobs for the climate control, the roof-opening mechanism... all of it is absolutely identical to what you'll find in the Mazda. And the Mazda's cheaper. Quite considerably so. Therefore, if that kind of thing bothers you, the Abarth's price premium is going to be something of a sticking point.
Driving it
This is a really tricky one. For a start, we're normal aspiration zealots, in the usual course of things. We love the crispness of throttle of an NA engine, the way it revs so freely and keenly, the way the power delivery remains linear from idle to redline; and we are big, big fans of the MkIV MX-5, although we're of the opinion that it's a better car to drive with less power, the 1.5-litre model feeling sweeter than the brawnier 2.0.
So, surely, against that backdrop, the Abarth 124 Spider - pricier and torquier - shouldn't stand a chance? Well... it's not that simple. There are surely going to be people who drive both cars and say the Mazda has more 'feel', and to an extent, that's true. But if you're buying this sort of open-topped, highly impractical car, presumably what you're after most is some excitement, each and every time you drive it. And we think the Abarth has that commodity in spades.
Its chief weapon is the Record Monza exhaust, which gives the 1.4-litre forced induction drivetrain a soundtrack that simply knocks the spots off anything the Mazda can summon up. There's a full array of burbles, bangs and pops from the quad-exit pipes of the Abarth, which are only heightened by clicking the car into Sport mode, where the throttle becomes sharper. The net result of the intoxicating aural assault of the 124 is that it sounds far quicker than it actually is.
And it actually is far quicker than the Mazda. OK, there's only half a second in it on 0-100km/h and 16km/h flat out, but the impact of that beefier midrange torque cannot be underestimated. Furthermore, Abarth has given the Spider plenty of grip, which means that in the dry it's quite hard to unstick the tail end of the car; thank the mechanical limited-slip differential for that. Now, again, this could be viewed as a minus by some people (the sort who like to indulge in plenty of opposite-lock antics), but if you revel in highly effective cross-country pace, the Abarth is hugely entertaining on the right roads in the right conditions. And you can still steer it on the throttle, if needs be - you simply need to be a bit braver, is all.
It does have a stiffer ride than even a 2.0 Sport Nav Mazda, courtesy of the firmer suspension settings that Abarth bestows upon the car, but that just serves to better keep the body in check through the corners. And the steering is still a delight - we'd say the Mazda has the edge here, although the Abarth's rack is certainly not far behind it. The 1.4-litre engine doesn't even feel like it has much turbo lag, albeit it is understandably less instant in its responses than the MX-5's NA engines, and it likes to rev; there's none of that painful wheezing and 'thinning' feel of performance tailing off, even after you've gone past peak power at 5,500rpm.
All of which means we utterly loved driving the 124 Spider. In fact, it was the first car we've had in years where we felt like we might just take it out for a Sunday drive, with no particular destination in mind. That says a lot about how engaging this Italian car really is.
What you get for your money
As we've said above, you're getting (in essence) a Mazda MX-5 with different front- and rear-end design, a smattering of extra scorpion-branded interior gewgaws and a mere 10hp and 50Nm more than the 2.0-litre Asian roadster, all for a significant price premium. There's no getting around that additional outlay, but we would at least say the Abarth should be able to out-perform a Toyota GT86, which starts at €42,000, so that puts it price into slightly better context.
There's also a marginal benefit in the green stats, as the Abarth's use of a smaller, turbocharged engine leads to better official economy and emissions than the MX-5. Exercise caution if you're buying on this basis, though, because the Abarth uses a lot of fuel if you use a lot of its performance...
Bear in mind that you'll need to import the Abarth yourself, as Fiat Ireland doesn't currently offer it for sale. Hence why we've not given it a rating for this section.
Summary
Whether or not you love the Abarth 124 Spider will probably depend on two things: one, how big a fan you are of the Mazda MX-5; and two, whether you remember that Fiat actually made a 124 back in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. If both of these apply to you, and you're particularly yearning for something that carries on the ethos of the original 124, then we reckon you're going to find the Abarth an overpriced, under-cooked disappointment.
But we think the Abarth 124 - and, concomitantly, the regular Fiat version on which this hotter model is based - is merely suffering from 'second-place syndrome'. Because Mazda got the MX-5 MkIV out first, people (including us) tend to refer to the 124 as a re-bodied version of the Japanese motor. The fact the 124 is actually built in Japan on the MX-5 production line further reinforces this belief that somehow, the Abarth is just piggy-backing off Mazda's success.
