there are not many new cars out there that grab my attention.. but the new 124 certainly does... though to be honest, it makes me want to build an original
there are not many new cars out there that grab my attention.. but the new 124 certainly does... though to be honest, it makes me want to build an original
I'm really interested in crawling under it and finding out what was changed/upgraded.
Nice body kit for the Miata. Would consider if it was not priced into the late thirties with new performance hot hatches and used rocket ships of all kinds. That should be $29k if they want my money immediately.
They have a week to meet my demands, then I'm ordering a Ford.
Not only does this mean there might be a hardtop, it also means that a rally legal cage can fit under it.
bigdaddylee82 wrote: I like it, but Top Gear is reporting it to be £29,500 which is ~$41,000. I don't like it that much. http://www.topgear.com/car-news/geneva-motor-show/abarths-124-spider-here-and-theres-300bhp-rally-version
Right off the bat UK Prices include 20% VAT (sales tax) so that's really £24,500 or $34,500. Add to that that vehicels in the UK are always stupidly expoensive even accounting for VAT and that is sounding very good.
Example. On the Mazda USA site the base Miata Sport shows up as $24,915. On the Mazda UK site the base Miata with the 155 hp engine (remember their base car gets a smaller engine not available here) is £20,755 or about $29K with the current excellent exchange rate.
Brett_Murphy wrote: Not only does this mean there might be a hardtop, it also means that a rally legal cage can fit under it.
Forget it for this country. Rally America will not allow fiberglass tops. Steel or nothing. NASA and others will allow fiberglass though.
In reply to alfadriver:
R-GT is the best class in WRC and is the greatest thing the FIA has done in decades. 911s, lotuses and now fiats rallying.
Keith Tanner wrote: If the Fiat is built to the same levels of engineering as the ND, it may also prove easy to extract engine and transmission parts explosively. Fun fact, the ND transmission carries 1.1L of fluid while the diff has 600 mL
No clue on the trans & diff, but the little multiair engines seem to be extremely durable thus far. 
It looks disproportionate and fussy compared to the ND in my opinion. But the idea of a more powerful, nice sounding turbo 4 in that platform doesn't hurt my feelings.
STM317 wrote: It looks disproportionate and fussy compared to the ND in my opinion. But the idea of a more powerful, nice sounding turbo 4 in that platform doesn't hurt my feelings.
I'll bet for the price difference between the ND and this, Keith could hoook you up with enough power to overcome the difference, since we would both rather look at the ND.
I dig it.
tuna55 wrote:STM317 wrote: It looks disproportionate and fussy compared to the ND in my opinion. But the idea of a more powerful, nice sounding turbo 4 in that platform doesn't hurt my feelings.I'll bet for the price difference between the ND and this, Keith could hoook you up with enough power to overcome the difference, since we would both rather look at the ND.
Excellent point! I'll be curious to see when price/performance details come out on the Fiat
In reply to Fitzauto:
Me too.
tuna55 wrote:STM317 wrote: It looks disproportionate and fussy compared to the ND in my opinion. But the idea of a more powerful, nice sounding turbo 4 in that platform doesn't hurt my feelings.I'll bet for the price difference between the ND and this, Keith could hoook you up with enough power to overcome the difference, since we would both rather look at the ND.
99% of the world would rather buy the performance with a warranty from the dealer than in the aftermarket. And those that do want the aftermarket a simple flash is preferable to adding a turbo system. There will be a larger market for the Abarth than a flyin Miata kit. That is nothing against F.M. or Keith, but the way of the world, especially in Cali and other similar places.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:tuna55 wrote:99% of the world would rather buy the performance with a warranty from the dealer than in the aftermarket. And those that do want the aftermarket a simple flash is preferable to adding a turbo system. There will be a larger market for the Abarth than a flyin Miata kit. That is nothing against F.M. or Keith, but the way of the world, especially in Cali and other similar places.STM317 wrote: It looks disproportionate and fussy compared to the ND in my opinion. But the idea of a more powerful, nice sounding turbo 4 in that platform doesn't hurt my feelings.I'll bet for the price difference between the ND and this, Keith could hoook you up with enough power to overcome the difference, since we would both rather look at the ND.
Sure. I wasn't predicting sales, though, I was pointing our friend here to what may be the best answer for him.
It's much better looking than the ND in my opinion. If it were available now, I'd have a look at one for sure. I know I'm in the minority, but the ND just doesn't look right. I think it will date quickly. It may be a great car, I haven't driven one yet, but it doesn't excite me enough to go to the dealer. Now the Abarth, that would be a different story. And I'm not a Miata basher, I own a NA, my 6th Miata.
I think the street version is dead sexy. In that promo photo I like it better than the new Otter, mainly I think because of the headlights. The larger headlights on this seem a better fit to the body lines in my eye. The headlights and grill on the Otter look like they were compressed downward.
Of course, I could be biased because they copied the grill structure from the S197 Mustangs.
I feel like the Fiat nose would look a lot better if the headlights were covered, like a Jag XJ220 style covered light. Those big dark headlights on the Fiat really look out of place to me.
Preliminary performance specs for the Euro version were released. They say Abarth buyers will see a gain of 10hp and no change in torque over the stock 124. That's 170hp and 184 lb-ft total. Runs 0-62 in 6.8sec. It gets upgraded brakes, shocks, and exhaust over stock. Curb weight is 2337lbs (5 lbs heavier than the ND, but that could change if it comes stateside)
link: http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/01/fiat-abarth-124-spider-geneva-official/
In reply to STM317:
Fiat tends to power up Abarths for stateside sale so I wouldn't be surprised if that power figure rises. That said the Brembos, Bilsteins and other goodies probably warrant the upgrade as is, and an easy flash tune is known to be good for 200+ on that engine.
I had no idea the WRC had a rwd class!
In reply to STM317:
I kind of wonder if we'll get a more potent starting package here...our 500 Abarth is Europe's Abarth Esse Esse after all.
In reply to pointofdeparture:
There's 3 different ways to get close to 200whp on the 500, combine them together, then add a big FMIC and other breathing mods and you'll be north of the 250whp plateau.
The_Jed wrote:
It doesn't. there are only 5 rounds to the RGT cup. The first ran concurrent with the Monte Carlo, next is the Circuite of ireland, then Ypres, the Rally france (again concurrent with the WRC) and finally Rallying du Valais.
It would be like saying that the F1 has a class for Porsche 911's as the super cup ran the same weekends as some Grand Prix's
Well then... I guess that's that. 
alfadriver wrote:DeadSkunk wrote: Next year all MX-5 will have it to serve as the backup camera display required by law for 2017 models anyway.been through this before, but they could put that into the rear view mirror. Better spot for many reasons.
So you can replace the mirror with... an electronic mirror. #duh #regulations
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