It's encouraging that Fiat just ships the engines to Japan and Mazda screws the whole thing together, too. So the build quality should be just as good as the Miata.
It's encouraging that Fiat just ships the engines to Japan and Mazda screws the whole thing together, too. So the build quality should be just as good as the Miata.
T.J. wrote: Do all colors of the 124 have that goofy silver windshield frame? I don't like the hood, but I understand the homage to the original 124 spider. I like the grill. Will they also make the retractable targa version?
All the colors are some dreary thing anyways so might as well get silver at that point.
Seriously when did roadsters get the most dreary color options possible? I mean this is a car where you open the hood and it says MOPAR under it right? Where's the color?
mad_machine wrote: with Fiat's of old.. except for people not replacing the timing belts at the proper intervals.. the engines were not the issue. The electrics and transmissions were.
My parent's 124 sedan - new at the time - needed a valve job long before the timing belt was due, so I guess that's one way to avoid that problem. They replaced it with an RX4, which needed apex seals in about the same time frame...
In reply to kanaric:
Indeed. I'm shopping used Caymans and they're all black, white, silver, or grey. I just want some color!
Our Mazda3 is bright blue and we can find it so easily in a big parking lot because everything else is grayscale.
The blue 124 is looks great. The Abarth with the black hood's design is... Busy.
Mitchell wrote: The blue 124 is looks great. The Abarth with the black hood's design is... Busy.
If by busy you mean awesome, then yes, I agree.
Mitchell wrote: The blue 124 is looks great. The Abarth with the black hood's design is... Busy.
The blue would be awesome if only they were not making only 124 of them.
So the Fiat is available turbocharged and the miata isn't?
Also what does the Abarth have that the other models dont?
In reply to crankwalk:
The Fiat is ONLY available turbocharged, and the Abarth comes with Brembo brakes and Bilstein dampers, along with all the cosmetic stuff.
Burrito wrote: I really think they are going to look amazing in person and I would really, really like to go put my name on a list for one. It's totally possible that we will pick up a used one in a few years. Honestly though, if they so much as hint to the possibility of a 124 Coupe or Sedan, I will be the first motherberkeleyer in that line with pockets full of cash... So long it's a little less awkward that these renders.
Fiat 124 reimagined as a Datsun 240Z...
http://news.boldride.com/2015/12/datsun-concept-fiat-124/95149/
^ I like that. I'll take it with an inline 6 please.
pointofdeparture wrote: In reply to crankwalk: The Fiat is ONLY available turbocharged, and the Abarth comes with Brembo brakes and Bilstein dampers, along with all the cosmetic stuff.
The Fiat has a turbo 1.4, the Miata has a naturally aspirated 2.0. Should make for some interesting driving comparisons. I wonder if the Abarth suspension/brake setup is the same one found on the Miata Club?
I see that the rwd 1.4 turbo also has the twin intercooler setup like the fwd 500 Abarth per the fiat website. I wonder why they did that instead of a larger single intercooler on this platform.
Keith Tanner wrote:pointofdeparture wrote: In reply to crankwalk: The Fiat is ONLY available turbocharged, and the Abarth comes with Brembo brakes and Bilstein dampers, along with all the cosmetic stuff.The Fiat has a turbo 1.4, the Miata has a naturally aspirated 2.0. Should make for some interesting driving comparisons. I wonder if the Abarth suspension/brake setup is the same one found on the Miata Club?
If it sounds like the 500 Abarth, the Fiat should win all the comparisons just by making better noises 
So this makes me think that for a tune should put the Fiat to around 200hp at the crank. That is interesting.
The 500 Abarth doesn't even have mufflers.
200 at the crank is the magic number everyone throws around. We'll see if that's a real, legit number when put on our dyno - I've found that there's a lot of optimism in the reflash community. One thing to remember is that a transverse FWD drivetrain is more efficient than a longitudinal RWD one, although the ND Miata drivetrain is showing itself to be very efficient.
NickD wrote: My friend is a shop manager at a huge Toyota dealership and has said they've replaced a number of short blocks. The reason: a steady diet of ethanol gasoline. Apparently the ethanol in the fuel screws up the DI and it fails. I had a friend who had an FR-S and when circumstances forced him to run ethanol gas, it would start making a chirping noise underhood that I assume was the HPFP. He also said he had read about stock engines blowing up from ethanol gasoline and that was a big reason why he sold the car off. Still, I wonder if just the act of putting Fiat badges on a Miata makes it instantly less reliable, let alone putting in a Fiat engine as well.
Ethanol has been in America's gas for decades. If that's really what's doing it then it's a hard engineering fail on the manufacturer's part. They should be building with ethanol in the design spec.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Makes sense to me. It just means that you guys might get a bit more pop out of it for the same investment into an ND. 30 lb ft of torque for $400 seems pretty nice.
That price is low. Figure around double. Still a pretty good value though.
But yeah, it's hard to make a business case for a forced induction kit for the ND thanks to the existence of the 124 and because of the limitations of the Skyactiv engine. Unless there's some dramatic difference of which we are unaware, all of those looking for horsepower will go for the Fiat.
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