Payne: The fun-tastic Fiat 124 Spider

Posted by hpayne on June 15, 2016

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At a Google media test drive of its marshmallow-shaped, autonomous car last year, an Aussie colleague put it straight to CEO Sergey Brin: “Are you going to take away the fun of driving cars?”

The bearded, elfin tech billionaire didn’t miss a beat. On the contrary, he mused, after the drudgery of a week commuting in a self-driving pod on crowded freeways, drivers will want a sporty getaway car in the garage for weekend romps in the countryside.

Brin might have something like the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider in mind.

Sharing the platform with the grin-inducing Mazda MX-5 Miata, the much-anticipated comeback of the ’60s Italian icon is the antithesis of the Google bot. This sensuous, topless, affordable video-game-on-wheels — call it a “Fiata” — demands to be driven. It’s more fun than a wet Disneyland log flume ride with Kate Upton.

In my own rendition of Brin’s transportation future I endured a traffic-choked, hour-long shuttle ride last week from San Diego airport to my hotel. Then I awoke next morning to drive the Spider across Southern California hills to an autocross course in the parking lot of the San Diego Chargers’ Qualcomm Stadium home. I imagine this is what every day in heaven is like.

Actually, it’s what my weekends were like as a West Virginia youth when I accompanied my father on drives across the mountains in his tiny Porsche to autocrosses in Columbus or Belle Fountain, Ohio. So endures our love affair with the automobile. The winds of time may blow, but the flame never goes out. That was the 1960s Golden Era of the Automobile when muscle cars roamed Woodward and European roller skates ruled parking lot autocrosses. Cars like Fiat 124s, Alfa Romeo Spiders, Lotus Elans, Triumph TR6s, MG MGBs.

It was an epoch that was all but wiped out by the oil crisis and Big Government mpg meteors that imposed huge costs on carmakers. As reduced fuel prices and increased technology have converged, “The Second Golden Era” — as Fiat-Chrysler motorhead exec Tim Kuniskis likes to call it — has bloomed and muscle and mirth once again fills today’s showrooms.

The Miata was the first throwback to the ’60s glory years and has spawned a wealth of imitators from the Honda S2000 to the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 (formerly the Scion FR-S). Affordable front-engine roller skates that are as much fun to drive to the autocross as they are between the pylons.

The Fiata fans the flame further.

It is a rich irony that the Miata now sustains one of the cars it was created to emulate. The days of small, niche sports car manufacturers are past. Mazda and Fiat need each other to build enough volume to make their fun-mobiles financially viable — just as Toyota and Subaru team to make the 86 and BRZ twins. Both Miatas and 124s roll off the same assembly line in Hiroshima, Japan.

Should you get a Miata or 124? I dunno. Whatever flips your switch. It’s like a choice between the Wrigley Doublemint twins. You can’t go wrong either way.

These rear-wheel-drive cuties are tossable fun, but drive them back-to-back and their subtle differences echo their different brands. Mazda caters to the edgier, ZOOM ZOOM crowd — the saucier Fiat will attract a more stylish customer.

Atop Mazda’s short 90.9-inch wheelbase, the 124’s driver’s seat is a happy place to be even for a 6’5” giant like myself. The passenger seat is another matter — with my knees pressed against the dash, it’s as cramped as Delta coach class.

When rain threatens? With a sweep of my arm, I covered the cabin with the soft-top as easily as pulling over a down blanket in bed. On road the familiar Miata steering, switchgear, short-throw gearbox (the best manual this side of a Porsche), and suspension make for hours of topless driving pleasure.

Fiat has mated that box to its own MultiAir, 1.4-liter, 160-horse, turbocharged engine (to accommodate the extra turbo torque, Fiat actually used the last-gen Miata tranny — but I defy you to tell the difference) also found in the more raucous Fiat 500 Abarth. Despite sporting one more tailpipe than Miata, the Fiat’s quieter tone is instantly apparent. The MX-5 wants to make noise. I am boy racer, hear me roar!The Fiat is more refined, less intrusive for long drives through the Italian — er, American — landscape.

The Miata’s suspension setup is a tad edgier too, as is its styling. With its angular headlights and sharper lines, this Japanese Rottweiler looks to be in permanent attack mode. The 124 is curvier, sultrier. Its long hood and flanks add five inches in length — like stilettos on an Italian model. The car’s thin mouth, sculpted hood, and curved hips faithfully trace the 1966 original’s lines — stirring older buyers’ nostalgia — while the modern headlamps and aggressive lower intake update the car for younger buyers.

Trim levels run from the base, $25,990 Classica to the $28,490, leather-upholstered Lusso to the spiciest meatball on the menu: The $29,190 Abarth.

I jumped in the latter — which gains Bilstein shocks and meatier anti-rollbars — for a few spins around the Qualcomm course and it was sizzling, mouth-watering fun. My preference is for the stiffer chassis of a Subaru BRZ, but the softer, shorter-wheelbase Fiat can be tossed around like a ragdoll.

Loaded up, however, my mouth-watering Abarth reached an eye-watering $37K. So I’m happy to report that the base model is just peachy. With the same engine — and only shy some non-essential style bling — the Classica is as raw and sporty as its pricier brothers. Even its wheels are sexy. The bane of base models (lookin’ at you, Chevy Cruze), wheels alone often force me to up-trim. Not the 124. Though an inch smaller than the Lusso, the Classica’s 16-inch discs are just as cool.

The boot will hold two bags more comfortably than the seats hold two basketball dudes, so weekend dates Up North are doable compared to other favorite, trunk-challenged Italian sports cars (lookin’ at you, Alfa 4C Spyder).

Maybe we’ll all be imprisoned in self-driving Google bots one day — but the Fiat 124 will offer an escape. Now if Mazda would agree to build Alfa Romeo Spiders, Lotus Elans, Triumph TR6s, and MGBs on that marvelous Miata platform …

2017 Fiat 124 Spider

Specifications

Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-passenger sports car

Price: $25,990 base ($33,635 Lusso as tested)

Power plant: 1.4-liter, turbocharged 4-cylinder

Power: 160 horsepower, 184 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: Six-speed manual or automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.8 seconds (manufacturer)

Weight: 2,436 pounds (manual); 2,476 pounds (auto)

Fuel economy: EPA 26 mpg city/35 mpg highway/30 mpg combined (manual); EPA 25 mpg city/36 mpg highway/29 mpg combined (automatic)

Report card

Highs: Nimble handling; attractive base model

Lows: Cramped passenger seat; sure those plasticky cupholders will hold up?

Overall:★★★★

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