IT’S NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE
Abarth’s latest 124 Spider is a conundrum – but in a good way, says Mark Dixon, after living with it for a week
NO CUP HOLDERS. And not even a cubby box where you can bodge one up out of a takeaway cardboard tray. It’s a major drawback.
If you’re now choking on your Costa coffee – lucky you – at such a trivial complaint, then bear with me. The reason this omission takes on a significance out of all proportion is because the 124 Spider is otherwise a really good everyday car. If you don’t have kids, you could happily manage with this alone.
It doesn’t seem that way when you first fire it up. The exhaust note is on the loud side, enough to cause an inward wince if you are making a 5am start and happen to like your neighbours. It’s a great sound, mind, a kind of deep, rorty burble, with a liquid quality that smooths off any rough edges when you power away.
The big surprise is that this noise is being produced by an engine of only 1.4 litres, albeit turbocharged to develop 170bhp and 184lb ft of torque. It’s enough to make the Abarth feel genuinely quick straight out of the box; press the Sport button and it feels noticeably livelier, an illusion wrought by sharpened throttle response and by looser EST control. It’s quite throttle-steerable, in fact, giving credence to Abarth’s claim that this car has some genuine sting in its tail, and dispelling any fears that it’s merely a Mazda MX-5 (like the regular Fiat 124 Spider, it shares the MX-5’s underpinnings) with an extrovert bodykit.
The seats are supportive, the ride decent, and the hood a masterpiece of simplicity to raise or stow. The Abarth detailing mightn’t be entirely to your taste – the red mirrors on our test car just looked weird, as though they were replacements from a breaker’s yard – but at least they help the car stand out in a crowd.
Not that you are likely to see many Abarths: starting at £29,565, it’s a good six grand more expensive than a top-spec MX-5. The price of exclusivity… but for something you don’t have to keep as a weekend toy.