The prices and specification for the hotly anticipated Fiat 124 Spider have been announced and it will land in the UK later this year.
124 Spider... that name sounds familiar
And you'd be right, the new car is based on the popular roadsters from the 60s. The new one will of course be different though and although it was designed at Fiat's Style Centre in Turin, Italy, the car will be built at Mazda's Hiroshima production plant in Japan. So in theory you're getting Italian styling and performance but with Japanese construction and reliability. I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty strong formula.
But unlike the MX-5, it has a longer bonnet and looks more muscular in my opinion. As the car is based on the original in the 60s it will of course taking some inspired styling cues to reflect this. These include the front LED headlights which feature a style and position very much like the 1966 model as well as he hexagonal upper grille which add to the twin power domes that are a clear nod the second-generation 124 Spider.
How much is it? What does it come with?
The new roadster will start at £19,545, placing it over £1000 higher than the Mazda MX-5 on which it is based on. The car comes in three trims, Classico, Lusso and Lusso Plus. They will all share the 1.4 litre MultiAir engine which produces 140bhp and is mated to a six-speed manual. The result is 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds and a top speed of 134mph, so it won't blisteringly fast but it is slightly faster than it's Japanese counterpart.
The Classico trim comes as standard with four airbags, air con, leather steering wheel with multi-function, leather trimmed gearknob, cruise control with speed limiter, 16-inch alloy wheels, keyless engine start and a powerful infotainment system with USB, AUX and Bluetooth connectivity. This gives it around the same spec as the base model MX-5 so it'll be interesting to see how they compare in regards to sales figures.
The Lusso - the trim I'd probably go for - is priced at £22,295 and adds satellite navigation with 3D maps, Parkview rear parking camera, 17-inch alloy wheels, heated leather upholstery, automatic climate control, front fog lamps, keyless entry, chrome exhaust tips and a premium silver finish on the windscreen frame and rollover bars. So it's little more but I think what you get justifies what you get.
The Lusso Plus is £23,295 and adds adaptive LED headlamps, LED DRLs, automatic lights and wipers and a nine-speaker BOSE sound system (including stereo headrest speakers on both seats). So unless you're desperate for an uprated hi-fi I would probably give this trim a miss.
Will it be good to drive?
Well as it is based on Mazda's ND Platform and produced by Mazda themselves, it's hard to say no. To save the weight the car has a manual roof rather than an electric one, but even so the brand say it should be easily operational from the driver's seat. Fiat say that it has painstakingly tuned the layout of the pedals, steering wheel and gearstick so let's hope this means the type of engaging and satisfying you'd expect from a car like this.
An Abarth version will be on the way for those who want more performance - and some more madness - which comes with 170bhp and will get to 62 mph in 6.8 seconds. This could prove a good alternative for those who want more power than the range-topping MX-5. But will the standard 124 do enough to draw customers away from Mazda's multi-award winning roadster?