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Hello thread. I rented an MX-5 for two days to see what it was all about and loved it. Took it for a drive to the Nurburgring, as I live close by, and just went nuts with the rental all over the place. I was aware of the 124, liked the lines more and thought its better suited for me, so after watching a few hours of vids on Youtube, I went to my local FCA and, well, I’m picking up my Abarth 124 next week. Mind you, I stumbled on a good specimen - it’s a January 2018 first registration demo car with 6k on it, fully loaded, black with red highlights. It was first listed at 44k EUR, went down to 37k EUR in March and I got it for 30k EUR today. The dealership just couldn’t loose it, as the price point was too high. It ended up as the car with a dealer advert on the side they’d park outside to catch attention. The Abarth 124 is, it turns out, not that popular in Germany and I sort of see why - people would rather pay more and get a “local” BMW or Porsche, or something otherwise sensible, and a car with such a narrow use case list is just un-german. People are also holding out for the new Abarth editions, and the wait time for new ones is 52 weeks, apparently. Took a drive before signing and basically all MX-5 to 124 comparison videos confirm my feelings - while the MX-5s acceleration is linear and the car tends to be squirly, the Abarth 124 is calmer on lower gears, with a quicker top when the turbo kicks in, and the suspension and general feel is more composed. It also has that Abarth crackle from the 500, which some people claim is gone, and it sound just... loving.... nnnngh. It’s the most fun I’ve had with cars in years and I’m super stoaked, even if at 6.4 ft I barely fit in (I know the cabin is supposed to be the same but I swear I get a few cm more of leg room and head clearance). I also love how you can reach into the engine bay and fiddle with anything, which is a great change of pace from my current BMW F11. Mokotow fucked around with this message at 19:14 on May 4, 2018 |
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May 4, 2018 19:11
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 17:40 |
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:that's a pretty good value for Euro land but loving A I can walk in to my local FCA hellhole and walk out in an Abarth for like $25,000 Not only that, the US stock Fiat 124s come with a 160 hp motor, while the EU model is rated at 138 hp. Add the 5-10k price difference, and the US looks better off. I imagine shipping the Fiats from Hiroshima to the US is cheaper then lugging them to the EU, but then I wonder about the US Abarths - in theory they all go to Italy after the initial production for Abarth tuning and finish, so you’d still need to ship them along with the EU-bound models. In any case, the delivery chain looks like a bit of a clusterfuck. Also, the US-spec Abarth 124 uses an ever so slightly different tune - would that be due to EPA or other local regulations?
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May 5, 2018 13:08
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Picked up my Abarth 12, spent the whole afternoon zooming around the city and autobahning. It was even better than I thought it would be. It’s also a ticket to a strange new world - I was joined at one point by a guy in a I think 308 GT, and we proceeded to roar engines at each other until I had to peel of, so we waved like best buds and went our own ways. Later I had an impromptu series of micro drag races in a tunnel with a riced Opel of some denomination. Generally it felt like a loving computer game, where you drive around a city looking for opponents. Now in the week of waiting the car somehow shrank in my imagination and at 6.4 ft I expected to be completely cramped, but for whatever reason I set the seat and... was just fine - my head didn’t even touch the roof. It’s cramped, and operating the windows can lead to a crash. My feet probably would need a rest after an hour without cruise control, and I doubt I could actually do heel and toe. Still, it’s perfectly fine and manageable. I’ll do 600 km in a day on Monday for work and we’ll see how that’ll turn out. Since Italians are involved, I also learned I need to carry tools at all times. The innards are japanese, but the salesman I got it from is Italian, even though we’re in Germany. Besides getting me to sign the contracts, he was also responsible for registration and putting on my plates. Turns out the front plate was quiet unceremoniously drilled into the front bumper and affixed with wrong-sized screws, so after some strong starts, it just fell off. Thus, my first day in my “italian” car involved a fair bit of asphalt-hugging and, well, not wrenching, but more screwdriver work than I anticipated.
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May 12, 2018 00:20
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It’s been three months now with my Fiata. I’ve had an opportunity to loan it for a review and photoshoot in the Moselle valley, not far from the Nurburgring. I think the photos are smashing, and there’s also a video/audio of the exhaust. http://miatasm.com/wloska-robota-krotki-romans-z-fiat-abarth-124-spider/
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Aug 15, 2018 18:02
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