Two new pieces of info today:
Fiat is shipping their turbo engines to Japan for the cars to be built, so outside of the powertrain, the rest of the car will be Mazda quality. Some good underhood shots here.
And:
The exhaust sounds pretty dang nice, like a marginally less aggressive Abarth.
I like it. The car looks good in white and red imo.
In reply to xflowgolf:
I really want to see one in person, or a non-studio photo at this point. The car looks much better at higher (e.g. standing height) photo angles, especially with a little distance. I have the feeling these will be one of those cars that look much better in person than they photograph.
Have yet to see an angle that makes the rear end look flattering, though...
It's most successful in white. I want to see one in person as well. It still looks to me like it's been reskinned, but I suspect some well chosen wheels and tires will make a dramatic difference. The relationship between the body and wheels - especially at the rear - doesn't work for me in many of the pics.
In reply to JohnRW1621:
Those mirrors ended up on the X-1/9 and are a PITA to find, so many replace them with flat glass and aftermarket mirrors.
I like it overall better than the ND, but when I look at both, it looks to me like they'd both be better off with the rearend of the other.
The ND hasn't gotten better with repeated viewing. My eyes are drawn to the hoodline. There's something that computes as ungainly. Will the Fiat age better? I dunno. It's a bit more busy, and the tailights clash with the neo-retro theme, but the proportions are a little better with the smaller butt and rear- biased cockpit. The silver window frame also clashes with the bodywork. But these are niggling things, like looking for blemishes on a beautiful woman.
I'll be interested to see if the fore/aft weight bias changes.
Kreb wrote: The ND hasn't gotten better with repeated viewing. My eyes are drawn to the hoodline. There's something that computes as ungainly. Will the Fiat age better? I dunno. It's a bit more busy, and the tailights clash with the neo-retro theme, but the proportions are a little better with the smaller butt and rear- biased cockpit. The silver window frame also clashes with the bodywork. But these are niggling things, like looking for blemishes on a beautiful woman.
I agree about the ND. It looks like the headlights and grill melted and slid downward. Like they're two low for the rest of the body lines or something. But then, I've only seen one IRL.
Others mentioned the silver windshield frame.
In the picture below, notice the red has silver mirrors that match the window frame.
The white is shown with body colored mirrors.
xflowgolf wrote: I like it. The car looks good in white and red imo.
Kreb wrote: The ND hasn't gotten better with repeated viewing. My eyes are drawn to the hoodline. There's something that computes as ungainly. Will the Fiat age better? I dunno. It's a bit more busy, and the tailights clash with the neo-retro theme, but the proportions are a little better with the smaller butt and rear- biased cockpit. The silver window frame also clashes with the bodywork. But these are niggling things, like looking for blemishes on a beautiful woman. I'll be interested to see if the fore/aft weight bias changes.
Motor Trend reports 54:46. The Miata is 52:48 without a driver. Not surprising, the turbo engine is heavier than the naturally aspirated one.
I for one am excited to see an abarth version show up
pointofdeparture wrote: This just in; much like the Abarth, our 124 is more powerful than everyone else's.
I wonder if this is due to temporary overboost. The US allows power to be rated at temporary overboost while Euro regs require sustained power.
In reply to Knurled:
With the Abarth at least, ours actually is more powerful without overboost; our base Abarth is the same as the European "esse esse" 160HP model, which is largely a tune difference as far as I know. Their base Abarth has the 140HP mill, but since the higher spec is 160HP over there as well, it's probably a safe bet that we really do get more sustained boost.
Keith Tanner wrote:Kreb wrote: The ND hasn't gotten better with repeated viewing. My eyes are drawn to the hoodline. There's something that computes as ungainly. Will the Fiat age better? I dunno. It's a bit more busy, and the tailights clash with the neo-retro theme, but the proportions are a little better with the smaller butt and rear- biased cockpit. The silver window frame also clashes with the bodywork. But these are niggling things, like looking for blemishes on a beautiful woman. I'll be interested to see if the fore/aft weight bias changes.Motor Trend reports 54:46. The Miata is 52:48 without a driver. Not surprising, the turbo engine is heavier than the naturally aspirated one.
The 1.4L is an iron block isn't it?
Kreb wrote: It's a bit more busy, and the tailights clash with the neo-retro theme, but the proportions are a little better with the smaller butt and rear- biased cockpit.
the taillights remind me of the ones on the spider 2000
chiodos wrote: I for one am excited to see an abarth version show up
Yes I think that's the version to wait for.
Am I the only one hoping Fiat digs deep and brings back the 124 Coupe? Anyone?
nope.. I hope they do too.. even an updated 131 abarth instead
Higher performance PLUS hardtop. Now they are getting more of my attention:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/abarth-will-inject-fiat-124-spider-200-hp-send-hardtop/
That article is pure fluff. "Only about 2200 lbs" - well, there's a big error. And the idea of an Abarth version is an obvious conceptual leap, as is a hardtop. Every Miata ever made up to 2015 was available with a hardtop. However, the "rumored" Mazdaspeed Miata is referring to bringing back a car that was in production for a year and a half out of 25. There's been a "rumored" Mazdaspeed Miata since 2006.
I am a skeptic when it comes to this kind of article. I'll believe it when it's in a Fiat press release.
Keith Tanner wrote: There's been a "rumored" Mazdaspeed Miata since 2006.
Someone on reddit photoshopped it, so it must be true!
I hear you,Keith. I usually restrict my links to better sources. One thing that really strikes me though is how Miata has steadfastly refused to go hardtop, and that's an opportunity for Fiat to differentiate itself. I hope that they realize this. There are a lot of people who prefer hardtops to convertibles, or like my wife, enjoy the top down for about 15 minutes then would rather it be up.
But there's been a hardtop available for every Miata ever made, and the power hardtops that showed up in 2008 or so proved to be very popular with people like your wife. I'd be amazed if Mazda didn't do the engineering for a power hardtop on the current MX-5, which would probably allow Fiat to do the same.
Nick (Not-Stig) Comstock wrote:alfadriver wrote: In reply to MCarp22: No, they didn't.The point was the bulges came from fiat, not dodge. Historical precedence.The hood bulges came with a motor upgrade.
Exactly. This is OBVIOUSLY designed to emulate the original 124 as an evolution of it's last design version, and the cues are all from that car. So saying they look like Dodge cues just makes one look ignorant.
The hood bulges, grille shape, side bodyline, upswept taillights, headlight recesses, silver windshield frame, all say 124 to me, but then again, I've had 3 original 124 Spiders, it's what I see immediately.
The ND Miata looks dumpy in comparison, and lumpy in all the wrong places, with low slitted eyeballs. I've seen a few in person and they look worse than the NC to me.
Can't wait to drive one to see if that lower, bigger torque band makes street driving more fun. Wonder how it'll autocross compared to the ND? And while I think a well equipped one might hit the upper $30k range, I'd say the base one with the 6 speed manual might be under $30k, and with typical Fiat depreciation and lack of interest after the first year, cheaper yet.
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