A Fiat with a sting in its tail ROAD TEST BY TOBY AIKEN
ABARTH SPIDER:
There’s a good reasonwhy the logo of Abarth, Fiat’s bigger, feistier brother, is a scorpion.Anyone who’s driven an Abarth will knowthat they certainly have a sting in their tail… that might not be the actual reason for the logo, but it certainlymakes a lot of sense. I’ve driven the Abarth500before,
and I’ve driven the ‘normal’ Fiat 124 Spider, so to a certain extent, I knew what to expect with the Abarth version. Let’s start with the basics; the 124
Spider is based on the hugely successful MazdaMX5- actually, it’s more than based on it. Underneath the (inmy opinion) smarter suit, it’s essentially the samecar. I believe Mazdawent downa different engine route, opting for a naturally aspirated option rather than the turbo favoured by Fiat / Abarth, but what Abarth have done with a 1.4 litre four-
cylinder block and a turbomakesme wonderwhy Mazda didn’t go down the sameroute. It’s a fantastic power unit.While
Mazda’s technically produces more power, I think the Abarth is simply more fun. The kick of the turbo is real - you feel it when you drop your right foot, and coupled with the Abarth short-shift gearbox, it’s a dream.With a relatively small capacity engine,
you’d assume the Spider relies on lightweight wizardry to ensure the performance is there, but in fact, the wizardrycomsfromAbarth themselves,whohave teased 170bhp out of the turbo-charged
unit.Add that to the awesome‘box and a total kerbweight of a shade over a ton, and you have a car that is immensely fun but that will still give you a sting if you’re careless. It does like to whip its tail out if you’re not paying full attention. One more issue against the Mazda
is the looks… the Mazda looks calm and friendly, while the Spider looks like…well, it actually looks like a shark. And that’s cool inmy book. So, it looks great, and the power is abundant. But there are two other party tricks this car has to deliver. Firstly, the hood. Part of theweight- saving-magic comes fromthe manually operated mechanism. While that sounds like a pain in the proverbial, in actual fact, it’s a
40 MARCH/ APRIL 2019 THECHELTONIAN
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