2016 FIAT 124 Spider 1.4L MultiAir 6MT RWD (140 HP)

Vehicle Overview

Fiat introduced the 124 Spider in 2016 as a successor for the glorious 124 model from the ’70s, albeit it was mostly a non-Italian vehicle.

After the 2008 world financial crisis, all carmakers still had bruises and red areas in their accounting department. So Fiat tried to recover and did a marketing stunt by re-introducing the 124 Spider. But Fiat didn’t have any platform to build the new successor, so it made a smart choice by calling Mazda. The Japanese carmaker had a proven record for producing the best-selling roadster in the world, the Miata. So after a deal was inked, production started.

Fiat needed just the vehicle’s chassis and some parts of the bodywork since it already had a few engines that could fit neatly under the Miata’s hood. Moreover, it had its own design team that completely changed the car’s front fascia. Thus, the 124 Spider featured a pair of headlights that resembled those installed on its 1970’s ancestor. In addition, the bumper sported a lower grille flanked by two side scoops where the blinkers and the foglamps were installed. Finally, out back, Fiat created a new design with different taillights than the MX5/Miata.

On the other hand, the cockpit was 99% Mazda, and the 1 percent difference was the Fiat logo on the steering wheel. But that wasn’t bad since the Japanese carmaker knew how to create an adequate cabin for a roadster. The high-bolstered seats provided excellent side support for high-speed cornering maneuvers, and the infotainment screen was placed on top of the center stack.

Under the hood, Fiat ditched the naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter powerplant produced by Mazda and installed its 1.4-liter turbocharged unit. The gearboxes, instead, were Japanese, although they were carried over from an older generation of the MX5/Miata.