The best ND Miata is the Fiat 124 Spider Abarth

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 08/27/2015 at 16:00 • Filed to: None

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We all know that soon, Fiat is going to sell a roadster based on the Mazda ND Miata. Fiat has !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which is good, because Fiatiata doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as well as Toyobaru. They’re also making an Abarth version. I want one.

The picture above is a rendering from Auto Express, so take it with a grain of salt as far as what the 124 Spider Abarth will actually end up looking like. But it’ll have some kind of turbocharged engine. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is a detuned version of the 1.75 liter (really guys, you couldn’t round up to 1.8 liter?) turbo I4 from the Alfa Romeo 4C, putting out about 200 hp. An !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is a more highly-tuned version of the 1.4 liter turbo motor that makes 160 hp in the 500 Abarth.

Plenty of folks will say the ND has all the power it needs, but more power won’t be a bad thing. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and did 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 14.5 seconds at 94 mph. Which isn’t slow! That’s a damn impressive result for a car with 155 hp. Yeah yeah, Miatas aren’t about drag racing, but I want to go quicker than that.

Another thing I like in Miatas is options. Sure, that may not be the purest expression of a Miata, but I don’t care. The 1999 10th Anniversary Edition Miata I owned had every option—which at the time still wasn’t much. It had leather/alcantara seats, the 6-speed transmission, the sport package (Bilstein shocks, stiffer springs & swaybars, Torsen LSD), and the very-rare-for-’99-Miatas ABS.

The ND Miata, in Grand Touring trim, has way more options than the old 10AE: automatic climate control, heated leather seats, rain sensing wipers, adaptive headlights, navigation, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, and lane departure warning. I can do without many of those things, but I really like rain-sensing wipers, heated seats are amazing for driving with the top down on a chilly night, and a Miata with its top up has rather sizable blind spots. And yet, all of the available ND performance features are unavailable on the Grant Touring.

(In an earlier version of this post, I thought you could get some but not all of the performance options on the Grand Touring.)

The sport suspension with stiffer springs & swaybars, Bilstein shocks and a Torsen LSD is standard on, and exclusive to, the mid-level Club trim.

The Brembo brakes are only available on the Club, packaged with pricey BBS wheels.

A Club with the Brembo/BBS package costs a couple grand more than a Grand Touring. Sure, it’s got the suspension, LSD, brakes and wheels that aren’t on the GT, but the GT has a bunch of other stuff not on the Club.

If I had to pick an ND it would be a Club with the Brembo/BBS package. But it’s just not quite the options mix I really want.

Getting back to the 124 Spider Abarth: it sounds like the perfect answer to the things that keep me from fully embracing the ND. Take an ND, add more turbocharged horsepower, and (hopefully) mix in some heated seats, big brakes, sport suspension, LSD, and maybe even blind spot nannying.

I’d buy one!

Matthew Phillips > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 16:08

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Can I just call it a Fiata ?

Sam > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 16:08

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I’ll be honest. There is no way that any of the Grand Touring cars are going to need the big brakes. I’d be willing to bet that most of the GT buyers are 50+ years old and not planning on doing any racing.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 16:09

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Oh god look at that face, its so good till you notice it has mutton chops.

Matthew Phillips > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 16:09

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Looks better than the Miata... To me.

Textured Soy Protein > CaptDale - is secretly British 08/27/2015 at 16:16

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I’m sure they’re inspired by the mutton chops on the 500 Abarth.

White makes them particularly obvious. On other colors, not as much.

Also hopefully since the picture of the 124 Abarth is just a rendering, the mutton chops on the real one won’t be so big.

Textured Soy Protein > Sam 08/27/2015 at 16:18

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But I want big brakes, and a warm ass when driving with the top down on a chilly night!

Textured Soy Protein > Matthew Phillips 08/27/2015 at 16:19

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That’s too easy.

Scary__goongala! > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 16:39

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Not a fan of that different front bumper.

Textured Soy Protein > Scary__goongala! 08/27/2015 at 16:42

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Since that bumper is only some magazine’s guess, the real car could very well end up looking completely different.

Scary__goongala! > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 16:44

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I hope so

CalzoneGolem > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 16:47

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Still doesn’t make me want a Miata.

Cé hé sin > Textured Soy Protein 08/27/2015 at 18:24

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“...a detuned version of the 1.75 liter (really guys, you couldn’t round up to 1.8 liter?”

No. 1750 is a special number for Italian cars.

Khalbali > Textured Soy Protein 08/28/2015 at 09:56

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Not to burst your bubble, but you actually can't get the sport suspension and LSD on the grand touring for the ND, though you could on the NC.

Textured Soy Protein > Khalbali 08/28/2015 at 10:28

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I’m pretty sure the sport suspension and LSD are standard on the Grand Touring. The Mazda configurator lists them as standard features on the Club, and for the Grand Touring’s standard features it says “Club features Plus:”

On the Club, you have the following options:

Brembo/BBS Package - Brembo front brakes with red calipers, BBS gunmetal forged 17” alloy wheels, aero kit (side sill extensions, rear bumper skirt)

Appearance Package (for Club without Brembo Package) - side sill extensions & rear bumper skirt

On the Grand Touring you have:

Appearance Package (for Sport/GT) - front air dam, side sill extensions, rear bumper skirt

The only question mark is even though the Grand Touring is described as “Club features plus,” it doesn’t include the front air dam that’s standard on the Club. That air dam is part of the GT appearance package. So I suppose it’s possible there are other Club features (i.e. sport suspension & LSD) that are also not actually part of the “Club features plus” included in the GT.

That said, throughout Miata history, the sport suspension and LSD have almost always been included in the top trim level, whatever it was called. I’d be pretty surprised if that were no longer the case.

Either way, I still want the Fiat one.

Khalbali > Textured Soy Protein 08/28/2015 at 12:50

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Don't mind me, I'm only a Mazda salesperson/Miata owner.

Textured Soy Protein > Khalbali 08/28/2015 at 13:13

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I’m just a former Miata owner/guy playing with with configurator. So are you saying the sport suspension and LSD are, like the air dam, a Club feature that’s not part of the “plus” on the GT?

Khalbali > Textured Soy Protein 08/28/2015 at 16:01

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Yeah, there was a whole row on Miata.net about, lsd is now club exclusive, although I agree the website doesn't seem to reflect that.

Khalbali > Khalbali 08/28/2015 at 16:02

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The brochure is clearer, it lists Gt features as “in addition to or in place of features on the sport” not the club.

Textured Soy Protein > Khalbali 08/28/2015 at 16:11

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Ah, yeah I got rid of my Miata 7 years ago so I don’t exactly keep up on Miata.net. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks the performance stuff shouldn’t be exclusive to the Club though. Why does Mazda think that people who like heated seats don’t also want things like Bilsteins and LSDs? That’s stupid. Even more reason to get the Fiat really.

Khalbali > Textured Soy Protein 08/28/2015 at 16:18

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For me it was more reason to get an NC PRHT, I had ordered an ND and got an ‘08 instead.

RBH58 > Textured Soy Protein 08/30/2015 at 20:06

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Yep, agree...the Abarth 124 Spider could be the MX5 everybody has wanted for years, but I really hope it’s not too loaded with kit because it would be nice if it could have that power and still weigh 1,000kgs.

And BTW, I’ve have several cars with rain sensing wipers (Renaultsport Megane Cup, Volvo C30 T5, Alfa MiTo QV), and none of them had a clue when the windscreen needed to be wiped.

Textured Soy Protein > RBH58 08/30/2015 at 23:22

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Honestly rain sensing wipers are probably the last essential of the features I want. But interestingly enough, they do work pretty well on both my BMW 135is and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Those combined with Rain-X windshield washer fluid makes for some great visibility in the rain.

Joe F > Textured Soy Protein 08/31/2015 at 19:09

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oh interesting, I assumed they’d work with the Mazda engine. I assumed that when they partnered up with Maza that Fiat would leverage some Italian styling over some Japanese reliability. Will be interesting to see this unfold.

Well I guess this is going to be the Mazdaspeed ND alternative that Mazda recently said they did not have plans to release any time soon.

TheHondaBro > Matthew Phillips 11/18/2015 at 19:43

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That sounds delicious.

julienjj > Matthew Phillips 11/20/2015 at 12:13

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