Fiat / 124 Spider Abarth.
A 1.4-liter turbocharged, front-engine, rear-drive roadster built on a Mazda chassis and finished in Turin by the scorpion-badged house Fiat keeps around for exactly this kind of thing.
Fast facts.
US-spec 2018 model. Small numbers, big attitude — most of what makes this car interesting is what Abarth changed, not the base spec sheet.
0–60 mph in roughly 6 seconds — quick enough to matter, not so quick it stops being about the chassis.
The story.
Two companies, one roadster.
FCA wanted a proper roadster back in the lineup and didn't want to pay to develop a chassis from scratch, so it partnered with the company already building the best small roadster in the business. Every 124 Spider is built on the same line as the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5, at Mazda's plant in Hiroshima, sharing platform, mechanicals and the folding-top mechanism. The shell then ships to Turin, where Abarth — Fiat's in-house, scorpion-badged performance division — does final assembly on the Abarth trim and swaps in its own turbocharged engine, suspension tuning and exhaust.
It's a Mazda underneath and an Italian on top. That's more or less the whole appeal.
The name carries weight.
124 isn't a new badge — it first went on Pininfarina-designed Fiat Sport Spiders in 1966. Those cars spent the 1970s getting turned into rally weapons by the same Abarth division, including a Group 4-homologated "124 Abarth Rally" campaigned across the European rally scene. The modern car borrows the name, the number, and arguably some of the attitude.
Why it matters.
The spec sheet undersells it. The Abarth-specific hardware is where the actual car is.
Bilstein Sport Suspension
Abarth-specific front and rear Bilstein dampers, plus a front strut tower brace, tighten up what is, underneath, a fairly soft-riding MX-5. Less body roll, sharper turn-in.
Limited-Slip Differential
Standard on Abarth, optional-or-absent on the base 124. Puts power down out of a corner instead of spinning the inside tire.
Abarth Exhaust
A works-tuned exhaust note that's noticeably louder and rawer than the standard 124's — part of the "we're the performance version, don't forget it" package.
Sport mode.
One button on the console sharpens throttle response, adds weight to the steering, and — on cars with the available valved exhaust — opens things up for more noise. It doesn't add horsepower. It just stops pretending to be polite about the horsepower it already has.
Behind the wheel.
Small, loud, and exactly what autocross wants.
A limited-slip diff and a chassis borrowed from the class-leading small roadster mean the Abarth doesn't need much horsepower to be quick through cones — it needs grip, feedback and a driver willing to use all of the wheel. Running with Southwest Montana SCCA is closer to the car's actual job description than anything on a public road: short bursts, tight transitions, and a differential that's earning its keep on every single run.
Owning one.
A general starting point — not a substitute for a proper pre-purchase inspection or the FCA/Abarth service manual.
Aaron's Abarth.
2018 Fiat 124 Spider Abarth · Nero (black) · Recaro seats · six-speed manual · Montana plate VELENO.
Currently campaigned in SCCA autocross with Southwest Montana Region.
Sources & next stops.
- 2018 Fiat 124 Spider and Abarth factory specifications — engine, output, torque, weight and dimensions
- Fiat 124 Spider (2016) — Wikipedia — Mazda platform-sharing, Hiroshima/Turin production, Abarth trim
- Fiat Abarth 124 Rally — Wikipedia — the original car's Group 4 rally pedigree