Fiat 124 Comparo Pics Posted to Facebook

[DUCeditor]

I posted the following to my own FB page and to a FB 124 appreciation page. Rather interesting watching the various expressed points of view!



Yesterday, at the Los Angeles Motor Show, FIAT released their new 124 Spider. A car promised a couple of years ago. It is based on the Japanese Miata, and being built, not in Italy but by Mazda in Japan.
Just wondering what people apart from old time FIAT freaks like me think. Did they capture the classic car's visual appeal? Improve upon it?
Among the photos FIAT released I chose a couple with a POV similar to these recent shots of Jan and my classic `77.
Thoughts?




-don

[bradartigue]

I see almost zero similarity. The new one looks like a Miata. I don't think it's a bad looking car on its own, but the comparisons are lame. FIAT seemed rather desperate to tie this car to the pedigree of the original...to invoke the nostalgia of what? Lousy service, expensive parts, abandonment...

[MarkKrieger]

I owned a new 1972 Spider which I purchased in Italy and used in Europe for 2 years and brought home with me to the USA. I lurk here, maybe I'll buy one of the old Spiders and relive my youth. You got most of the bad points about the Spiders, but missed the worst: THE RUST. I loved my car, but the rust ate through everything; it was monumental, living in Geneva and driving in rain and snow, and then in the Northeast.

The new car will not have this problem, but if I had not seen the badge, I would have said "nice Miata" -- on the other hand, it also looks like a small Boxster, which is not a bad car either. I owned one of those for a number of years, they are great cars, but with no trunks to speak of, very expensive maintenance, and Porsche abandoning their customers when engines were blowing up, they have their own shortcomings.

And the NewSpider will probably be a fun car to own and drive.

Mark

[DUCeditor]

I owned a new 1972 Spider ...You got most of the bad points about the Spiders, but missed the worst: THE RUST. I loved my car, but the rust ate through everything; it was monumental, living in Geneva and driving in rain and snow, and then in the Northeast.

By the time my `77 was built those rust issues had been resolved.

Maybe the best proof of this is that during an extended time of illness my Spider sat unattended in a dirt-floored shed. This was for several years. It came out looking as in does in those photos. A Suzuki SUV, just a few of years old at the time, left in that same shed just for one Summer was so rusty that it had to be junked. Not only were its body panels rusty, but worse, its mechanicals were deemed unfixable by the Suzuki service people.

Oh, and some Mazda models have a bad reputation for rust.

As posted on Autonet:

Top 10 Flops – the least corrosion-resistant makes
1.Mazda: 3, 5, Tribute, MPV ⇒ very weak resistance;


-don

[DieselSpider]

So Mazda now has a Fiat Power Train Option for the Miata but its not really what I'd call a Spider.