Recommendations

[narfire]

My druthers are the FI cars. I now have 2- 80's (will be selling one once tidy'ed up).
Bottom line though,be patient and look for one rust free or minimal rust anyway. They are out there. A good restored car for more bucks or one for perhaps less and you sort it out/improve while driving?
Carb'd cars offer perhaps a few more options if you want to really up the power,however I've done a few mods to the FI and it has improved the performance,I think, to where I'm happy for now. (doing up another head with big valves,porting and Marks cams at the moment though)-more happy.
Good luck in the search
If in doubt get one of each and then drive the one you like and the other can become the better halfs grocery getter
Chris

[baltobernie]

any year car you can find that is rust free. check the shock towers and the floor boards. fiat mechanicals are relativly simple to repair and parts are abundant, and fairly inexpensive compared to modern cars. carburated and / or fuel injected either is good and have good and bad points. i would find a car that is cosmeticaly in good shape and repair any mechanical malfunctions you find. there is plenty of help here for anything you might run into.

I agree with BEEK (for once ), condition is more important than year. You can achieve any look you want with any model-year Spider. You can achieve virtually any performance level, too: carb(s) or EFI. So get out your magnet, ice pick and flashlight, and get a rust-free (not rust, FREE!) car.

More research: http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/buyspid.html http://www.hemmings.com/hsx/stories/200 ... uide1.html

But really ... if you want an air-conditioned, comfortable, reliable, no-maintenance roadster, buy a used Miata. Driving a unique, classic car comes with a price, and that price includes the four items attributed to the Mazda. The Spider was very advanced for its day, but the time period was, literally, the Middle Ages of automobile. There's a reason Spiders sell for $2-4k. They need another $5-10k to make them a reasonable facsimile of a modern car. And you still don't have rollover or side protection, airbags, ABS, etc. Spiders should be thought of as four-wheeled motorcycles. Sunny day drives with your S/O.

Would I trade Gina straight-up for a Miata? No, not even for a new one. But we've got a nice car and a beater in addition to our Fun Car.

[Gunsmith]

The only caution buying an 82 is all 82 owners must be screened to make sure their IQ matches the year. (82 NOT 1982).
There ya go Gunsmith, nothing hidden.

Man if I could get my IQ up to 82 I would join the Army!

[zachmac]

Man if I could get my IQ up to 82 I would join the Army! [/quote]

I think 82 is still Marines. 85 is the Army cutoff (Navy man talking!)

[Foster48x]

Here are the best years for Spiders.
66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85.5
I'm of course partial to the 80FI but you can't go wrong with any of the years listed above.
Rick

Oopsie! Did I leave the 82' model year off of my list of preferred Spiders? My bad, I was typing so fast that I must of overlooked it.

Rick

[rlux4]

That was a good one Rick. Definitely gave me my daily chuckle.
Ron (Charter member of the "1982 Is The Best Year Fiat Spider Ever Made" club.)

[ga.spyder]

Yes Rick...I caught it too !
Craig(another charter member of the 82 ''We can't improve this car any more,so lets let Pininfarina screw up the interior'' club)

[mdrburchette]

Yeah, I noticed it too. No, I'm not a charter member of the "82 owner trying to make it look like a classic 72".

[Nancy1340]

Well.......my '80 has AC and here in North Texas if a old lady like me is gonna drive her 124 in the summer it's gonna have AC. I picked it up at Vicks after getting her gone over, about 30+ miles away on a 90+ day. Vicks is in Ft. Worth and I'm on the far east sdie of Dallas. My little aftermarked AC kept me cool and comfortable if not cold.

[Gunsmith]

AC is on the list of things to do for sure!