Anyone considering the Fiat 124?

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:27 am

Abarth anyone? :mrgreen:

Rolley · Postby **Rolley** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:13 am

They have worked really well with design cues from the older model, suddenly it makes a lot more sense with that image in the background.

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:53 am

Those brakes are massive!
Looks better with the more aggressive treatment, but then again most ugly cars can be disguised with big intakes, scoops and spoilers.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:25 am

At least now I see why they've added those two hideous bonnet lumps:

... I see it but I don't understand it, they're trying to maintain a tie-in with the original car but it just looks "shouse" IMO and completely out of whack with the otherwise smooth lines of the car.

Was there an American involved in the Italian design team? (they added bonnet vents to the Monaro for their market despite the fact that the Australian designers said they weren't needed and ruined the lines of the car).

I expected more from the Italians.

Rocky · Postby **Rocky** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:37 pm

Thanks for the great image Nervyn.

Lokiel, you shouldn't expect too much from the Italians. They are pretty patchy on style with some real atrocities in recent decades, particularly Alfa Romeo.

The bonnet bumps are only there to mimic the original 124 Spider (and it's DOHC motor) and those like me who dig the retro-nostalgia thing probably all like them.

I would need a huge amount of reassurance about rust immunity, quality and reliability to ever buy another Italian car.

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:01 pm

As far as I can tell the Fiat will be built by Mazda, so hopefully at least the body and rustproofing will be ok. The turbo motor looks like an interesting tuning proposition, even if only with an electronic retune. Whoops, did I just say all that, bearing in mind I sell MX-5s for a living?

JZP · Postby **JZP** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:38 pm

Nice . I like it. Just needs to go well if there is a large price premium.

bootz · Postby **bootz** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 3:44 pm

Being built by Mazda it is an italian styled MX%.

The best part is by using the Abarth 500 motor you have access to heaps of tuning possibilities.

A mazdaspeed version would seem to be the next logical step for Mazda.

Sailor · Postby **Sailor** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 6:49 pm

I love the shape of this thing.
Always been a fan of Fiats and Lancias there's a little extra flair that the Japanese just seem to be afraid of
Rust is a thing of the past...from a time when everything rusted but the Italians just did it better.
Reliability has also been pretty much sorted with quality control engineers poached from major EU manufacturers.
Would I buy one?
Well that will depend on specs and price..of course and there'll need to be a little more room inside than the ND which just feels too confined ...I like the size of the NC

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 7:14 pm

It won't be bigger inside than ND.

Vat · Postby **Vat** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 7:48 pm

davekmoore wrote:It won't be bigger inside than ND.

Yup, only change in the cabin is the Mazda badges have swapped for Fiat badges.

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 9:57 am

Vat wrote:
davekmoore wrote:It won't be bigger inside than ND.

Yup, only change in the cabin is the Mazda badges have swapped for Fiat badges.

Actually there are quite a few changes to the cabin, it's just most are quite subtle and not immediately obvious. :wink:

Rocky · Postby **Rocky** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 4:07 pm

I'm sure you are right Sailor. There would be all hell to pay if you currently tried to sell a car with as many rust and QA issues as the original Fiats.
I too love the new one and particularly Nevyn's Abarth render.
Pricing, dealer service, and how the gearbox and 1400 turbo feels would be key determinants for me. North of $45K would see a total loss of interest.

pcmx5 · Postby **pcmx5** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:48 pm

I also like it and given the ordinary state of affairs at Chrysler/Alfa/Fiat in Australia being at the bottoom of both customer and dealer satisfaction am hoping they might use it as "marque" builder at a good price and spec it right.Mazda build quality with a decent engine appeals.

All speculation of course but will very interesting to see it.

Peter.

rjastra2 · Postby **rjastra2** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:39 am

bootz wrote:Being built by Mazda it is an italian styled MX%.

The best part is by using the Abarth 500 motor you have access to heaps of tuning possibilities.

A mazdaspeed version would seem to be the next logical step for Mazda.

The 124 has two specs of the 1.4 turbo. The one for the USA gets about 119kw. The one for europe gets the 103kw version we see in the Fiat 500X/Jeep Renegade.
They don't seem to get much more than 130kw out of this engine.