AutoGuide has an early image of the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider in full pixelated glory ahead of its reveal Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
The two-seater sports car, which shares a similar skeleton as the Mazda MX-5 Miata, will reportedly sport a Fiat engine underneath its long hood — probably borrowed from the Fiat 500 Abarth. That 1.4-liter turbocharged mill produces 160 horsepower, which is only 5 more than the Miata.
If the Fiata does get the Multi-air treatment, things could get interesting. For starters, the Fiat 500 Abarth uses nearly straight pipes out its rear end, which makes the car sound like an angsty 60-pound bee gasping for air. Top-down, cold starts could be magnificent in the 124 Spider. Second, power delivery in a boosted mill could be all kinds of lumpy fun next to the Mazda’s naturally aspirated four.
We’ll have to wait until Wednesday for official details from Fiat, including what may be in store for a 124 Abarth model.
The car is slated to go on sale sometime next year.
If they can keep a sub-$30k price on it, could be a winner.
I had a 124. This is a Fiat I’d buy.
Howcome anybody taking pics of leaked/secret cars only has a Samsung flip phone from 2003?
I thought it was from a scan of a Kodak Brownie slide.
Nah… they were sharper if you had good light.
Looks to me like it’s in a reflection. It’s a bit distorted spatially and I’ve seen the same kind of odd coloration when trying to extract things out of reflections CSI-style.
Agreed. Or else that guy’s mom carried him around in a papoose with a headboard.
The people taking these pictures are also usually doing so quickly and discreetly. They don’t have time to make sure the focus and what not is right, they have to do it quickly before someone (re: security) notices.
Perhaps it is the OEMs themselves leaking these pix, cleverly manipulating them to be clear enough to whet the appetite for then reveal but not so clear as to steal the reveal’s thunder.
I’m hoping for more power… around 230 hp would be great. The exhaust sound has to be great or it’s not worth it.
If it’s anything close to the Fiat 500 Abarth, it is worth it. I am amazed how a little 1.4 can sound so mean.
230 hp seems awfully specific, Splorg. Would you care to explain how you derived this figure and why anything short of this would leave you crestfallen?
Not crestfallen, but I do like excess! I’d like the Miata to have more power, too. Adult levels. I’ve already owned the slow Miata. Time for a fast one.
If you can’t drive a Miata fast, it’s not the car’s fault. This sounds like an excuse you tell yourself to feel better about not buying the car.
If you hit the gas from a stop or a straight roll and it doesn’t go fast, it sure is the car’s fault.
EABOD
“EABOD”
So angry. Try therapy.
230hp is just about the power produced by Fiat’s 1750 TB engine, found on Alfa’s 4C and Giulietta QV. this engine seems to be the obvious choice for a 124 Abarth.
Bingo, palandi. Everybody else loves making excuses for the power shortage. We live in the era of cheap horsepower, but I still can’t find a tiny car that’s fast, which is what I want since I live in San Francisco and need a tiny car. I don’t need a fucking slow car, though, and want it to get up and go (no 0-60’s in the 7 or 8’s getting passed by grandmas.) Even the JCW Mini is too damned slow.
This Miata would be great (and I’m a former owner of a Miata and a Lotus Elise) if it were faster off the line than all the bicyclists and slower pedestrians. (Handling means nothing in this town so speed and size are the only things it can sell me.)
Wanted: diminutive dragster for driving in city traffic.
That seems reasonable. O_o
People with no intention of ever buying a Miata will be satisfied with no less than 830 hp.
“People with no intention of ever buying a Miata will be satisfied with no less than 830 hp.”
You just put a picture in my head of a big-a** engine, out of control, and dragging a small 2500 pound chassis down the highway.
The engine doesn’t need to be BIGGER, just work up a sweat.
THATS funny
Maybe time to retire my Spitfire? The thought of a Miata that sounds like a Fiat 500 Abarth makes me all kinds of warm and tingly inside.
That dude has Marchionne level security/ninja weaponry in that pink satchel hanging off his back pocket wallet-like chain/thread.
Betcha it’s got a ham and cheese sandwich and a snicker bar.
And Xstat gunshot wound clotting agent,
Is it a RWD?
Yes, it’s simply a restyled Miata with a Fiat powertrain.
It’s even being built in Hiroshima.
Fiat Studios all over Christendom must be thrilled to get a 2-seater niche car to supplement their lineup of quasi-2-seater niche cars.
In this pic, it looks exactly like the third-gen Miata.
Um, yeah. I was expecting the sheet metal to differentiate it more from the Miata. Maybe the front end looks different from the Miata.
At this point in time it’s like, if you like the Miata but think it’s too reliable, then Fiat has a car for you.
I needed a laugh. Thank you.
It would have to have significantly more than 160hp to make me want it over the Miata. 200 or bust.
The big win here is that there are bolt-ons for the 500 Abarth that presumably could be adapted here to get 200+ hp and equivalent torques.
160 HP? Maybe that long hood can hold a hemi.
It looks more like a Miata than the new Miata!
The Fiata would need a different personality to distinguish it from the Miata. More HP plus a turbo would be a start. Straight pipes out the end you say? 60 pound angry bee? Add yellow paint and a black stripe and park it next to a similarly painted Camaro, and it could pass as Bumble Bee’s little brother.
I am a huge Miata lover. First drove one in 95. Owned a 97 for 5 years. Father has now a 99 and when I visit him I can’t wait to drive that car. So the ND already has me contemplating getting a Miata again.
I’m inclined to get the “real thing”. Not to mention the Fiat is a knockoff with a terrible brand reputation….
But I’m telling you, if this car has the 500 Abarth motor, and I ever decide to pull the trigger, I could end up with a Fiat. The sound of the Abarth alone would probably make the car worth it. And I’d like to hope that a Mazda car with a Fiat engine would hopefully still be close to dead reliable like the Miata.
Are the Abarth motors solid?
I also would hope it stays linked to the Mazda gearbox…
I owned an X1/9. I prefered its edgy looks much more then the spyder that was available at the same time. I thought it was way too timid. Gorgeous in its own right tho, Pininfarina did a great job on the body. But the X1/9 took my 25 year old breath away. I’m waiting for a car like that again. Gruppo Bertone is gone. Sigh.
For those of us who understand articles by reading and are lacking in the mind reading department, could you explain what the heck this article is about? I had to read way down into the comments before I saw a reference to a joint Mazda/Fiat project with a Fiat engine in a Miata. Is that what this car is? If so, why for the love of Pete didn’t you say so?
Please see Twain, rule #1: “The author shall say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.”
Based on pics from Jalopnik, this thing is far and away better looking than the “tired eyes” Miata. Same goes for the rear.
In canada they will be both nuts pricing, the new mx is $40,000.00 plus tax, to be used here 5 to 6 months out of the year.
For that money- a 2012 Z4 plus lots of change, or 1series plus a NB, or LS430 plus a NB, or pony up 20k more and get a new Porsche.
or the new mustang convert ecoboost premium in a fun color.
The pricing should be in line with a fiesta ($20k to 23k) or ST at $25k, this is why the sales are declining- its too much to use for too little time-
OR better pricing still- look at the FIAT 500, $17.5 sticker gets you a convertible, manual- tons of fun colors.
That’s what the mx-5 should be, cheap, limited use, under-powered but tunable, RWD, manual, in a s-load of exterior colors and 2 tone interiors.
Always wanted the MX, almost think it even has enough power but the price is always too high, its not competitive and that gives me pause for what is on the market, new or used.