Review: nearly four years ownership with a Fiat 124 Classica Spider as a daily driver

[Colo Springs E]

Just let my 2017 124 Classica go yesterday, and picked up a more practical and certainly more dorky small SUV/Crossover (2016 VW Tiguan).

Not many people can live with a 2-seater roadster as an 'only' or primary vehicle--I did it along the Front Range of Colorado for close to four years. For the most part, I did fine without 2 additional seats and of course very limited storage space. My wife has a Crosstrek, so I did very occasionally drive it if needed. So I kinda/sorta had a backup vehicle.

Rear wheel drive in Colorado Springs' relatively mild Winters was no issue either--had a set of wheels / Winter tires dedicated to Oct-Apr use, and the little guy did just fine in our occasional snow.

Reliability? Despite the name "Fiat," "Fix It Again Tony) nary a problem in those 4 years and 37,000 miles. Manual transmission shifted smoothly and was an absolute delight to drive from a handling standpoint. And even driving spiritedly most of the time, 27 mpg was easily obtained darting around town. Did require premium fuel, and I never ran anything but in it.

Average actual straight-line acceleration, but never felt slow. Anyway, straight line acceleration is not what a roadster is really all about. The official numbers indicated it was slower than some mini-vans out there, but the nimble weight (<2500#) and tossable nature made it feel like you were in a go-kart and driving fast at all times! The little turbo four powered the 124 just fine, and was nice to have at the altitude (I live at 6000 feet).

Turbo lag? A little, but knowing how to drive a stick and staying mostly in the 'sweet spot' greatly reduced that issue.

I live on the west side of the city, and the pass leading up to Woodland Park is about 4-5 minutes away. Many is the time, I decided to turn right onto highway 24 to take a quick jaunt up that twisty little pass just for the helluva it! I will definitely miss that.

It was just time to get something different, something I can make the occasional Home Depot run in, can throw my bicycle/kayaks in the back and head to the mountains, can haul other people around from time to time, etc.

I've owned a LOT of cars, and I can honestly say, the little Fiat was my favorite I ever had. I may get another one day--if I do, I'll probably get the Abarth version.

Bye little Spider-- I hope you'll treat your next owner as well as you did me. And here's to roadsters!!

 

[Weazel]

A good read, Colo. An ode to a car!

Me, I could not let me be seen in a car like that, being bald and old and in every other way pathetic.

Bystanders spotting me driving by would laugh and point and make fart noises.

 

[buster poser]

Cool car, I thought the Fiatas weighed closer to 3k lbs though? Still lighter than most cars on the road, I’d have one for sure. Enjoy the Tiguan, I hear they’re pretty solid

 

[Colo Springs E]

A good read, Colo. An ode to a car!

Me, I could not let me be seen in a car like that, being bald and old and in every other way pathetic.

Bystanders spotting me driving by would laugh and point and make fart noises.

I like talking cars and welcomed all the discussion and questions I got.all the time. But it did take some getting used to, all the "what the heck is that??" and "wow cool car man" comments. It happened.all the time.

Won't be getting that in my "new" ride haha

 

[Colo Springs E]

Cool car, I thought the Fiatas weighed closer to 3k lbs though? Still lighter than most cars on the road, I’d have one for sure. Enjoy the Tiguan, I hear they’re pretty solid

Automatic might weigh a bit more? Not as light as its cousin Miata, but a featherweight by today's standards.

 

[CCK1]

Sounds like reliability has greatly improved since the Fiats of the 70’s and early 80’s.

 

[DeeBobGuitar]

Those are such cool little cars, unfortunately my legs are too long for me to really be able to drive one! I'm glad you enjoyed yours so much.

Sounds like reliability has greatly improved since the Fiats of the 70’s and early 80’s.

My last car was a 2006 Fiat that would challenge that!

 

[CCK1]

Those are such cool little cars, unfortunately my legs are too long for me to really be able to drive one! I'm glad you enjoyed yours so much.



My last car was a 2006 Fiat that would challenge that!

I never had one that new. Mine was a 1979 Spider 2000. Unreliable from the showroom floor. Beautiful car though.

 

[Joe M]

My wife has one exactly like yours (was). Same year, same trim, same color. Her daily driver, but of course, if we go anywhere together, I get to drive my car . FWIW, if you didn't know this, these cars are built on the same plant and line as Mazda Miatas in Japan. Sheet metal, engine and trans are the only major differences. So far, trouble-free.

 

[buster poser]

View attachment 1124102

Automatic might weigh a bit more? Not as light as it's cousin Miata, but a featherweight by today's standards.

Right on thanks! I obviously misremembered them being a lot heavier, probably because I thought the MX5 in those years was north of 2500 which is also wrong. I love them both, but the 124 is super attractive with the extra grunt. If the Miata had some 9,000rpm screamer I might feel differently, but I'd much rather have slight turbo lag and a little more twist down low; my experience with modern ones says the lag is really not an issue any longer.

 

[Boreas]

Weren't these co-produced with Mazda (Miata)?

 

[dkmw]

And now I know…. I’ve seen a couple of these around and had no clue what they were. Pretty car.

But anyway, viva la roadster. Mine weighs 2855 so it’s a porker by comparison. Still tossable though.

 

[Colo Springs E]

Yes both the Fiat and Miata are/were made in Hiroshima Japan. (the 124 is no longer made)

The Fiat has its own Mutiair turbo engine, whereas the Miata has a naturally aspirated Mazda Skyactive.

This latest iteration of the Miata out of the gate was actually less reliable than the "Fiata," at least with a manual transmission. The Fiat used the previous version well proven Miata manual transmission, and the Miata introduced a completely new one for 2016. A lot more reported failures than one would expect from Mazda, and it took a few versions to get it right. Also, the top on my 2016 Miata Club had to be replaced, thankfully under warranty ($6 grand!).

Both are great cars, but I loved the uniqueness of the Spider.

 

[Dan German]

Very nice, I’ll bet you’ll miss it. I always liked the styling of the Fiat version of the Miata. For the record, so did Tom Tjaarda, who styled the original Spider. Definitely needs to be a manual, though. Not just because of the type of car, but because the Fiat auto it would have come with was (in my experience) a dithering mess. I’m OK with an auto in a daily driver, especially when there’s traffic to deal with, but one that can’t make decisions is maddening.

(Note: when I lived on the Front Range, I had a ‘70s Fiat 124 Sport Spider with a lightly-breathed-on 1750. It was brilliant, and never left me stranded.)

 

[NoTeleBob]

Nothing like a smallish, sporty convertible to put a smile on your face with every top down drive. Every convertible day is a good day.

Let's get a comment from Jimmy Buffett:

 

[imwjl]

Just let my 2017 124 Classica go yesterday, and picked up a more practical and certainly more dorky small SUV/Crossover (2016 VW Tiguan).

Not many people can live with a 2-seater roadster as an 'only' or primary vehicle--I did it along the Front Range of Colorado for close to four years. For the most part, I did fine without 2 additional seats and of course very limited storage space. My wife has a Crosstrek, so I did very occasionally drive it if needed. So I kinda/sorta had a backup vehicle.

Rear wheel drive in Colorado Springs' relatively mild Winters was no issue either--had a set of wheels / Winter tires dedicated to Oct-Apr use, and the little guy did just fine in our occasional snow.

Reliability? Despite the name "Fiat," "Fix It Again Tony) nary a problem in those 4 years and 37,000 miles. Manual transmission shifted smoothly and was an absolute delight to drive from a handling standpoint. And even driving spiritedly most of the time, 27 mpg was easily obtained darting around town. Did require premium fuel, and I never ran anything but in it.

Average actual straight-line acceleration, but never felt slow. Anyway, straight line acceleration is not what a roadster is really all about. The official numbers indicated it was slower than some mini-vans out there, but the nimble weight (<2500#) and tossable nature made it feel like you were in a go-kart and driving fast at all times! The little turbo four powered the 124 just fine, and was nice to have at the altitude I live at (6000 feet).

Turbo lag? A little, but knowing how to drive a stick and staying mostly in the 'sweet spot' greatly reduced that issue.

I live on the west side of the city, and the pass leading up to Woodland Park is about 4-5 minutes away. Many is the time, I decided to turn right onto highway 24 to take a quick jaunt up that twisty little pass just for the helluva it! I will definitely miss that.

It was just time to get something different, something I can make the occasional Home Depot run in, can throw my bicycle/kayaks in the back and head to the mountains, can haul other people around from time to time, etc.

I've owned a LOT of cars, and I can honestly say, the little Fiat was my favorite I ever had. I may get another one day--if I do, I'll probably get the Abarth version.

Bye little Spider-- I hope you'll treat your next owner as well as you did me. And here's to roadsters!!

View attachment 1124086

I get the rag top fun. My mother bought a 2005 Mini S convertible that's getting towards 20 years of often shared by family members. Now my daughter drives it most.

We love our VW with turbo and manual transmission but it has had never stranded us repeat misfire errors on same cylinder. Being under warranty and lemon law they just kept it close to a week doing VW's recipe I hope ends it all.

What is funny in all this is now my wife wants another Toyota but not for her to drive - just the dependability. Something funny about her interest in new Tacoma for me is she really just wants the nice shifting manual drivetrain option.

Enjoy your new rig in good health!

 

[getbent]

in high school, there was a used one of these 124 sports for sale at a used lot in Redondo. I passed it all the time. I stopped once and actually sat in it (barely fit as I am tall) man... just looking at the gauges (benzina) and I thought I'd be in heaven. Never did get it. Later two other friends did get Fiat (an 850 and 124 hard top) and so I did get to mess with them a little.

good luck with the tiguan! our local car dealer runs ads on the the TV for the new 'Tay Oss' which makes me roar especially when he pronounces his own name with very specific pronunciation!

 

[MTPoteet]

Sorry you lost your roadster. I'm sure it had plenty of life left in it at only 6 years old.
You'll get another some day!

I realize it's not a roadster, but my 97 Tacoma has been my daily for 26 years, also a two seater, 113,000 trouble free miles(I have replaced one battery and one starter)and believe it or not people are always asking me if I would sell it.

It is also a manual transmission with a3.4 litre v-6. Straight line acceleration was way better than I imagined it would be when I bought it new in 97', I had been driving American V-8' most of my life up to that point, I didn't realize what a modern technology V-6 would do.

Weather permitting (300 days of sunshine in CO as you know), my daily driver is my 1930 ford hotrod. It originally had a back seat, but the way we built it, it is now a two seater. If you are anywhere near 6' tall you need to locate the seats pretty far back to fit into one of these 1930's cars leaving no practical room in the back.

I don't drive it in wet or snowy conditions, there is absolutely no traction in wet weather
Acceleration, I don't know the numbers but I would assume it would out do your Fiat, it certainly beats my Toyota. Top speed? It will go way faster than you or I want or any sane person wants to hang on to it.
Handling? No way with 1930's buggy spring technology. They call it buggy spring for a reason.
It gets reactions reactions from toddlers to folks in their 90's and gets the same questions as your Fiat did, possibly more, like what color are you going to paint it? What year is it, what engine is that. Like you, my wife and I enjoy the questions and conversations it brings up.

 

[Ron R]

Glad to hear that it was a reliable ride. I like the look of the new Spiders, but knowing Fiat's history, attached a big BUT to that.
I do love the utility of my little Tucson SUV, but maybe some day, I'll have a dependable SUV AND a fun car.

 

[runstendt]

I get it, @Colo Springs E. My daily driver has been several Miatas since 2007. You can fit a surprising amount of gear in them. I only got a more "practical" car this past winter, because I wanted to make loading a bit easier. The Miata is still used most of the week, though.