Miata Is Always The Answer

[DopefishLives]

The Fiat is gone, long live the Fiat! Wait, I mean Mazda, long live the Mazda!

This is a continuation on a previous thread where we discussed what the hell I should buy next: http://www.genmay.com/showthread.php?t=849043

Friday afternoon I test drove a new Abarth 124 Spider, the Fiat alternative to the Mazda Miata Club. I thoroughly enjoyed driving it, though it had the typical 1.4L Fiat issues, including: oscillating power output which is attributed to a craft factory bypass valve and poor throttle response, attributed to mediocre ECM mapping. The new Abarth 124 Spider looks fantastic, fantastic in the way a 2004 Mach 1 looked fantastic in 2004. What worries me is that it will eventually start to look like what a 2004 Mach 1 looks like in 2016. The styling is cool, retro, and exciting but has all the right stuff to making kitschy and dated in a few years time. The transmission is from the last-gen Miata and while great by manual gearbox standards, the new Miata gearbos feels better; I also kept finding this odd gating issue going into 3rd with the Fiata that could only be resolved with slower shifting. Driving this thing, even with the faults, I couldn't help but feel like I was driving something special. The exhaust note was perfect, the handling was perfect, the seats were perfect. Everything was awesome about this car and fun, in a 'If Roger Rabbit's cab were a Miata' sort of way. Pricing was good too, as a current Fiat owner, FCA offered $1,500 in incentives + a healthy trade value for our current Fiat 500. The sad part was that they already sold it and the owner was on their way for pickup. Since my test drive was already scheduled, the new owner was cool with letting me have a go anyways.



I've pined for a new Miata for the last year and driving the Fiata felt like a lot of what I loved in the new car. The styling was different, the engine was different, neither seemed as good as the new Miata but I still very-much liked them and I'm ecstatic that this thing exists, even if I don't own one. What a jovial and enjoyable car.

After some friendly conversation at the dealer I went home, still thinking about how long before I can get one of these cars (MX-5 or 124). I enter the house and the first thing from the wife was, 'Any plans tomorrow, think Mazda will give you a deal since 2016 is almost over?' -- SOLD! Spent nearly the entire day at Mazda, including an intermission of dealership-wide excitement, when our toddler locked herself, and the keys, in the Tahoe. We came to an agreement, the MIL drove baby home in the Tahoe and wifey and I headed back in a new 2016 Maita Club, closing the chapter on the Fiat 500.

[GhEttOrAiD]

nice, congrats

[Typhoon43]

It's so cute!


Good purchase though. I'm sure it's fun.

[voidme]

if you are going to go full homo leave the Miata for the fems and dykes and go with the blue prius

[GhEttOrAiD]

What's the top car for gays? The answer is ALWAYS Miata.

[joemama]

Originally Posted by GhEttOrAiD

What's the top car for gays? The answer is ALWAYS German Miata or convertible versions of German two door coupes.

fixt for truth

[GhEttOrAiD]

Goteeeeeem

[DopefishLives]

Cleaned up and out in natural light





No plans for mods in the near future, though I will be keeping my eyes on how this thing works out:

[GhEttOrAiD]

no interest in the e-superchargers?

saw vids of one for the last gen, and for the BRZ

[Triple B]

wat da fuc is an e supercharger?

[GhEttOrAiD]

[RazorWind]

Jawesome! I saw my first 124 out in the wild yesterday. I hate to say it, but I think I like the styling better than the ND Miata. I don't think I'd want any car with a Fiat engine, though, if I could have it instead with a Mazda one.

I have a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata myself.



That's a crap photo of it, but the point was the capture the globs of tire mounting sploogesauce that launched off of my motorcycle tire when I seated its beads. You can kind of see one there, on the door.

[DopefishLives]

Originally Posted by GhEttOrAiD

no interest in the e-superchargers?

saw vids of one for the last gen, and for the BRZ

Whole lotta nope.

Originally Posted by GhEttOrAiD

What's the top car for gays? The answer is ALWAYS Miata.

...but seriously, it is a Prius.

Originally Posted by RazorWind

Jawesome! I saw my first 124 out in the wild yesterday. I hate to say it, but I think I like the styling better than the ND Miata. I don't think I'd want any car with a Fiat engine, though, if I could have it instead with a Mazda one.

I have a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata myself.



That's a crap photo of it, but the point was the capture the globs of tire mounting sploogesauce that launched off of my motorcycle tire when I seated its beads. You can kind of see one there, on the door.

I was and still am torn on the Fiata looks. As I stated at the beginning of the thread, I think it looks fantastic but worry it won't age well. The Miata on the other-hand seems like it will age into itself, becoming more appealing with time. I felt the same way about the NB and NC, which after a couple decades has proven true. They look even better to me now than they did when they launched.

I would still like to own a Fiata at some point (if not an MSM), maybe after some violent depreciation and having the ND paid off, I'll consider it. Reliability and engine doesn't worry me in the least, they are solid, just not as elegant as Mazda's own implementation.

I love the MSM and was looking at those as well. I drive a LOT and this car will have many miles on it by this time next year, so it made sense to get a new one that I could drive the beans out of without immediate concern for failures. For modern interpretation of the MSM, the 124 is spot-on.

[Free_Willy]

I love Miatas. Words cannot express my jealousy.

Edit: