Mazda MX-5 & Fiat 124 Spider | Better Together

The Fiat 124 was arguably the ideal rebirth - if only the buying public had seen it that way

By Matt Bird / Saturday, 18 April 2020 / Loading comments

This isn't a celebration of the joyous union of two manufacturers crossing borders to deliver the perfect four-wheeled compromise of performance, practicality and cost. Not just because no such thing has ever happened, but also because the 124 Spider is truthfully just a modified MX-5. The car was adapted for Fiat's requirements, a job that deserves more praise than it got - which we'll come back to - but it was very much Mazda's sports car. It certainly wasn't a joint project in the conventional sense; Mazda made the MX-5, then donated many of the key parts to Fiat to create its take. The MX-5 was shown to the world in September 2014, the 124 not until more than a year after. The Mazda release speaks of Jinba Ittai "rider-and-horse-as one" responsiveness and agility, the Fiat equivalent detailing "classic Italian styling and pure driving pleasure"; neither makes mention of the other anywhere. It was very much a relationship of convenience.

However, in Fiat's defence, why on earth wouldn't you borrow from the best to get the very expensive and difficult bits of the job done? Any car similar to the MX-5 is going to be endlessly compared to it, so why not base the rival on the target? By the time of the ND generation, Mazda had 25 years' experience of building MX-5s, and Fiat hadn't done rear-wheel drive in yonks. Factor in the enormous expense of developing a bespoke platform, and it all made sense. Moreover, it seemed lost on those making 'Fiata' jokes that the first MX-5 aimed to emulate the great European sports cars of the 1960s; sports cars like the original 124...

And you know what? The 124 remake was a decent effort. The cynics will say that a preschool project assembling MX-5 bits could make a fair sports car, but even allowing for that the 124 had its plus points. In fact, that's what's key: despite so much being shared, the Fiat felt distinct from the Mazda, offering its own virtues and character for - you would have thought - a slightly different kind of audience. Rather than a shameless homage or pastiche, or clone in the GT86/BRZ mould, the 124 felt exactly how a 21st century Fiat Spider should.

Which obviously didn't mean it suited everyone. A few of the styling details were clumsy; adding all of the additional 140mm of length outside the wheelbase robbed it of the Mazda's tautness - even though they shared the same wheelbase dimensions. Think of it from another perspective, though; being larger and more, er, classically styled should have made the 124 a rival for different cars, a grown-up cruiser rather than the pared back-roadster. It was intended to be a different proposition to the Mazda, even if still on the same architecture and weighing 50kg more.

The engines are where the MX-5 and 124 differed most, Mazda having invested so much in its new range of naturally-aspirated Skyactiv-G units and Fiat sticking with the MultiAir turbos. (Indeed, it's been suggested that the 124 was killed because of difficulty with WLTP homologation, although poor sales won't have helped its cause.) Like the looks, it gave the two cars very distinct characters: the Mazda was about chasing every last rev to extract a zingy sort of performance, the Fiat instead relying on easy turbo torque to push it along.

Which, in fact, suited the 124's drive down to the ground. Whereas the MX-5's pin-sharp throttle response could make the roly-poly chassis feel a bit too languid, that wasn't a concern for the 124. A slightly softer edge to the suited the more mellow behaviour of the little engine, the Fiat being much more about cruising the coast than blasting down B-roads.

Then there was the Abarth 124; different again to the car on which it was based, let alone any MX-5, it showed off another avenue that we'd not seen before. Yes, it was expensive and, yes, it was probably a little too firm for its own good, however it did display a level of attitude and excitement that hadn't ever come from a standard MX-5. Perhaps tying it into the scarily successful 500/595 range - rather than resurrecting a 124 badge known to few - might have helped it along more. Imagine if it had been the Abarth 595 Gran Lusso or something - perfect for those upgrading from the 500C...

Anyway, enough digression. The point is that we'd all assumed for so long that an MX-5 was the only way to go for a small, light, fun two-seater. The brace of 124s - albeit by using quite a lot of MX-5 bits - proved that there was another way. The Fiat and Abarth felt different to the MX-5, desirable in their own right, while also retaining a lot of what the donor car did well. The original concern - that it would feel like a Fiat-badged MX-5 - didn't come to pass. The 124 struck a nice compromise, offering something a bit more laid back and mature as a valid alternative. Or else a likably silly Abarth.

Nevertheless, for whatever reason, the 124 just didn't do it for UK customers. Even if WLTP really did kill it off, the MX-5 outsold it from day one, so a future rebirth seems unlikely. Mazda's legacy in this country was likely too well established - and the niche too slight - for Fiat's second and third way to take hold. Or buyers simply preferred the MX-5 way of doing things. That the choice was there for customers in the first place though, deserves recognition. Fiat didn't have to get involved, and, had it not chosen to, Mazda would likely have had a harder time green-lighting the MX-5 in the first place. It also delivered a Spider which could call itself a legitimate successor to its own original template, and remains relevant even if not on sale. It's a sad thought that we might wait 50 years again for another. Wonder what the MX-5 will be like in 2070...

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