2017 Fiat 124 vs. 2022 Mazda MX-5: What two Miata faithfuls think of the Italian job - vallieresurriess

Ask a Mazda MX-5 Miata driver about the 2017 Edict 124 Spider, and you'll probably get one of two answers:

1. Make out it. The world needs more cars comparable the Miata.

2. Why did you dress my perfectly good Miata in a flashy Italian wooing?

Au fon identical to the 2016 MX-5 (ND) save for the exterior design and the drivetrain, Miata drivers are split between embracing the 124 Spider (often nicknamedFiata) as a long-lost twin, or disdaining it as an interloper. (The truth: Mazda has openly acknowledged that Fiat's partnership is helping keep the Miata animated.)

Fiat did more than slap a new badge on the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata. The 2017 124 Spider has completely varied outside sheetmetal. It's five inches longer and 104 pounds heavier. Where the Miata's social movement styling presents sullen, sharp-pointed headlamps and a boxer's blunted nozzle, the 124 Wanderer presents a streamlined, tralatitious look, with prolate headlamps. Its silvery A-column calls forbidden its convertible-cape, practically inviting you to drop the top and let it shine.

Melissa Riofrio

The 2017 Fiat 124 Spider is five inches yearner than the 2016 Mazda Mx-5 Miata.

Inside the passenger sphere, Fiat squeezed whatsoever Italian accents into a compact space, most notably the stylish seating. Deeper inside the car, a 1.4-liter turbo from Fiat's Abarth family offers 160 horsepower and 184 lb.-ft. of torsion. Drivers get a choice of two transmissions from previous Mazda generations: a six-speed manual Oregon an Aisin six-speed automatic. We were disappointed to have the latter in our lender car.

Melissa Riofrio

The domestic of the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider (Lusso) has more deluxe seats than the comparable Miata, but most of the relief of the interior is the same.

The best way to decide which roadster is better, naturally, is to drive them. That's why we asked a few longtime, passionate Miata owners to hop into the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider Lusso and separate U.S. how it compared to their possess beloved rides. They also drove the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata on which the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider is based, which we obtained via the Getaround car sharing service. Some miles later, these are their impressions.

Katherine: Farewell, my love

My Miata (an Nota bene model, circa 1999) and I possess been attached at the pelvic girdle for more than a decade. I've driven the heck out of this shrimpy barmy and induce had a blast in the process.

The Miata physical structure has undergone some Kardashian-level transformation ended the years, but still, both information technology and the 2017 Decree 124 Wanderer scream "sporty roadster." I favor the Decree's elongated front close and Euro panache to the 2016 Maxwell-5 Miata's squatter, more bulbous body. I also like the Order's face—something almost the sharp angles of the modern Miata's headlights and the slope of the front end give it a menacing soft touc.

Michael Gehlken

Katherine Adlai Stevenson loves everything about her 1999 NB Miata exclude the unenviable chemical mechanism for the droptop.

Inside, both of the new cars were a shock to my 1999-steeped system. Storage behind the seats. Loving cup holders. An infotainment system. Oh, the modernity!

In almost every regard the cockpits of the two modern roadsters are virtually identical, with the Fiat peradventur a notch high in quality. That's particularly true of the Lusso exemplary we tested, which features cushy leather seats—with seat heaters, natch.

Other notable differences are the Fiat's gearshift knob (square vs. round), additional padding on the doors, and a few added flashes of chromium-plate—all matters of personal preference. The two cars also use the exact same droptop mechanics: A single latch over the rear-view mirror releases the top, and easy, one-handed effort returns information technology to place. This mightiness make up the one original sport I covet most. The N.B. Miata's droptop butt deman such effort, I often detain sequestered.

After impulsive both, I can speak to their respective "feels." Let's face it, the Miata is and so frickin' beloved—to the point in time of inspiring Fiat's high-visibility homage—for the unsophisticated fact that it's amusing to aim. My Miata is certainly that, and the 2016 Mazda MX-5 is even as pleasing.

Melissa Riofrio

Both the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider Lusso and the 2016 Mazda Maxwell-5 Miata we drove had the same 6-speed "manumatic" transmission.

The comparison was somewhat inexact, As my 1999 Miata has a manual transmission, and the 2016 Maxwell-5 Miata we had for testing was automatic. But using the newer Miata's manual option at to the lowest degree let me shift gears at bequeath, if not actually work a clench, which made for a decent approximation. Sure enough, today's Miata displays the zippiness, great handling, and comforting pickup when you step connected the gas that I associate with the Miata experience. Information technology ma like impulsive my Miata, but enwrapped in a cushion of refinements—smoother, more insulated, a infinitesimal less scrappy.

The 2017 Fiat 124 Spider, for its part, was very similar. Likewise a manumatic, information technology delivered the Miata's signature pep and agility on everything from freeways to indirect deuce-lane backroads to the beat-up streets of San Francisco. Interestingly, the Fiat felt even closer to the experience of drive my N.B.. It seemed like I could feel the road Sir Thomas More, hear more of the locomotive.

Even so, the differences between the 2016 Miata MX-5 Miata and the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider are negligible. As a old Miata fan, I'd happily deal out my NB (sorry, old ally) for either car.

Jon: My heat, my commitment, my…Ohio, burnished!

Melissa Riofrio

Jon L. Jacobi bought a used NA Miata in 2001 and hasn't looked rachis.

I'm a Miata jest at. It didn't come easy. The air-oriented Lightning McQueen groupies in the movie Cars were Miatas. Enough same.

Only in 2001, I was looking for an inexpensive convertible. My choice was elucidate: I bought a used '93 NA Miata with an aftermarket four-point rove bar and a hardtop. Did I cognise that I would wind up with one of the greatest production sports cars ever so made? No. Pure chance.

Melissa Riofrio

The 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata has an aggressive refreshing front contrive.

Presently I personal a 2006 Miata (Tar Heel State) and have driven many examples of NA done N. At this point, I wouldn't even off weigh buying anything other than a Miata. Except, perhaps an Italian version…

Surprise, surprise…

I could try to make up a sense of suspense over the next few paragraphs, but to heck with information technology: I liked the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider a lot. I liked the 2016 MX-5 Miata better. The Miata's somber dark-wood coal key, black sport wheels, and all-negro interior couldn't alter the fact that it was only more fun. I say that even though the motorcar has a advance grille that looks like a maniac, just about-sighted Lebistes reticulatus, and the car horn emits an embarrassingly wimpy meep. The Mazda design team is either seriously conflicted, operating room having a laugh.

The 2017 Decree 124 Spider, on the other hand, comes off alike the temporal sophisticate in some styling and route feel. It has a Roman nose (like my own) in the form of quint additional inches of hood, and the interior—No indefinite does interiors like the Italians. The 124 Spider's is a saturnine camel, with an aura of warmth and class. My only invention complaint was an interior door handle that dug into my left knee. However, if I were trying to ingrain someone, I'd rather arrive in the 124 Spider than the MX-5 Miata.

Genus Melissa Riofrio

The 2017 Fiat 124 Wanderer has a distinctly different exterior design compared to the the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata on which IT's based.

The other matter I loved near the 2017 Fiat 124 Wanderer was its force plant. The 1.4L four-cracker surprised me torque-wise, and the turbo had equitable the right-wing amount of lag before it punched in. The 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata's naturally aspirated 2.0L is smoother and winds nicely, but the tromp-on-it see is nowhere near as exciting. Beyond the turbo, especially when I hit the curves, the Maxwell-5 Miata was the party animal.

I wasn't privy to the technical details of either suspension or guidance mechanism, so I'm forced simply to name the sensations. The cars felt far more alike than different. The 2017 Fiat 124 Spider was steady, only just slightly ponderous, and a bit light at steep speeds (ahem) compared to the 2016 Mazda Maxwell-5 Miata. I also didn't like having thusly much nuzzle in foremost of me.

Melissa Riofrio

Fiat partnered with Mazda to renovate its 124 badge with Miata underpinnings.

The 2016 Mazda Maxwell-5 Miata, with the exception of much body roll than I feel well-to-do with (I installed an subsequently-market Ohlin route/track suspension on my ride), felt similar it went exactly where I pyramidical information technology. I drive a Miata all mean solar day, and then it's what I'm wont to, and I'm sure I could acclimate to the 124 Spider in very little fourth dimension. But it does tell you where Fiat went with its interlingual rendition of the Miata.

Maine? I'll take the fun one. I like the Miata's cleanser exterior styling better, though my colleague Katherine Stevenson matte the diametric.

What I would genuinely like is the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata's body and suspension tuning with the 2017 Fiat 124 Wanderer's indoor, power plant, and tusk. A hide-away display (its upper-pall position bugs me), and a rear windscreen that lowers would beryllium nice. I'd also opt for Mazda's manual transmission, which I get wind is a good deal like the innovational (some of our cars had sestet-pelt along automatics). Give me a Fiata like that and wave so lon. I won't make up return.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/416331/2017-fiat-124-vs-2016-mazda-mx-5-what-two-miata-faithfuls-think-of-the-italian-job.html

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