How are you owners finding your 124 Abarth Spiders

[ItalianTan]

Hiya......I'm new on here and I have an interest in the 124 Abarth.  I currently own other Italian Marques.

Can I ask for your feedback in general on the day to day ownership of your Abarths....If your using daily...whats it like.  If your not used to RWD, whats it like?  The weight distribution is 50 50 right?  Does it handle really well in and out of bends?  I assume it does. 

I've not driven one yet.  I've been to my local showrooms and sat in one, the roof mechanism is very very simple. I like the general feel of the car.  The plastic sill panel seems flimsy and the plastic plynth that the Abarth logo goes on looks cheap but that's all I personally could fault!

TIA

[Colin]

Hi Tania - Welcome!

Bertie and JayTee are the guys to comment here, as they got 2 of the very first 124 Spiders in the UK. 

[rsk289]

Hi and welcome - I've done about 1000 miles in mine now, and I'm pretty impressed with it.  But - I'm a bit old school, my other cars are RWD so I'm very at home with that.  I don't use the Abarth as a daily driver but have done 700 miles over the first weekend I had it and it's comfortable and easy to live with on full days of driving.  My wife's main complaint is the lack of storage space, which is even worse than our Z3M Coupe, and that's saying something.  Otherwise she loves it too.  You have to drive around the poor pickup in second gear unless you're in 'sport', but that's soon got used to and in 'sport' the acceleration is pretty impressive for a 1.4.

Roger

[Bertie]

Im really happy with mine!

I only really drive it on the weekends when the weather is nice. Its great fun with the roof down going for a nice drive in the country!
 
The record monza sounds fantastic. I think the handling is great, its easy to slide but very forgiving, the traction control in sport mode kicks in just enough to stop you from going into a tree

Take one for a testdrive, then youl really know if you want one!

[jay_tee]

Love mine ❤️

[sloppysue]

Picked mine up yesterday
Baptism of fire picking my way through the road works, fog and multiple accidents on the M56/M6 but it was a lovely drive.
Not had chance to knock it in to Sport mode yet but think I'll be having a quick blast round some country lanes later 

[rsk289]

I find it quite a tricky car to drive around town when not in sport mode, as the pickup from slow speed in second (approaching roundabouts, for example) is extremely sluggish unless the 'box is switched to sport.  Probably need to stop expecting it to be an M3!  A minor niggle is the lack of easily accessible storage space in the cockpit - glovebox, door pockets etc. - but this must apply to the MX5, Fiat as well as the Abarth and other cars in this sector.  Must be getting old if I'm bothered about luggage space!  The boot's pretty big for the size of car, though...

[CaptainBlack]

Absolutely loving mine after quite a few thousand niles on it now.

[thinkman]

Just picked mine up!

[thinkman]

Does everyone else have the same problem that when passengers get into your car, they bash the edges of the sills with their boots/shoes and then again on the way out? 

[buckwits]

Just passed 1500 miles in the 67 plate Spider. Having traded in the 595 comp for the 124, I was initially a bit disappointed, the 595 felt more nimble and a lot faster, however after a couple of months I can say I prefer the 124. Better driving position, better steering wheel ( not as big as Saturn)  better handling due to the design of the car and above all less F@@king morons pulling straight out in front of you thinking you are a 17 year old girl, just passed her test and unable to go more than 30 mph! The 595 was an amazing little car and to be honest I wasn't really ready to trade it in, but after a couple of months with the 124 I think I have made the right choice. Discuss.

[Berks]

I'd agree with most said above. Small cabin space, no usable storage inside, large boot for such a car, better with the roof down as you hear the exhaust much more, sport mode gives better performance, TCT auto is good for city and daily driving, manual is better for track and drifts People hit sills and quite a few find it hard to get in/out.
Fuel consumption... uh la la (mine is doing 18mpg at the moment)
Handling is great...curvy roads are where it's at it's best.
Rattling plastics inside cabin...
Very unintelligent and quite useless ( and a bit ugly ) infotainment system...
Mine is Automatic, 500 miles in the first week.
Still keeps me smiling.

[buckwits]

Excellent stuff Berks! 18mpg! Legend. I couldn't see the point of an auto in these cars until last night when I drove from Essex to Hammersmith, took 2 and a half hours to do 50 miles, and the same back at 10.30 what a nightmare. The clutch is the heaviest I have ever driven, didn't notice it until yesterday but as I wont be doing that journey ever again I will stick with the manual.

[rsk289]

The clutch is the heaviest I have ever driven...

Really?  You'd better not have a go in my Cobra, then...

[buckwits]

Probably not! Doesn't the Shelby Cobra still hold the record for most owners killed per car sold?