Fiat 124 Spider, car review: Wind-in-your-hairpiece fun from a close relative of the Mazda MX-5

Can Italian flair mix happily with Japanese engineering?

Fiat 124 Spider; A slightly confused beast

A right-hand drive, rear-wheel driven Italian sports car – that sounds enticing. It’s also an Italian car built in Japan. Which could be good. And it’s built on the platform of the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 so there’s plenty that should be terrific.

One aspect that is simply too obvious to mention – but you notice we’re mentioning it – is that Italian styling really ought to be bringing more flair than the Japanese version. Does it succeed? The fact that we’re asking the question implies the answer. Looks are of course subjective, but we’d have to say that it all looks rather less sporty than we’d expect, particularly in the dark colour of our test car.

However, this might be the styling clue for the whole car. This isn’t aimed at the young gun, this is aimed at the older hand, who wants some comfort with his open-air motoring. We’re talking grey hair in the wind rather than blonde hair blowing about.

There was a Fiat Spider 124 back in 1966, but any attempts at recalling that stylish little fellow just don’t work. You’d imagine they might have put some styling motifs in the cabin but actually it’s really rather similar to the Mazda cockpit. Which means you sit low and reasonably comfortably but there isn’t that much space for anything, from elbows to maps or cups of coffee.

However there seems to be plenty of room for the wind to get in and ruffle your greying quiff even with the windows up and the wind deflector up. With the roof down there is a touch more space in the boot than in the Mazda but it’s marginal.

At the other end the 1.4-litre turbocharged Fiat engine is smaller than either of the engine options in the Mazda but at least gets between them on power output. Rev it up – and you need to as it’s pretty flat below 2000rmp – and it picks up pretty well, but go too far towards the redline and it sounds like it’s running out of puff.

There’s decent midrange, which makes it easy to shuffle about. You get the impression that Fiat thinks drivers are going to be more interested in wibbling along in higher gears rather than chasing the redline. They may be right. It’s certainly who the car is aimed at. This is reinforced further by the handling, which is at the soft and gentle end of the spectrum, in other words at the other end to what you might expect in a hard-charging sports car.

To enjoy this Fiat you need to dial it all back, go steadily into and round corners and keep away from any edges. At that point it becomes a fairly enjoyable ‘wind in your hairpiece’ kind of experience. Even so you might be disappointed to only achieve fuel consumption about the same as the more sprightly MX-5, in other words below 40mpg.

This isn’t a bad car and, if you like the thought of a bit of Italian style in an open-top two-seater, and you aren’t fussed about performance, then this fits the bill. But for many it will seem a rather confused beast that doesn’t seem to know where it’s going. It’s not going there fast.

2016 Fiat Spider Lusso Plus

Price: £23,295

Engine: 4 cyls, 1368cc, petrol

Power: 138bhp

Torque: 177lb ft

Gearbox: 6-spd manual

Kerbweight: 1050kg

0-62mph: 7.5sec

Top speed: 134mph

Economy: 44.1mpg (combined)

CO2/BIK tax band: 148g/km, 26%