[Axel]

well, this Car & driver review revealed the cost of the stripe...

The test car featured the optional ($1995), hand-painted (!) matte black hood and trunklid to give it more of a competition vibe, though it does inspire questions about how to wax the car.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2017-fiat-124-spider-abarth-tested-review

I really liked the stripe, it looked so much meaner to me than a regular solid painted car... but not for $2K

 

[Malloric]

I was wondering what was going on with the matte hood/trunk as it wasn't showing on the website. I'm sort of on the fence on it. $2,000 just screams for a wrap even if you're sure you want it.

 

[Spider808]

Good gouge, Axel.

I'm glad its an option, albeit (too) pricy. I didn't like it, but thats just me. It does make the car look more aggressive, but less like the classic little Italian sports car it evolved from. Again, that just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions... ;-)

-Spider808

 

[Greg]

I agree that $1995 for the black out paint is just too much. I won't be selecting that option.

Greg

 

[mack73]

Wow 2k is a bit much unless it was real paint.

I'm sure it could be wrapped for less than that if you decided you really wanted it.

 

[Stewie]

Even if it was real paint, you could get that done for 500$ ish ? Possible $250 to wrap it. There's no way I will be paying $2k for that. It's definitely something I want, but I will be getting that done myself.

 

[ForzaFiata]

Good. Now I can omit that option, and pay someone $250 to wrap it.

This solves two problems:

-- Waxing/polishing the matte black area
-- The strip of paint between the trunk/decklid and rear bulkhead (behind the seats) will now be matte black (as it should be).

Still, the as-tested price of $38K is absurd. Like, BANANAS. I know Italian flair has a price penalty, but 8K dearer than a comparable Miata for (initially) slower performance is a bit... silly.

 

[Stewie]

Throwing the wrap on it does come with many benefits most definitely. You're also open to changing the colours, taking it off eventually, etc.

 

[spilner]

You could even wrap it yourself with a friend and save even more. Plus there's a lot of tutorials out there that show you how to do it, it's just a matter of putting in the time and effort to have it done.

 

[Abarth124]

What a major slap in the face...FCA repeatedly said that the cars will have a no cost option for the black painted center stripe.

 

[Stewie]

What a major slap in the face...FCA repeatedly said that the cars will have a no cost option for the black painted center stripe.

Did they seriously ? That's real squeemish for them to go back on their word like that

 

[Oddmanout]

What a major slap in the face...FCA repeatedly said that the cars will have a no cost option for the black painted center stripe.

I know that this was the case for the Euro version, but did they actually say that for the US version? Or did they just not contradict what everyone was assuming.

Regardless, I have to wonder if they'll change their tune, or offer a cheaper dealer installed vinyl version when they see how this price affects Abarth sales.

 

[Abarth124]

Honestly, if you really look at it this way...it all starts to make sense now.

When the Abarth 124 was revealed with the £29,565 price tag everyone was in shock at a $40k conversion price. Mind you, at that price the car comes with everything.

US Abarth 124 - $28,195 base price

with destination - $29,190

with white pearl tri-coat - (+$595) $29,785

with Recaros - (+$1,195) $30,980

with Safety/Comfort Collection - (+1,495) $32,475

with Brembo package - (+1,495) $33,970

with Luxury Colelction - (+3,995) $37,965

with black heritage stripes - (+1,995) $39,960

Mind you, you cannot have the Recaros with the Luxury Collection and some of the options within the Luxury Collection are also in the Safety/Comfort collection, so you need to remove possibly $1500-$2000 from the total.

One more thing...the European Abarth has the Record Monza exhaust package (rumored to be $1,295), different/better steering wheel, alcantara on the dash, and special center console lid....

The European Abarth is the real deal here.

 

[Stewie]

Honestly, if you really look at it this way...it all starts to make sense now.

When the Abarth 124 was revealed with the £29,565 price tag everyone was in shock at a $40k conversion price. Mind you, at that price the car comes with everything.

US Abarth 124 - $28,195 base price

with destination - $29,190

with white pearl tri-coat - (+$595) $29,785

with Recaros - (+$1,195) $30,980

with Safety/Comfort Collection - (+1,495) $32,475

with Brembo package - (+1,495) $33,970

with Luxury Colelction - (+3,995) $37,965

with black heritage stripes - (+1,995) $39,960

Mind you, you cannot have the Recaros with the Luxury Collection and some of the options within the Luxury Collection are also in the Safety/Comfort collection, so you need to remove possibly $1500-$2000 from the total.

One more thing...the European Abarth has the Record Monza exhaust package (rumored to be $1,295), different/better steering wheel, alcantara on the dash, and special center console lid....

The European Abarth is the real deal here.

That actually makes quite the amount of sense... thank you for breaking that down !

 

[Bulldog66]

After seeing that the lower front lip is painted, any concerns about just wrapping the hood, rear deck, lower lip, and mirrors is erased. Honestly I see more pros than cons.

1. Cheaper....way cheaper!
2. Option of keeping it or not (resale option as well)
3. Waxing. Who knows how that matte paint will handle detailing. With matte black vinyl you can use Meguiars Quick Wax spray. Easy to just do quick detail on the entire car. Of course you still will want to mask it off for waxing the paint with something better.
4. The mirrors, edge of hood, and lip are going to take some abuse with road debris. So very cool that you could just reapply as needed (particularity that lower lip!)
5. Taking the rear matte black all the way up and not having that gap between the rear deck and top. Yeah I know, the classic had the gap. But it looks so much better visually connecting the black rear deck to the black top.
6. Automatic paint protection in key areas

 

[Axel]

Honestly, if you really look at it this way...it all starts to make sense now.

When the Abarth 124 was revealed with the £29,565 price tag everyone was in shock at a $40k conversion price. Mind you, at that price the car comes with everything.

US Abarth 124 - $28,195 base price
with destination - $29,190
with white pearl tri-coat - (+$595) $29,785
with Recaros - (+$1,195) $30,980
with Safety/Comfort Collection - (+1,495) $32,475
with Brembo package - (+1,495) $33,970
with Luxury Colelction - (+3,995) $37,965
with black heritage stripes - (+1,995) $39,960

Mind you, you cannot have the Recaros with the Luxury Collection and some of the options within the Luxury Collection are also in the Safety/Comfort collection, so you need to remove possibly $1500-$2000 from the total.
One more thing...the European Abarth has the Record Monza exhaust package (rumored to be $1,295), different/better steering wheel, alcantara on the dash, and special center console lid....
The European Abarth is the real deal here.

No, the European Abarth is not "the real deal"... You aren't comparing apples to apples.

Yes, you can get the Recaros with the Luxury Collection... the US configurator is wrong. But the UK 124 Abarth doesn't come with Recaros.

And everything in the FIATUSA Safety/Comfort Collection is in the Luxury Collection, so that is duplicated.

So the US version would be $36,675 without the Recaros or the duplicated Safety/Comfort Collection.

Meanwhile you left out costs from the UK Abarth. It starts at 29,565 EU, then you have to add 400 EU for the paint, 795 EU for the Bose spkrs, and 1250 EU for their "Visabilty Pack" (what's in out Safety Collection). That totals 32,010 EU = 43,308 USD at the same conversion rate you mentioned at the start. Yes they mainly get the exhaust that we'll have to pay extra for (installed cost probably $1200), but I'm not seeing that they get any of the items in our Luxury Collection apart from those items that were in our Safety Collection and the Bose speakers mentioned above. So that means they don't get GPS Navigation, Adaptive Front Headlamps, LED Headlamps, LED daytime running lights, Sirius\XM, etc.

AND, we have the choice not to buy the outrageous $1,995 black stripe... they pay the same whether they order it or not. So you could skip the stripe and add another $2K to our cost advantage...

 

[Noodles]

Glad I went with the Red Classica with the intentions of wrapping. $2k is hella crazy.

 

[LongBeachJim]

-- The strip of paint between the trunk/decklid and rear bulkhead (behind the seats) will now be matte black (as it should be).

Agree. Right now it looks too much like a body shop trunk lid replacement just before repaint. The stripe would look so much better if it traveled all the way up to the canvas top without the gap. All the more reason to do your own paint or wrap.

 

[124]

looks as if I'll be one of the select few to check the box. i think the car coming factory with the stripe, vs someone painting or wrapping the car, is of significance in itself.

 

[zvezdah1]

what's the significance of the black parts? As someone else mentioned, it just looks like they like new parts were installed after a wreck and were waiting to be painted.

Wrap definitely the way to go. Looking at the abarth options, the only thing I absolutely would like would be the recaro seats.