[124 Spider News]

A few of you may be disappointed after hearing the loss of 10hp in the U.S. spec Abarth 124 Spider but it’s not so bad if you think of the Elaborazione Abarth as a sporty edition of the 124 Spider, like how the Miata Club is to the standard Miata.

Both trims have limited-slip differential, 17-inch wheels, front and rear Bilstein dampers, optional Brembo brakes, and the Elaborazione Abarth’s performance is similar to the Miata’s Club package.

Even with the missing 10 horses you’ll still get the rest of the Europe Abarth features like the matte black hood and trunk lid, chrome quad exhaust system with a unique engine note, and a more aggressive front and rear facia. The Elaborazione sport suspension with mono-tube Bilstein front and rear shock absorbers will increase the vehicle’s traction and improve its handling.

Also unique to the Elaborazione Abarth trim is a Sport mode that changes the calibrations of the engine, automatic transmission, electric power steering and dynamic stability control system for improved responsiveness and a sportier driving experience.

We don’t have the pricing for either the base or Abarth models but the Miata Club costs around $3600 more than the base model so we could see a similar price difference with the 124 Spider.

 

[Greg]

Pros,

The Wheels, Bilstein Shocks, LSD, It has a very good cone type LSD, not that Torsen crap. It also has a sport mode button which doesn't add power, but it can be used to do just that with aftermarket support.

Cons, No Abarth steering wheel with the centering stripe. The car is too high, so I'll need lowering springs day one, No extra power, even 10hp would have been something. The name, Elabora#^$^&...... I'll be calling it the E Abarth.

It's all going to come down to price. If they plan to charge me 3600 for wheels, Bilsteins, and an LSD forget it, I'll buy the base model and add those things myself.

Greg

 

[ItsyBitsy]

At this point, I don't see the point of the E Abarth if I'm just getting a few small mods and a strip of paint with it. May a well go aftermarket and pick out my own mods with the money I save not getting abarth. No idea what Porsche was thinking about when they did this.

 

[PDX.124]

...No idea what Porsche was thinking about when they did this.

Probably nothing since it's not a Porsche.

 

[ItsyBitsy]

I mean Fiat. *facepalm*

I was reading a few comments from articles and one member mentioned that the Elaborazione Abarth is just a sport trim for the Fiat 124 spider and not really the U.S. spec abarth. can anyone make sense of this?

 

[Greg]

I'll add a couple points. The E Abarth has the sport mode selector, no amount of realistic mods will get you that on the base car. Owners of the current 500 Abarths, and especially those modded with Euro+Drive know how useful that can be. Here is an example, a lot of our customers run the Euro Abarth 695 tune (the hottest factory tune) in NON sport mode and our hottest tune "Phase 2" in sport mode. Without that switching ability you are forced to run one tune all the time.

In the case of the 124 E Abarth we could run the Euro 170hp tune (or whatever we want) in non sport and something hotter in sport. Having the ability to switch tunes on the fly is really nice to have and we fully plan to take advantage of it on this car.

As for the Ebarth not being the actual U.S. spec Abarth, I think that's about 1/2 true. The info I have, which is weak, indicates that Fiat was sort of hamstrung here and because of their deal with Mazda they couldn't unleash what they guys at Abarth really wanted because it would impact MX5 sales too much. So they had to release a watered down version, but marketing still wanted to call it an Abarth so they sort of compromised on the name and badging. It's not exactly badged as an Abarth, but the Abarth name is on there...

Greg

 

[davhamm]

But Greg on other car's tuner's have used other switches to move between tunes. Turn cruise control on (Not necesarily using it) and it runs in a different tune. Or if the ESC has three modes use one of those modes for a tune. (both examples are from DDM tunes of Pontiac Solstice / Saturn Sky's. I am sure there are other contol's tuners have used to achieve the same thing. But sure the switch is nice.. but that will be an expensive option for a switch.

 

[Greg]

davhamm, you are correct in that it's possible to use already existing switches to switch between tunes, however possible and reality are very different.

To date, as far as I know, there are NO Fiats or Alfa in the US that have switchable tunes without using the factory sport button (or DNA switch in a Alfa). It would be very difficult to do this in the Fiat. I talked to Toby (who does A LOT of tuning on Fiats and Alfa ECUs) and he says it's not likely that option will show up.

The Fiat ECU is set up to take advantage of that sport button in a really great way. Typically when you see dual tunes on car they are really the same tune with a few key parameters changed. The Fiat is set up to run two totally separate tunes. In this case (based on what we do with the 500 Abarth) the second tune would run different boost, fuel, timing, multiair parameters, rev limiter, speed limiters, steering sensitivity and more.

Greg

 

[ItsyBitsy]

Great explanation for people who are looking to tune their Spider. So is it worth it to get the E-Abarth for the factory sport button?

 

[Greg]

Great explanation for people who are looking to tune their Spider.

Thanks.

So is it worth it to get the E-Abarth for the factory sport button?

Is it worth it? I don't know yet. I do know that flashing dual tunes is very popular with the 500 Abarth. We have a lot of Euro+Drive customers selecting the Abarth 695 factory tune in slot 1, and our Phase 2 tune in slot 2.

The 695 is Fiat's hottest factory tune for this engine. They say it has 190hp, but it's a little hotter. It has about 180+ at the wheels. Then they use Phase 2 in the other slot with has 230+ at the wheels.

Of course at the moment we are really only assuming the Sport button/switch in the 124 E. Abarth can do this, but we are fairly sure it can.

Greg

 

[Jack]

I used to think that the stock version would be enough but the 124 Spider Abarth is looking so good and has a great engine note and engine.

Are all you guys getting the Abarth version?

 

[Greg]

I am getting the E.Abarth version for sure.

Greg

 

[davhamm]

I'm getting the First Edition. Love the color. Performance is not that big an issue to me. Looking for a nice roadster convertible, will never see a track. Personally don't like the sound of the E. Abarth.

 

[Greg]

I'm getting the First Edition. Love the color. Performance is not that big an issue to me. Looking for a nice roadster convertible, will never see a track. Personally don't like the sound of the E. Abarth.

I totally get that. Besides, they will have the same amount of power anyway and I can promise upgrades are coming for both.

Greg

 

[Abarth124]

I'm waiting for the actual Abarth 124. That will follow this Fiat 124 Spider with Abarth features

 

[ItsyBitsy]

Another Abarth is going to come on top of the base 124 and the E Abarth?

 

[Greg]

Another Abarth is going to come on top of the base 124 and the E Abarth?

There is no information indicating that will happen, it's just rampant speculation. If anyone can provide evidence otherwise I would like to see it.

Greg

 

[ItsyBitsy]

So far, I've only seen a few posts but people about a real Abarth 124 Spider for America but there hasn't been any concrete proof yet so I'll wait a bit and see how that goes. I'm sure the E Abarth will still be there when I'm ready.

 

[Greg]

So far, I've only seen a few posts but people about a real Abarth 124 Spider for America but there hasn't been any concrete proof yet so I'll wait a bit and see how that goes. I'm sure the E Abarth will still be there when I'm ready.

Exactly, so far we just don't know much.

Greg

 

[Abarth124]

We shall see. I think it's interesting how FCA's news article with pricing last week removed the "Elaborazione" from the name.