It’s generally agreed that the turbocharged Fiat 124 Spider is a bit of a looker but that its naturally-aspirated Mazda MX-5 sister is the better driving option.

A more powerful and better-handling Fiat 124 Spider could be the missing link – and that’s exactly what Abarth is proposing with its 170hp £29,565 124 Spider.

Powered by the Alfa Mito/Giulietta 1.4 MultiAir turbo engine, the basic 124 body is shipped from Mazda’s plant in Hiroshima to Abarth’s factory in Mirafiori to receive its new Abarth panels, engine, gearbox, steering, suspension and trim. The engine, steering and gearbox settings are Abarth-unique. It also gets stiffer springs, dampers, and anti-roll bars, plus Brembo brakes and extra chassis bracing.

Our test car is bedecked with stick-on graphics, 'Costa Brava 1972 Red' paint and a matt black bonnet and boot lid. We’re at a quiet Fiat safety testing facility called Orbassano on the edge of Turin. It has a banked oval, plenty of surface bumps and grit, and a pair of nesting herons. The PR guy tells us to keep our speed down, which is a bit disappointing until Maurizio Verini arrives in the 1975 European Rally Championship-winning Fiat 124 Abarth Rally and immediately starts doing doughnuts. This is more hopeful.

Despite its lovely model-unique seats and the odd strips of Alcantara the cabin still feels pure Mazda – until you light up the engine. The Record Monza exhaust sounds incredible even at idle and just gets more fruity as the revs go up, with pops and bangs on each gearchange. For a four-cylinder it’s brilliant.

If you like a high revver though you’d best look elsewhere. Most of the grunt from this turbo engine is at low rpm, rendering the 6,600rpm redline somewhat redundant. It has a fair chunk of old-school turbo lag below 2500rpm too. On a track you have to concentrate hard on keeping the engine on the boil. At least the six-speed manual gearbox offers great ratios and short, crisp shifting.

Get it all right and the posted figures of 170hp and 184b ft should deliver 145mph and 0-62mph in 6.8 seconds. Toggling Sport mode opens up an exhaust valve to juice up the noise, sharpen the throttle response, release some stability control and add weight to the excellent electric steering.

Givt it some grief in bends and the Abarth's mechanical limited-slip differential gives it a big jump over the Fiat 124 Spider’s open diff. It’s much more playful on the throttle. The traction control serves up the usual understeer until you try a hit harder, whereupon the back end will slide predictably. Switch off the traction control for the 50/50 weight distribution and 205/45 R17 Bridgestone Potenzas to work together in the delivery of easily-correctable sliding fun. It’s much more entertaining than the Fiat, and the red Brembo four-pot brakes are another useful step up on the Abarth.

Is it all worth the extra £7000 on top of a similar-spec Fiat 124 Spider? Well, the Abarth looks and sounds better and has easily the best cabin in the MX-5/124 range. In truth though the power still isn’t enough for maximum chassis exploitation. As it stands the Abarth feels like a more natural rival for German grand tourers like the Audi TT, BMW Z4 and Mercedes SLC.

We’ll give it a more studied going-over on British roads soon to see how it compares in a proper shootout.

ABARTH 124 SPIDER


Engine: 1,368cc, 4-cyl turbo
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 170@5,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 184@2,500rpm
0-62mph: 6.8sec
Top speed: 144mph
Weight: 1,060kg
MPG: 44.1 (official figure, NEDC combined)
CO2: 148g/km (official figure)
Price: £29,565 (before options)