Griff's Unnecessarily Long Fiata Review
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 6:27 pm
Last week I spent four days in a Fiat 124 Spider six speed manual in Los Angeles. Usually, because I have a truck for work, I don’t get to rent cars while on the road, but currently, the truck is parked in Pacoima, CA and being rebuilt by us with new equipment. I’ll be renting/commuting from North Hollywood to Pacoima this month to work on the project.
I rented the Fiata on Turo for about $70/day. The car was in really nice shape other than weirdly mismatched/pretty bald tars, 185 on the rear, 195 on the front, all seasons with different brands. Otherwise, this thing was really clean with less than 15k miles.
The overall take away from this is that I’m considering pursuing a purchase of one of these cars. Will I get one? In the short term, likely no, as it’s tough to swallow the size as an only car, plus they’re kind of pricey currently. Also, after tracking the C5 recently and loving it, and even having a few other track days planned, I’m not sure about a ‘vert. I need to do some research on this though. Perhaps down the line if/when I change jobs and move to two cars, I really might grab one up (or maybe the power increased Miata RF to avoid the ‘vert issues).
The size is absolutely perfect as a fun car. I fit in it comfortably and my head didn’t touch the ceiling with top up, although it’s close (I’m all torso and 6’2”). It is tiny for hauling things, but the trunk can fit a couple of carry-ons, the cabin works well for two, there are a couple of usable bins inside and two usable cup holders which is nice since most sports cars suck in that regard. The interior is great, I actually didn’t mind the “stick on” screen, the infotainment is simple and works well, I don’t think it will age as poorly as many systems because it doesn’t do too much. For Bluetooth, it was great, it actually makes top down calls on the freeway possible, my gf had no idea I even had the windows/top down. HVAC is simple three knob setup which I love. I really love the simplicity of the interior. The top is also epic, totally mechanical but it’s under 10 seconds up or down with only one hand required, not a heavy thing to pull over like an NA. The seats were comfy on my three hour Angeles Crest Highway trip, and I liked that they’re poverty cloth, they’re way grippier than leather. Bolstering was pretty good, it held me in well around my ass/lower torso/back, upper back was a little tight on me due to large shoulders.
The drive on this thing is just fantastic. It’s super compliant and yet very balanced. I didn’t notice the body roll, likely due to shit tires, but the thing handles great, it can rotate if you really try, but it’s setup to neither over nor understeer, just point the car and it goes there, which was awesome on Angeles Crest. Acceleration was surprisingly quick in feel, but when looking down at the speedo, unimpressive but adequate. It really brings the Miata “wind it out on every shift” feel without being “dangerously slow” which is pretty ideal. The shifter is great, clutch is really easy, I drove it on the 405 at rush hour and didn’t mind it being manual, it’s effortless. The size of the car is super for city driving too, it fits in any parking space, scrapes on nothing (you really don’t even need to think about scrape), and can make super tight turns. I love driving this car and want one.
I have only two complaints. One is that the first to second shift seems like too big a dropoff in RPMs. It pulls well but kind of drops out of the powah with that shift. 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, it feels good. 5th and especially 6th don’t have a ton of pull, but that’s to be expected. Fun things happen in 1-4 anyway. The other is the sound of the car. I’m really phoping the Abarf version sounds like a 500 Abarf, this would be solved. We’ll see.
TL;DR, I love the Fiata, I need to drive the MX-5 and the Abarf, I want one of these. Also, Angeles Crest Highway is fucking epic. It was so beautiful and fun. I went out really early (arrived by 6 AM) on a weekday and had it to myself totally for over an hour, then got bogged down by a douche saddlebagger, a shithead redmister in a lifted F150. I also saw some camoed Mercedes manufacturer vehicles out these, which was neat.
I rented the Fiata on Turo for about $70/day. The car was in really nice shape other than weirdly mismatched/pretty bald tars, 185 on the rear, 195 on the front, all seasons with different brands. Otherwise, this thing was really clean with less than 15k miles.
The overall take away from this is that I’m considering pursuing a purchase of one of these cars. Will I get one? In the short term, likely no, as it’s tough to swallow the size as an only car, plus they’re kind of pricey currently. Also, after tracking the C5 recently and loving it, and even having a few other track days planned, I’m not sure about a ‘vert. I need to do some research on this though. Perhaps down the line if/when I change jobs and move to two cars, I really might grab one up (or maybe the power increased Miata RF to avoid the ‘vert issues).
The size is absolutely perfect as a fun car. I fit in it comfortably and my head didn’t touch the ceiling with top up, although it’s close (I’m all torso and 6’2”). It is tiny for hauling things, but the trunk can fit a couple of carry-ons, the cabin works well for two, there are a couple of usable bins inside and two usable cup holders which is nice since most sports cars suck in that regard. The interior is great, I actually didn’t mind the “stick on” screen, the infotainment is simple and works well, I don’t think it will age as poorly as many systems because it doesn’t do too much. For Bluetooth, it was great, it actually makes top down calls on the freeway possible, my gf had no idea I even had the windows/top down. HVAC is simple three knob setup which I love. I really love the simplicity of the interior. The top is also epic, totally mechanical but it’s under 10 seconds up or down with only one hand required, not a heavy thing to pull over like an NA. The seats were comfy on my three hour Angeles Crest Highway trip, and I liked that they’re poverty cloth, they’re way grippier than leather. Bolstering was pretty good, it held me in well around my ass/lower torso/back, upper back was a little tight on me due to large shoulders.
The drive on this thing is just fantastic. It’s super compliant and yet very balanced. I didn’t notice the body roll, likely due to shit tires, but the thing handles great, it can rotate if you really try, but it’s setup to neither over nor understeer, just point the car and it goes there, which was awesome on Angeles Crest. Acceleration was surprisingly quick in feel, but when looking down at the speedo, unimpressive but adequate. It really brings the Miata “wind it out on every shift” feel without being “dangerously slow” which is pretty ideal. The shifter is great, clutch is really easy, I drove it on the 405 at rush hour and didn’t mind it being manual, it’s effortless. The size of the car is super for city driving too, it fits in any parking space, scrapes on nothing (you really don’t even need to think about scrape), and can make super tight turns. I love driving this car and want one.
I have only two complaints. One is that the first to second shift seems like too big a dropoff in RPMs. It pulls well but kind of drops out of the powah with that shift. 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, it feels good. 5th and especially 6th don’t have a ton of pull, but that’s to be expected. Fun things happen in 1-4 anyway. The other is the sound of the car. I’m really phoping the Abarf version sounds like a 500 Abarf, this would be solved. We’ll see.
TL;DR, I love the Fiata, I need to drive the MX-5 and the Abarf, I want one of these. Also, Angeles Crest Highway is fucking epic. It was so beautiful and fun. I went out really early (arrived by 6 AM) on a weekday and had it to myself totally for over an hour, then got bogged down by a douche saddlebagger, a shithead redmister in a lifted F150. I also saw some camoed Mercedes manufacturer vehicles out these, which was neat.