Fastest Fiat 124 Spider in Sri Lanka

2017 Fiat 124 Spider with Stage 2 Tuning Map


Published on 27 Feb 2022

In 2016, Fiat debuted its revival of the classic Fiat 124 Sport Spider of the Sixties, and the automotive world was divided. You see, Fiat took the latest Mazda MX-5 and rehashed it, giving it a Fiat engine and styling meant to evoke its ancestor. The car was (it has since been discontinued) met with a mixed reception. In a world of SUVs and crossovers, the Fiat 124 Spider was, a breath of fresh air. A small and affordable sports car; a dying breed, so we must cherish every opportunity we get to try one.

In 2018, our erstwhile tester and Motor supporter Gishanka De Silva told us that one of these had been imported by the Italian Thoroughbred Motor Company, and was owned by a friend of his, Mahen Karunaratne. We sent our Italian maestro, Editor-in-Chief Nimal Wimalasuriya to test it out. After all, who better to test this Italian-Japanese mash-up than a man who daily drives an Alfa Romeo 156, regularly thrashes an Alfa Romeo Alfasud ti, is currently restoring a Fiat 850 to health and also has a Fiat 1100 in the queue?

In fact I’m sure if Nimal were to undertake a blood donation, the nurses would freak out as he would bleed green, white and red, the colours of the Italian flag. On the test, which you can read about in the March 2018 issue, he liked the seats, handling and steering, power on demand and gearshift. However, he didn’t like the turbo lag below 2,500rpm and the fact that it didn’t quite sound like an Italian (his words).

Mahen was feeling like his baby could use some more power too. This is a car that he drives several times a week to work, as well as to his Bolgoda retreat on the weekends. 138hp and 177lb-ft were nice figures, as was the zero to hundred dash of seven and a half seconds flat, but he yearned for more power.

During one of our car chats, the topic of chip tuning came up and I pointed him in the direction of Zakie Ismail. Zakie is no stranger to tuning, being a Honda whiz and we’ve tested some of his creations in previous issues, including his work on the madcap white Civic Type-R that remains etched in my memory as one of my greatest test drives in five years of testing cars. Off went the Fiat to him, where he applied a Stage 2 tune that is already done in the UK.

What are the gains, I hear you say as you eagerly lean forward. Stock, the 124 Spider comes with 138hp and 177lb-ft from its turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder Fiat Multiair engine. There’s a Stage 1 tune that brings it up to 168hp and 184lb-ft which are similar to what the Abarth 124 Spider snarls out. Then, there’s Stage 2 where you get a lovely 208hp and 231lb-ft. That’s what this 124 Spyder is blessed with. Mahen has also installed a Magnaflow exhaust and K&N air filter, addressing the qualm of the car being ‘too silent’. I had to get behind the wheel ASAP!

Cue up an Independence Day early morning drive that started at 6am. Exceptionally talented automotive photographer Thilina Piumantha was dragged out of bed and turned up bleary-eyed in his Mark 2, and we had a nice drive around Colombo, stopping and taking photos. First impressions are that this car is an entirely different beast now. You can slam into the rev limiter in first gear very easily, and a second-gear pull really makes your eyes widen.

Mahen estimates the zero-to-hundred time has dropped into the low sixes and I’m inclined to agree. Neither of us thought to time it – we were having too much fun – so let’s go by seat-of-the-pants figures. The top speed pre-tuning was rated at 215km/h, post- tuning I’m sure it can touch 240km/h if opened up on a long enough stretch of tarmac, but it would be irresponsible to attempt this on public roads.

The infamous turbo lag that Nimal spoke about during his test drive was largely banished as well, and there’s so much torque all over the rev band as long as you keep things spinning above 2,000rpm. A flex of the right foot in fifth or sixth at 2,000rpm gives you meaningful acceleration rather than the pause and wait for the revs to build.

What about the Magnaflow exhaust? It really makes the car sing, belying its mere 1,368cc displacement. Pops and bangs ensue on lift-off from higher revs, and you could go on and on listening to it. We didn’t really touch the radio and it remained off for much of our drive. The AC on the other hand was used, and it cools the cabin very well, certainly much better than many European cars – I’m directly looking at some of the German brands that I have tested in the past.

Dropping the top is a seamless one-handed affair, as you just undo the catches and push the roof down until it clicks. Erecting the roof is a similarly single-handed affair. No surprises, as it remains a Mazda part, and the 124 Spider is built in the Hiroshima plant alongside the MX-5/Miata.

Whilst the exterior is suitably differentiated from the taut MX-5 with longer and more flowing lines, the interior is almost a carbon copy of the Miata. The Fiat badge and the different font on the instruments are the major differentiator. Once again, this is no bad thing as the Japanese are known for bulletproof interiors, especially under our scorching sun conditions.

What about handling and braking? Those remain untouched, and I feel that the Stage 2 tune brings them just about to their limit. Were Mahen to consider the tasty Stage 3 upgrade that brings 240hp to the table and will require some beefing up in the engine department, a suspension and brake upgrade would be necessary. As it is, you feel the additional power manifest in noticeable squat under hard take-offs from rest, dive is increased under braking as you are going faster and hence pushing the brakes more firmly, and the 124 Spider’s generally softer handling dynamic really shows when you take it around corners.

Opinion is divided, but having driven a Miata and this, I feel that the Miata is the sharper tool for handling, whilst the 124 Spider is more comfort oriented and moves around a bit when thrown into a corner.

It was a nice morning spent with this car, and the fact that it’s the only non-Abarth 124 Spider in Sri Lanka (there are two Abarth ones) made it all the more interesting, as with this state of tune, it’s now more powerful than the Abarth ones. If you see this car on the road, remember that it’s rarer than a Ferrari or Lamborghini in Sri Lanka!


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