Not that the Miata is a bad car of course. I think it is always considered one of the best cars made value-wise. I owned one the first year they came out. Fun to drive but so lacking in power, it just wasn't for me. But loads of fun on back roads.
Some call it the the 124 Spider a Fiata. The differences are the engines; Fiat has a torquey 1.4L turbo the Mazda has a 2L 4 with low torque, the suspension is tuned differently and to handle the extra low range power they had to use an older gear box and of course the Fiat has a classic Italian styling, whereas the Miata is more of a contemporary style. For me the problem with Miata's has always been the lack of torque and the styling. So now I get both issues solved with the Fiat. For me its perfect, whereas I wouldn't own a Miata due to looks and the broad power band. I went down that road already with my Honda S2000 with the 9000 RPM redline. Fun for about a week and then I couldn't wait to get out of it. I traded it within a year. Something about revving the hell out of your car to get it to 25 mph just blows.
Its an odd collaboration between Mazda and Fiat but I think it created something special. To me they both look like great cars for people looking for a small sporty convertible but having owned a FIAT (fix it again Tony) there is a heritage... I almost want it to be unreliable lol... but that won't happen with being built by Mazda...
