Certain things are inevitable. Death, taxes, and the fact that no matter how much the fine folks at FCA hate it, I'm going to forever refer to the new Fiat 124 Spider as the Fiata. You should do the same, as it's funny. Accurate, too. See, the Fiata is at its core a fourth-generation Mazda Miata with different sheetmetal and a 1.4-liter, turbocharged inline-four in place of the Miata's 2.0-liter, naturally aspirated four-banger. Speaking of the inevitable, cynics—who sure seem to be louder and more active these days than ever before—can and will easily dismiss the Fiata as a nothing more than a badge-engineered Miata. Take it from someone who's driven the new 2017 Fiata 124 Spider, though. The cynics are wrong.

A little background before we go on any further. There are three Fiata models that will be available when the car goes on sale later this summer, and the Abarth performance model makes its debut this fall. The first is the entry-level Classica, which starts at $25,990. Next up is the Lusso—that's Italian for luxury—which adds stuff such as 17-inch wheels, leatherette dash material, leather seats, and a silver A-pillar, roll bars, and exhaust tips. The Lusso starts life at $28,490. Then there's the $35,995 Prima Edizione, which is a launch-edition Lusso with all the options ticked and special blue paint called Azzurro Italia. Want one? Call your dealer NOW, as there are only 124 examples being sold.

Read more about the 2017 124 Spider:

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Last comes the Abarth, and it will set you back $29,190. However, you do get 4—count 'em, 4—more horsepower than other Fiatas, as well as Bilstein shocks, differently tuned suspension, and a black hood for "quicker thermal loading" of the engine. I'm not sure about that last part, either. The Classica, Lusso, and Abarth can be had with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. The manual transmission is standard, whereas the automatic is $1,395 extra. That's the best $1,395 you'll never spend. Also, the Prima Edizione appears to be auto-only. For reference, the base Miata starts at $25,735.

Now, let's discuss the looks. Well, if I may be cynical for a moment: Face-lift It Again, Tony. Not a fan of the front end. There's just so much going on. The headlights and the LED surrounds are OK, but the upper grille is composed of one repeated hexagonal shape, and the lower grille is made up of another. I'll go ahead and assume that a turbocharged motor is going to require more cooling than the Miata's NA mill, but there's just too much grille. Then there are the turn signal indicators and foglights, which look more like pockmarks than jeweled pieces of Italian design. Finally, when you take the entire front end together as a whole, you notice that there's simply no metal (or plastic) on the nose—it's a never-ending series of openings, and it's simply not sexy in the best Italian sense of the word. Too bad, but that front end is a missed opportunity.

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The rest of the car? Not bad from the side. Not exciting, either. Also, depending on the color, the plunging accent line on the door fades away completely. The rear end is the strongest, best-looking angle, but weirdly I see more Dodge design (new Charger, Viper) than I do Italian metal mastery. The Fiata is about 5 inches longer than the Miata, though the wheelbases are identical. Some of that extra length shows up in the front overhang, but most of it can be found in the noticeably larger, more useful trunk. Back to looks, maybe there's something inherently hard to work with about the Miata platform? Because I don't think the fourth-gen Miata looks all that great, either. Thing is, they both should look fantastic. Rear-wheel-drive sports cars should be every designer's dream, as well as something of a no brainer. Neither car excites me. Let me put it another way: Fiat brought a red, late 1960s 124 Spider along. After staring at it and the new version for about an hour, my only thoughts were about how great the old car looks.

As for the interior, this is the most obviously Mazda-centric part of the Fiata. There's the Miata steering wheel, Miata's center-mounted navigation screen (and controller), Miata gauges, Miata vents, and I could go on, like pointing out the passenger seat still has way too little leg room. That said, the seats are different. While using the same frame as the Miata seats, the Fiata's seats offer more padding and are more comfortable. The door panels are all Fiat, and the cabin is covered in more soft-touch materials than you'd find in the Mazda. Most important, the folding soft top has a piece of aluminum sewn into it, as well as foam padding. The result is that when the top is up, the Fiata is much quieter inside than the Miata. Two people can actually carry on an inside-voice conversation at 85 mph. The much-improved roof—which you can still easily raise and lower with one hand—might be the single biggest differentiator between the Miata and the Fiata.

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See all 80 photos

I said "might be," as the engine is obviously the biggest distinction between the two cars. Fiat's 1.4-liter, turbocharged Multiair I-4 produces 160 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. The Abarth gets the aforementioned slight power bump to 164 hp, though torque remains the same. If you're not familiar, Multiair is Fiat's name for variable valve timing that not only controls inlet valve lift and duration but can also do so on a cylinder-by-cylinder basis. The Fiat 500 Abarth has the same engine. In the Fiata, the engine is torquey but laggy. Now, if you're used to turbocharged engines, the lag is moderate and manageable. Either keep the mill above 3,000 rpm, or get on the gas about a half second earlier than normal to build the boost up.

If you're accustomed to the Miata's naturally aspirated Skyactiv motor, well, welcome to the wide, wonderful world of lag. Still, if torque is your thing, the Fiata is absolutely the way to go, as it sails on waves of the stuff up to about 6,250 rpm. Redline is 7,000 rpm, but the torque is gone by that point. Fiat is claiming 0-60 mph happens in 6.8 seconds for the Abarth and slightly less for the others. My prediction is that the Fiatas will be quicker than that. In terms of sound, there's not much to hear when it comes to this engine. Even with the top down. Such is life with small, turbo motors. Shifting gears to the transmissions (zing!), although the automatic is a good automatic transmission—and if I may invoke "Game of Thrones" for a moment—if you don't get the manual, shame, shame, shame! Remember, these are the same transmissions found on the Miata, and therefore the six-speed manual is perhaps the finest-shifting transmission in the entire car industry. Plus, you know, small, light, European/Japanese roadster simply screams for you to row your own.

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Getting back to inevitable for a moment, when you stop and think about the Fiata, it's basically inevitable that when you start with a platform like the Miata, the resulting roadster is going to be a pretty great driver's car. I mean, FCA would have really had to bollocks up everything to do otherwise. Guess what? They didn't. In fact, I'm going to sacrilegiously argue that the Fiata is better to drive for most people than the Miata. Caveats abound, of course, but hear me out. Gone is the new Miata's nervous on-center steering behavior. The Fiata's helm is much smoother on the freeway, yet once you start cranking it on a back road or autocross track, it provides just as much feedback. Even if it's slightly less, the Fiat's steering feel and accuracy is excellent.

I also like the Fiata's suspension tuning more than the Miata's. Our one big complaint from last year's Best Driver's Car—where the Miata podiumed—was that it's rear end was too soft, and as a result the MX-5 leaned over quite a bit in turns. This aided the car's jackrabbitlike turn-in, but it just kinda felt weird. Especially on a winding road where you had to wait for the springs to fully unload from one direction to another. The ride was nothing to write home about, either. Too bouncy for no great reason. The Fiata rides very well for such a small car. Don't get me wrong—the Miata handles great, but there are always nits to pick. The Fiata, on the other hand, feels stiffer in the rear with a more mellow ride overall. Dare I say it's the more mature of the two? The more European? We'll have to get the two side by side to say for sure, but I think I'll walk away preferring the Fiata. Sure, it's going to be a little heavier than the Mazda, but even if Fiat managed to pack on an extra 200 pounds compared to the Miata, the 124 Spider would only weigh around 2,500 pounds—extremely light for a modern car. Fiat claims there's a 100-pound weight difference; we'll have to weigh one to find out.

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But which Fiata? I'd go for the Classica. Sure, it's the least expensive, but I also happen to prefer cloth seats (though I wish they came in a color besides black) to leather. Furthermore, I think the 16-inch wheels, although not necessarily improving the ride quality compared to the 17s, are novel in this day and age. Also, because smaller tires have less grip than larger ones, the 16-inchers are more fun when you're whipping the car. Especially if you're into countersteering. What about the Abarth? Well, in stock form it didn't feel much more fun than the Classica. Also, 4 extra horsepower? Are they kidding? That said, Fiat was nice enough to let me drive an Abarth that had been modified with Mopar goodies, including a strut tower brace, lower arm bar, tunnel braces, and a blow-off valve. The blow-off valve, or bypass air valve in Mopar speak, did a nice job of mitigating the engine's lag, but the sound is borderline ludicrous. I'd be happier with a duck call. Those tunnel braces? That's the must-have option, as the rear end became about twice as controllable via stiffening. Like drifting? Think tunnel-bracing kit. So yeah, a Fiata Classica with tunnel braces is the one for me. If you like smiling while driving with a bone thrown at refinement, it could be the roadster for you, too.