The range of products built by FCA has, generally, no real reason to exist at least, not in the minds of any practical car-buyer. Almost every vehicle from FCAs brands appear specifically made to fit in between the needs of most consumers.Teeny, sporty roadsters. Near-800-horsepower go-fast brutes. Rafts of off-road-capable Jeeps. Does anyone really need any of these cars to exist?No.Thats the simple answer. However, its within this unjustifiable existence we find something much more important: purpose. For some drivers, its not the destination we care about, its the space in between the start and the finish line.In life, its the space in between birth and death that we find meaning in. The Japanese have a word for this ikagai and since a Mazda MX-5s bones underpin the Fiat 124, I thought it prudent to mention here.Thats what FCA builds, vehicles that live in this space, I would argue. But to find out for sure, I headed to California with several other auto writers to spend some time in between the start and finish line of Laguna Seca race track in a few mildly updated Fiat Abarths.To make sure all of us journalists didnt crash and burn immediately, we were given a crash course in track driving from Skip Barber Driving School in Monterey, California. Fiat assumed most of us knew how to drive big mistake so we only got a fraction of a real lesson, just enough to get a bunch of lead-foot writers out on the track and, hopefully, not into too much trouble.Laguna Seca itself looks intimidating. From wild elevation changes to an infamous corkscrew left-right, its the quintessential classic race track, impossible to build today. Turns out it feels no more difficult than a back roads drive, albeit one at 160 km/h. The track is wide and so are the curves, which meant we could keep the loud pedal pressed to the floor for the most part. Both the 124 and 500 manuals and automatics we drove had been fitted with some mild upgrades to better power and agility. The 124 got a new Record Monza Exhaust, the 500 a set of straight pipes really just a muffler delete. Regardless, the sound of the 500 was raucous compared to the gentlemanly 124, at least until you let off the gas at 7,000 rpm in the latter. At that point, you might feel subliminally compelled to fork over $2 to the concession stand manager for extra butter.Step on the gas in the low revs and the torque or lack thereof will let you down, literally. On a track with such extreme elevation changes as Laguna Seca, you need low-end grunt for all but a few turns, and so want to keep the engine in a high rev range to let the turbo spin enough to propel you onward and upward.The 124 is not a new vehicle, but thats a compliment. The bloat of new sports cars really becomes apparent when you sit in a vehicle as small as this. The car hasnt been given the full race car treatment when it comes to suspension and brakes. The springs are still quite soft, though the Abarth package does add upgraded Brembo stoppers and a limited-slip differential. The centre-of-gravity is low, and the car feels well-balanced no surprises when you enter or exit a turn. Though the 124 and 500 share an engine, the experience could not be more different. Obviously, the hatchback is shorter and taller than the slender 124, and you feel it in every corner, especially at Laguna Seca where almost none are taken on flat ground. Pitch it into a turn and you lean like Pisa. The front wheels try desperately to keep you pointed in the right direction, but the weight transfer works against your favour. All you can do is apply a dab of brake, causing the car to rotate. In a few corners, my car mustve looked like it was going to take a piss on the apex.Apologies to the enthusiasts, but having a go in a manual-trans Fiat 500 around the track was pretty unpleasant. The shifter is floppy and the throws are long, and most of us journalists couldnt get into the seating position.As sacrilegious as it sounds, the automatic transmission in the 500 was splendid, and offered quicker gear changes than I could pull off with my right hand and left foot. The positioning of the shifter is perfect for snapping up and down the gears, and the short throws made it feel like a rally car.If youre asking me to hand in my enthusiast badge immediately, perhaps I can reel you back in by suggesting the automatic in the 124 did not offer the same feeling. Although it too can be manually shifted with the same blip of the gear lever or flick of the steering-wheel-mounted paddles, the slushbox was much slower to respond, and wouldnt downshift if you werent in the 11 or 12 oclock positions on the rev counter. This meant more time spent thinking about shifting than other things, tainting the experience slightly. OK, give me my badge back.The six-speed manual transmission in the 124 is borrowed from the previous-generation NC Miata, and offers an excellent notchy feel that doesnt care if you wring its
Origin: The Fiat Abarth and the spaces in between