I don't see a need to integrate old elements into the new, but I do think someone with a stronger design vision needed to take the reins. I have the impression that Fiat suffers from the too-many-cooks problem, probably being pulled by Fiat, Chrysler and Mazda influences. The point above is valid; if they had wanted to design something truly unique and beautiful, they should have used their own platform, or at least modified the hard points of the MX-5 to get something closer to what they wanted. The hard points dictated proportions that would not work with some of their design goals (ape as many classic 124 features as possible). And that is why it is an awkward design, because they tried to compress and distort the classic 124 onto the MX-5 base, with a committee of designers worked on it. It's a feeling I have for many designs these days. Nobody is allowed to take a strong leading role on a design, or if they are, maybe it's watered down by "constructive input" from people who should have no say. It's like one person had the job to integrate the hood bumps from the old car, someone else was told to get the swallow tail in there, someone else had to bring in the little lift by the door handle. Because each only had one job, they wanted to be sure they shone, so they overdid it. The hood, for example. Leaving aside that the motor underneath looks like a Dyson vacuum cleaner, with no visual clue of being a twin cam, why did the designer feel the need to surround the bumps with recessed creases? This immediately gives everyone that creepy Crossfire feel (that and the oversized multi-spoke wheels, in relation to tire diameter). The swallow-tail guy managed that little effect, but had no idea why it worked when Tjaarda penned it, because Tjaarda was working with a completely different proportion of tail-to-body. So the swallow-tail guy got confused and added in comfortable elements from other current short deck cabriolets. Headlight guy didn't do so poorly, I think. I know some of you want chrome-ringed 7" round Carellos, but I don't think it works on a modern car. The headlights themselves aren't so bad. But headlight guy didn't talk to turn signal guy, because if he had they would have realised they could have maybe integrated them and saved one big disturbing feature and really cleaned up the front end. I don't think the headlight shape is what's throwing it off, it's the overall busyness of the front end. Nobody talked to poor foglight guy. Foglight guy is anyway the design world loser, or maybe the mischievous spirit of design world, because he keeps adding lousy little spot lamps in the exact same position, with the exact same faux-grille surround, on every damn car he can find. They don't actually work, they're only there to do that stupid "I turn on when you go around a corner" trick that gets the police to pull you over. That wasn't enough. Grille guy nearly nailed it with a decent reference to the old car, without being too derivative. His upper grille isn't that bad, given pedestrian safety regulation constraints. But then grille guy forgot that he was designing a light, beautiful Italian roadster. He thought he was designing for Fast & Furious, and maybe he had a late night drink with BMW/MINI's grille guy, or maybe he just sees double, because then that extra lower grille showed up, nearly more prominent than the upper one. Door handle kickup guy, well, he just framed out his own 6"x6" and called it a day. And someone had to give the poor guy who hasn't had any work since the 90s a job, so he was allowed to add those awful plastic sill extensions. Too bad he hasn't worked since the 90s, because that's where his ideas are stuck.It's not a disaster, but it's a committee design and it could have been a lot better.
Even Fiat's sweet little Barchetta 20 years ago was a much better interpretation of a modern roadster. It reminded you of an 850 without beating you over the head. It had some of the nicest door handles around (and a decent intelligence test at the same time), without being clones of a late-60s 850. It had a face, in the same way the 850 did, but it didn't try to stretch the 850 around a Punto chassis. Finally, you popped the wonderful metal cover for the top and, if you knew your Fiat history, you immediately thought "850". But it wasn't a modern-retro 850. It was just a pleasant modern design that made a few subtle winks in the direction of the 850.
Sigh.
I went and took a long look at my 124 Coupe. It's not the most beautiful design of its era, but it has elegant lines and is a "less is more" design. There are a few standout aspects, but they are integrated into the whole. One person obviously penned the whole thing and signed off on it, just like the classic Spider. This is why we like cars of that era. It's not the details, it's the sum. Concentrate too much on the details, and the sum is zero.
(the blades significantly improves the air vents)
