I was (until health issues intervened) a passionate Ducati motorcycle rider -- both street and (more occasionally) track -- for many years. Maybe that influenced my judgement, but I early on accepted that the Spider is not about speed, but about about style and, simply put, "fun."
Yes, you can boost its HP some. But never so much that'll be anything other than "slow."
And also to be considered is the affect modification have on reliability (already mentioned), and drivability.
An on the boil motor requires a quick and smooth shifting tranny to be any fun. My Spider's 5 speed has been one-hundred-percent reliable -- not a universal truth among owners -- but quick and smooth shifting she is not. No, she is more what one would expect of a `60s or `70s vintage tranny -- slow. Benefiting from `60s and `70s style shifting with double clutching and short pauses for the synchros to do their thing.
Yes, I suppose that tranny performance, too, can be upped some. But again, why?
The fact is that the 124 Spider was never designed to be a performance car. Just a fun car. Spritely and entertaining.
All that said, put her on the right road -- something with twists and bends, with sunlight flickering through the trees -- and she will be more fun than many true performance cars.
A good friend of mine has a classic "whale tail" Porsche. He is a rather highly skilled track driver. "Heel and toe" and all that. But when for a while we had scheduled evenings together it was he who suggested that we stop alternating between our cars for our evening outings. The Fiat was just, in his words, "more fun on these roads." Two-lane roads.
He had also found the same to be true for his, sadly by then sold, MGB.
"You feel like you're going fast at 45 or 50 in those" he said, after one such back-road drive. "In the Porsche you don't unless you are doing twice the speed" - something clearly dangerous (due to blind corners) as well as illegal.
My goal from the onset was to make my Spider run
well. And that she does.
Yesterday the wife and I did about 100 true "back road" miles. Some on familiar roads, others chosen by curiosity. "Wonder where that leads too?"
These roads average about 45mph. Slow, tight, corners come often -- a few marked as low as 15mph. No traffic. And as important -- no traffic lights. Some smooth as glass, others, alas, not so much.
The Fiat eats them up. They are where she truly feels at home.
Want "fast"? Buy something else.
Anyhow that is one owner's opinion.
-don
These cars are great in those somewhat swept, sorta tight turns at speeds around 55-60mph, which is what I find I can do the 30mph ramps at.
