The 2020 Fiat 124 Spider is unburdened by fancy technology or super luxury features, as a good sports car should be. We give it 4 out of 10 here; it lacks standard automatic emergency braking, for one, and its infotainment system gives us fits. (Read more about how we rate cars.)

The base Classica model includes manually-adjustable seats, air conditioning, cloth upholstery, cruise control, keyless entry, 16-inch alloy wheels, a four-speaker audio system with Bluetooth and USB connectivity and a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with redundant and clunky dial-based controls. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not available.

Lusso Spiders get automatic climate control, 17-inch alloys, heated leather seats, and fog lights, while LED headlights, navigation, and a nine-speaker Bose audio system are available.

The enthusiast in us longs for the Abarth trim, which features scorpion badges, a limited-slip differential and Bilstein shocks, sport mode on automatic-equipped vehicles, firmer suspension tuning, a unique steering wheel and gear shifter, and black wheels and graphics. Sure, it only gets 4 additional horsepower, but with a raunchier exhaust, it’s much more fun overall.

Other options include rear parking sensors, blind-spot monitors, and heated side mirrors, but no automatic braking system is available.

The 124 Spider tops out around $35,000 and starts at around $26,000. Its warranty coverage goes for four years or 50,000 miles.

Review continues below