It’s a chaotic time for carmakers — and not just because of 2020’s wild ride. With SUV and truck sales booming and conventional sedan, coupe and hatchback sales falling, Ford is phasing out all regular cars (except the Mustang) from its U.S. lineup. Italian automaker Fiat, which returned to the States roughly a decade ago, has struggled to sell cars to Americans.
As a result, two super fun driver’s cars with manual transmissions — the Ford Fiesta ST hatchback and the Fiat 124 Spider convertible — are leaving America’s showrooms. But there’s an upshot to this: brand-new copies of both cars are available at dealers, right now, at incredible discounts. Fiesta STs are going for a couple grand off sticker; Fiat 124s are going for as much as $10,000 off. As a result, you can now buy either one brand-new for roughly $20,000.
The only question — beyond whether your lifestyle can accommodate a tiny sports car — is which one you should buy.
2019 Fiat 124 Spider
The Fiat 124 Spider is a solid, affordable sports car. It’s effectively a Mazda MX-5 Miata that has been restyled by Italians and outfitted with a punchy turbocharged engine. But for whatever reason — possibly practicality-related — Americans haven’t been buying it, leading to a massive dealer backlog. As a result, Fiat dealers are offering absurd discounts to try to move them.
Here’s a 2019 124 Spider from a dealer in Spokane, Washington. It’s a black Lusso (Luxury) trim edition. It has a six-speed manual transmission. A $4,590 dealer discount and a $3,000 Fiat 124 Spider discount bring the price down from a $30,585 MSRP to $22,995 — and that’s before you start haggling.
Wanna see more? Check out other Fiat 124 Spiders listed across the land on Cars.com.
