Perhaps, and if not Mazda have just saved themselves a shed load of money on the MX-5's R&D and got a free run (again) at the small soft top market. I woner if they're going to put the new SCCI engine in it soon?

It's Arbarth, not Arbroath !!!

Abarth actually. I was being droll. I'll stop it.

Volkswagen do a version of the VW Up for Yorkshire.

It's the E-Up £25,640 is a lot of money for a Yorkshire man/woman to spend on a wee car.

“According to Autocar the 'Arbroath' versions are still on sale which might please the Scots.” :-)

What about the Jimny, particularly the 'C U' version?... ;-)

Shame really. The car was not a particularly rare sight on the roads so they must have sold a reasonable number in the UK. There are few enough cars like this available as it is so the loss of the FIAT probably halves that number, and while I am a Mazda fan and love the MX5, there does need to be alternatives.

The problem for all the other makes is that Mazda have THE product for that sector of the market - for any of them to top it would require a shed-load of money spent on R&D, whereas Mazda just need to improve each new version a bit, so spend less and can charge a reasonable price for the car.

I don't dislike the 124 Spider, but to my eyes it's styling only really works from the front. From pretty much any other angle, all i can see the MX5.

If i was after an open 2 seat Fiat, i'd much rather heve a barchetta, which i thought was a fantastic looking thing. Very original and very distinctive. And going by what i read, being front wheel drive did not unduly hamper it in the handling department. But the fact that it was only available in LHD really scuppered it in this country.

An attractive car-even in white like I saw today. Sad to see its demise. It's as good lookingvas the original Spyder.

Agreed, in my eyes it's a classy modernising of the original Spyder shape without being a copy