Porsche 911 vs Abarth 124

What's the difference?

The icon is electric. Well, kind of.

This is the new Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, which ushers in a facelift for the brand’s most famous model — and it’s one that introduces a pretty major change.

That faint whistling you hear is most likely the distant wails of the Porsche purists, because this new 911 is now a hybrid.

Yes, the Carrera GTS features Porsche’s clever T-Hybrid engine, which is the brand’s take on electrifying the world’s most famous sports car.

It’s faster than the model it replaces, but it also fundamentally alters the formula that has made the 911 the world’s most iconic sports car.

The question is, does it alter it for the better?

When you take on a classic you’d better get it right.

Which is why, back in 2016, when Fiat released a new 124, many an eyebrow was arched.

The original was an icon from the late 1960s, the golden age of roadsters. Styled by Pininfarina, it also oozed Italian swagger and, to top it off, its double overhead cam engine (modern at the time) helped introduce a swathe of innovations to the Italian automotive scene.

Even 50 years later, those old boots were looking awfully hard to fill, and the complexity and demands of today’s economy had Fiat working with Mazda to use its MX-5 chassis and Hiroshima manufacturing facilities to get it right.

A travesty? To some, maybe. But the MX-5 once aimed to emulate cars from the original 124’s golden era, and was a runaway success since, arguably making few missteps.

Thus, the apprentice has become the master. So, does today’s 124, which we only get in angry Abarth spec in Australia, bring something different to the ultra-refined roadster formula in 2019? Is it more than just a badge-engineered MX-5?

I took an Abarth 124 – the latest Monza limited edition – for a week to find out.