I imagine it puts it power down better as even though it is heavier than a 180 Comp and 10 horses down, only 0.1s slower going by official numbers. Doesn't the MX-5 have stupidly thin tyres? I imagine Abarth would have opted for a wider track if the case.
Actually, the 180 comp is over 1100kg, I weighed it myself recently and even on the Japanese Abarth website they are listed as 1112kg, the Japanese are pretty obsessed with accuracy as well (like me!
) The site even lists the car's gear ratios.
http://www.abarth.jp/abarth595_competizione/So, take that into account, the bhp/ton of the 180 comp is really 165. But yes, the 124 being RWD should accelerate faster. Many magazines testing the MX-5 are coming back with sub 6 second 0-60 times (yes really!), the 124 shouldn't be any different with that added torque, perhaps a smudge faster.
MX-5 Alloys are 17x7 which is the same as the 124 as far as I know. They don't need to be so wide because the power isn't that high.
More interesting though, Mazda are teasing the press at the moment with 'new model' rumours. A hard top mx-5 or even a coupe version with a fixed roof possibly?...... we'll find out in 6 days time at the NY Auto Show.
If it's true, I imagine the 124 to follow suit on the same time scale (year after the 124 launch), but who knows!