Alfa pron

I agree, choice of car is very personal. I find many cars too refined and quiet, but the sound quality of a car is important to me. Many cars have the sound engineered out of them. I like to have some music on the road, and I don't mean from the CD player. For that reason, I tend not to choose BMW/Merc, despite the fact they are generally excellent cars.
Give me a dirty barmaid any day
Nothing you can do about the morons on the M40 unfortunately....

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Nothing you can do about the morons on the M40 unfortunately....

Or the M25 judging by yesterday,zooming from lane to lane ,most cars 30-40, dickhead 50+. No wonder we heard that the whole of the 25 was blocked (J25) I think, fortunately we had already passed that, mind you it wasn't a great deal quicker than stopped.

Don't forget - you aren't ever "stuck in traffic" - you ARE the traffic.

Here's a friends restored Alfa GTV. He was the second owner. Did most of the restoration himself which impressed me. Without AC in LA it was an oven in the daytime. I drove my car for summer events with AC on. His car fall and winter.

Not a spot of rust on it, but we're in a coastal desert.

quote:

Originally posted by mudwolf:
Here's a friends restored Alfa GTV. He was the second owner. Did most of the restoration himself which impressed me. Without AC in LA it was an oven in the daytime. I drove my car for summer events with AC on. His car fall and winter.

Not a spot of rust on it, but we're in a coastal desert.

Now that's gorgeous.

beautiful. Any more pics?

Ah that didn't work

oh yeah more pics, I took the pics with his direction and created a small website for it's sale. He is still in contact with the buyer and saw it once on the road. It really was his pride and joy.

Here is the side strip of images to scroll on the website.


Immaculate condition, that gray trunk was so clean and black carpet inside is original.

For 2 years he took it to a French Italian car show here set up in a big field with all sorts of cars, huge Alfa section. Jay Leno would show up with something outrageous. Once a BIG old Bugatti of his. Dave just about creamed. There were also many of those wonderful limited editions that looked like 50s spaceships.

Well I had one not tooo long ago;




Slightly interesting version with a 2.0 twin spark engion



Note gear change buttons on steering wheel



Sadly some drawbacks. Rock hard suspension vs cobbled Dutch roads just too much hassle and a determination to change up a gear at just the wrong moment when pulling out or overtaking unless in manual mode.

regards
Geoff

Great Geoff, I bet it was a nice ride . We haven't had Alfas here for 20 years. When I had trips to Europe they were always the car I noticed and looked for.

Lovely motor Geoff.

Geoff,

Was that a Veloce rather than a Lusso?

I moved away from Alfas as I couldn't bear to move away from rear wheel drive.

John

Good car Geoff - of course, the GT was based on the same platform.
There's a bloke who lives up the road with an as-new red 156 3.2V6 sitting in his garage for future use. One dark night I'll crowbar his locks..

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Was that a Veloce rather than a Lusso?

..Yep a Veloce John

quote:

There's a bloke who lives up the road with an as-new red 156 3.2V6 sitting in his garage for future use. One dark night I'll crowbar his locks..

What a waste...shit he could get struck by a bus tomorrow. Get on with living I say.

regards
Geoff

I've been an Alfa owner for a few years now. Never had any real reliability issues with them, certainly less than my mates had with is Audis. The big difference for me is that the Audi aftersales service is superb. They simply can't do enough for him & genuinely want to keep him as a loyal customer. The Alfa UK after sales service is not in the same league. As I said though, he's had to use the Audi customer service FAR more than I have had to use the Alfas, which is not something many people would guess.
Anyway, here are a couple of pice of my recent Alfas








Matt.

Being a person who knows Alfa's only for their historical rust bucket reputation, is the 'pron' a new model or should the title of this thread read 'Alfa porn'

I thought by using the word 'pron', it stood a chance of getting through the obscenity filter...

That GT looks just like my old one Matt - 18" wheels. 3.2V6?
How do you get on with the Brera? I tried it a while back in Q4 guise, but after Prodrive stripped a load of weight out of it, I couldn't resist. Mine's loitering with the Zagatos on page 1

You're right about Alfa dealers though. I ended up using SmartAlfa aka Autolusso for servicing as they are real enthusiasts. But there are one or two good main dealers (I'm lucky to have one local), and the network is being revamped due to the poor reputation

Nero,
my GT is only a 1.9jtdm, not the v6. Other than that, its got a high spec, 18" rims,zenons, b*se stereo/connect+ system etc etc.
The Brera was a 3.2v6 & it was lovely, but the 22mpg average began to bug me after a couple of years. The Brera build quality is a big step up & I think its easily the equal of BM/Audi build quality. The problem is that in doing so, its a bit hefty, hence the poor mpg. Its also only swift, as opposed to blisteringly quick. The newest ones are 50kg lighter (& the "S" models are 100kg lighter), so that should help.
I needed a bit more rear room for the kids, hence the GT. I will get it remapped soon, but other than that, the GT is a great car, especially for the "real world" driving I do, mainly on Mways & A roads. I'm sure there are many quicker cars for race tracks & car magazine worshippers, but none of them really float my boat.
LOVE those Zagato's btw!
Matt.

-100kg does make a difference! and I try not to think about the mpg.....looks like BP & Shell need a bit of help with their profits anyway.
The GT is a brilliant 4 seater, and a hatchback to boot. Rather than re-mapping, have you considered a P-box? Makes a hell of a difference on the 1.9, and doesn't involve any ECU changes. Not sure about the effect on insurance tho'