147 & other Alfa owners

I have to say, you've obviously never had much experiance with
high-end vehicles then. Turning is sloppy and vaugue, suspension is
floaty and nausia inducing, unless its in a sports car where they've
decided that shock absorbers are a weighty extravigence. Build quality
is usually poor, and engines are usually detuned to give more torque
low-down for the ubixuitus slush-boxes to work best.

in 99, i used to drive a 98 TVR cerbera for a daily driver, the speed8
with the 4.5 I think.I had to make a trip to LA. I was staying with a
friend, and he let me use his car when i needed to (a brand new, 2000
corvette) First time i drove it, I thought it was in limp mode. I took
the cars owner out in it later that day, and said 'can't you feel it?'
"Feels fine to me". A small fibreglass car with that big of an engine
should not perform that badly. It was on a par with a delorian, and
that should say something.

yeah, i gave you the weblink, wasn't sure though if it'd been on the
discovery channel yet.

 

No, no, no! Please DO try to keep up!

I said the performance of the LIGHTENING was the same as a '68 Vette.

He Chipped the Lightening to 425HP

Sheesh!!!

(the trick here was; look at my first sentance. Then in the second one I
said the truck was pretty good for a '68 Vette...because that's what it
felt like I was driving...sorry for the confusion!)

 

Damned right. The seats in my 340 i can take for 9+ hours easily.
Never managed more than 3 in anything else without back pain, unless
i've 'modified' the seatback to match the volvo's, with a towel or
similar.

its possible to redo suspensions to totally different systems. Not
sure on the air-ride, but I did modify some citroen stuff for my MG
metroTT, to give it the power hydraulic suspension of their old Bx
series, with the activ system they fit in their xantia's (meant I
could alter the ride height, and it had an active anti-roll system,
giving 1deg of body-roll max.) Was a very comfortable and smooth ride.

Wasn't easy, not entirely trouble free, or low-maintaince either, but
works VERY well. I'd suggest you looked into it trueno, but i assume
you're in NA where citroen parts are hard to find.

 

nor has he driven a jag, peugeot, citroen, european ford, or indeed
any car with a MODERN deisel engine in them (as opposed to a NEW
engine, which is a recently made old design)

 

I was working in an auot parts store 2-3 years ago and a guy came in
looking for a brake light swtitch for a Citroen XM.

Right...

He pulled the old one out on the spot and we matched it with a Ford switch.

Said there were HUNDREDS of <<'s at UMass. Went there and was overwhelmed!

There was a group of Traction Avants that had gone around the world! They
started in Paris; some went from Paris to the West Coast (California) and
some went the whole route, island hopping in the Pacific, to Australia and
then to San Francisco to cross the US. The next stop was NYC for some,
others were going to Montreal first.

Simply amazing cars, oldest was a '38. Some were rough, others were
stunningly beautiful. The friendliest Parisienne there told me all about
his, it had been restored to original using as many authentic materials as
he could find, it was truly a stunning ride.

Along with that was every model of 2CV you could think of, along with some
other << 'oddities'. There weren't as many 'Goddesses' (DS) as I would
have thought, but there were a few.

There was also a representation from Citroen where they had some of their
new models, a Rallye car (whoa!) and one of the oldest 2CVs in existance
(number 3, I think!)

Man, I was in Hog Heaven! I have always thought the TA was one of the
nicest cars ever built, and here I was surrounded by them!

Never actually saw inside one before, though. Very simple machine; guys
were literally fixing them with bailing wire!

When I was a kid in somewhat-rural Massachusetts there was a guy that
owned a gas station in a very small town that had a passle of them, and
did repairs to them, too. Probably the only (somewhat) << repair in
Western Mass! Had a pile of DSs, even a station ("Estate") wagon. I can
still see it in my mind's eye, 30 years later rusting behind a barn. What
a waste...

 

What I have driven:
BMW 2002Tii
BMW 325i
'58 M-B Convertible
Fiat 600
Fiat 125 (128???)
'73 911
'88 928
Ferrarri Dino. '73 ("tethered"; the owner was sitting right next to me
looking like a nervous father...)
'73 Volvo 1800ES (mine)
'63 SAAB 3-cylinder 2-stroke (also mine...used to call it Purple Haze,
since the oiling system was broken and had to mix gasil for worst-case
(highway speed) scenarios. Left a blue cloud at stop signs)
'58 Jaguar sedan
'82 Jaguar XJS (again with a 'nervous parent'!)
'70(? '69?) Jaguar XKE (for about 3 minutes around a car lot...)
'78 Alfa Romeo Convertible (open the dictionary and look up 'cowl
shake'...)
'58(? '59?) BMW Isetta, 'coupe' and 'limousine' versions. '68
TVR '75 MG Midget
'73 MGB-GT
'72 Jensen-Healy 4WD
'6something Healy
'74 Triumph TR6
'68 Triumph TR3 (4a?)
'80 Triumph TR8
'74 Triumph Spitfire
'88 Volvo 740 Turbo wagon

That's just the Europeans
Add to that Mustangs, a '63 Corvette Split-window coupe, Camaros,
Firebirds, etc.


And, add to that, just about every model of Toyota imported to the US
since 1968 (except a 2000GT ),and a pile of Nissans from the 510 to the
300Z, and a Mazda Cosmos and rx-7's from '80 to '98.

 

I am not postulating anything, simply stating a fact. Anti SUV haters
aside, the larger the vehicle the less likely properly belted passengers
will be injured or killed in the most common type of accidents, period.
Obviously even a semi looses to a locomotive. Once again the engineer will
likely fair better than the truck driver even without crumple zones. One
simply can not defy the laws of physics.


mike hunt

 

HOLY CRAP!!!! I've never even SEEN one except for the magazines.
Fire-breathing monster, from what I hear...

 

Or simple practical realities.
You're quite right that in the initial impact they will sustain less
injuries. HOWEVER the vehicles do ahve a tendency to roll afterwards,
as they ride over smaller vehicles, causing much greater secondary
injuries. As someone who's claimed to work in this field, surely you
should know this fact which has been widely known and documented for
over 20 years (and has been a facotr in millitary vehicle design since
the late 20s)

this is why there have been postulations about an 'impact bar' of a
suitable height on all vehciles, so they all impact with each other
with matching strength. Problem is, where do you put the bars on an
elise, and a Land rover defender, so they match?

 

I notice a conspicious lack of diesel engined cars there, ven the BMW
diesels (for instance, the 330d is now the most powerful+fastest
3-series)

Toyota's, i feel sorry for you - With all the high-end turnover over
the past few years, and the switching to cheap metal, i'm surprised
theoir vehicles ahven't fallen apart already. Friends got an 05 camry,
its had more work done to it since december, than my 88 civic and 87
caravan combined. Oh, and its already rusting, but thats cheap argie
steel for you.

 

not a big fan of modern Rally cars. They're getting to be so
sensitive, and delicate, and computer controlled. I'll stick with
6R4's and my fathers old 71 escort rally car.

 

Was it '88? '90? '92?

Ford RS200 Rallye car. What a machine!

 

Google 'hachiroku'

I have had more Toyotas than anything. Least time owned, 2 years (accident)
Most time owned, 19 years and counting.

Currently...

1985 Corolla GT-S (hachiroku) 256,000 and counting (bought with 10,000
miles in '86)
1985 Celica GT-S, 254,000 nice body, replaced engine last
fall 1988 Supra. Lots of leaks, but a nice running car. A good 5 years
left anyway.

1986 Camry, 83,000 keeps on ticking...

Like Lee Iacocca said in the '80's, "If you can find a better built car,
buy it". So I did, and never stopped. Thanks, Lee!

 

Well, Chrysler improves? I haven't seen it. The service manager at our local
Chrysler dealership says that they can't keep up with all the problems, and
half of the problems don't have a solution yet. Across the street at Honda,
the only backup they have on service is the oil change lane.

 

yeah, and what a shame the 6R4 metro kept kicking its backside

the escort was a 1971. (hence '71 escort')

most of the 6R4's i've driven were 83-84ish, groupB like the RS200s

 

This has kind of diverted from my original post a bit. I think that
there is a lack of understanding on both sides of the pond here.

In Britain and Europe we mainly have Smaller economical manual cars
because they are ideal for and designed for our needs.

In the US they mainly have bigger automatic cars and SUVs because they
are ideal for and designed for their needs.

In the UK we don't really need a big car or large engine as we don't
need to do as much driving. In the States they can afford to have
bigger gas guzzlers, they need them and can afford to fuel them.

I don't see what the big deal is. It is all about supply and demand
and market forces. The reason the Americans probably don't think too
much to a fair percentage of the cars made for our market, is because
they are not suitable for theirs and it's the same vice-versa. The
companies that customise cars for different markets, those cars will
do well. There will only be the odd exceptions to that general rule.

One point I would like to add on this whole crash thing, I would say
that the newer a car is the better it will withstand a crash against a
similar sized but older car.

I seem to recall an episode of Top Gear here in the UK where they had
two large 4x4 vehicles and they showed how the newest model just went
straight through the older one in a crash with relatively minor damage
whereas the older one was completely trashed and there could have been
fatalities. That also has to be a factor in crashes from what little
I know. So even if you have an SUV that may be slightly bigger than
the other person on a collision course, you may come out of it worse
if they have a brand new model.

One thing I like about American cars is the seat belt. I was in I
think it was a Saturn, and the seat belts moved across automatically
for me to plug in. Are their any cars in Britain than do this? This is
a serious question. I expect it may just be some of the executive cars
with things like this. This Saturn though I believe that was just one
of their basic cars.

John

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I think Alfas are great, the Honda vtec
engines are first class, and Toyota are also pretty reliable too. I am
probably going to go for a Seat Tdi though. I think an Alfa may be too
expensive for my budget.

John

 

An Alfa is never too expensive..... just look at the depreciation ;-)

 

lol

 

Sadly true, though.... where else would I get a 155bhp luxury sports
saloon at 6 years old for £2800?

A BMW 320i would be at least double that price, even a half decent A4 or
Passat would be at least a grand to 1500 quid more.

I love my Alfas, but you can never defend the depreciation..... but
that's a good thing, really. Let the company car drivers take the hit,
then buy when they're cheap