I'm not convinced by the early 155 (apart from the Q4, obviously), I considered buying one when I returned from Italy, test drove about 5 of them and they all failed to impress. I suspect it's because I tried a new 155 at the same time.... then went and bought an Integrale.
Not tried a widebody, so can't comment on how much better they are.
There's a lovely Nordic Blue 155 TS 16v knocking around by me - on an R plate... that's a _very_ late one, and I want it.
Ok, you can't brag about the Golf, its ugly, slow, and s*it, and doesn't work anyway, and the MZ is also nothing to be proud of :) Functional it may be, but its not something to boast about....
Trust me, you'll be frothing at the gusset! Totally transformed car. I'd be
*very* happy with a widebody 155. There's a metallic black one not far from me that's been laid up for about 18 months now. I'm tempted to go and throw in an offer for it. V6 one.. probably got a dead cambelt.
To be fair, all reviews of every recent Alfa, even their flagship hot hatch, the 147 GTA has said the handling is nothing special at all, whereas modern fords as much as i hate to admit it do always get good marks.
I say thats a bit harsh old bean, that was a long time ago, hasn't been a problem for ages, and beemer fixed any that went wrong, even out of warrenty for free. And we all know how likely Alfa's customer service would be to do such a nice thing :)
Money talks.
As yet, I don't think anyone has managed to get a FWD 300bhp hatch to steer properly.
Besides, all the reviews say it's got terrible handling, but is immense fun. Which is what I'm really getting at.
Aye thats true, they accept its pretty s**te, but its what makes it so much fun :D
Actually, AR have been getting much better in that respect - they cocked up with the cambelt intervals on the old TSpark 16vs and V6s (used to be a 48k inspection and 72k change, now chopped back to a 48k change) - and have been paying the costs for those caught out by the old interval.
But most of them end up as speed gun jammers on the front of trucks... :)
I don't think many people would buy one...
Hehehehe!
You and I know that, but when a manufacturer moves to diesels and estates /cough Jaguar cough Alfa Romeo cough/ is the niche being expanded... or what?
My own opinion is that modern Alfa Romeos are better cars, but not better Alfas, if that makes any sense.
They've lost a lot of their character and the rest of the business has caught up with the diluted dynamics.
Ahhha, your use of the word "handling" confused everybody.
That depends on your perspective.
What about those people who enjoy driving but who only want one car? One car can fulfil everything these days.
Oh, really?
The 145 and 146 felt good in isolation, until you drove a 33, or indeed anything else with a sporty bend.
Even the engine note was diluted.
The 147... yawn.
The 156? Feels great, again until you drive something else with a sporty bend. Then it feels normal, even to the point of being dull. Where's the excitement/
Pretty good? So what's better, making a "pretty good" product into a better one, or transforming a mediocre product into a much better one?
All credit to Ford for making the inert mark three Fiesta into the splendid mark four. Something that's universally accepted from everybody who's driven one. Even the press agree.
Not many people but you two i suspect :) You have to admit, it was a bit cheap of Ford to use such an outdated engine in a modern car. We all know it should have been engineered to take the 1.25 :)
Why are you so obsessed with this belief of yours that I don't enjoy the driving and merely count the pennies? Did it not occur to you that, if running costs were the be all and end all of my motoring requirements, we'd have bought something like a Arosa 1.7 SDI?
But who gives a stuff? No, really, who does?
Apart from the 'fun' bit.
Teflon tyres, fuel database. Say no more.
And what was that I saw about your Cinq.... 50k miles from the tyres. Did it ever see the wrong side of 30mph?
Obviously you don't.
Dervy, you've got a lot of valid points, but here follows an obvious response:
Westlife sold shitloads of CDs - are they any good?
Peter
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