Fiat Sceicento Sporting

I buy stuff I want to drive and keep for a period of time.

*cough* Passat *cough* Primera.

*shrugs*

I can afford to change when I feel like it, and the variety is quite nice, too.

Been looking at 166s recently. I'm quite tempted to chop the Passat for one.

*cough* You're new here, aren't you?

Actually, no no you may have a point. Curves seem significantly straighter when you're in a Focus. You also don't worry what'll drop off next as you would with an Alfa Romeo, and you don't have to check the oil every hour, either.

An awful lot of people, when it comes to cars.

Eh ? I thought the whole point that was being made was it was about being emotional, and not rational...

Any amount of money spent on crap is a waste, no matter how small :)

Nothing.

Oh, apart from that there is no torque worth mentioning, heh.

He does, the Focus is boring as f*ck :)

I've only driven the 1.8 (and that was an estate), but it bored me to tears, seriously. The driving position was awful, about 10 foot in the air (which would be fine if it was an off-roader, but it's not). It also felt cheap and nasty.

Maybe it was just the lack of straight line speed, compared to my normal steeds. My take on it was that I understood where all the rave reviews on it's handling came from - any car can corner well if it isn't capable of going fast at a significant rate :)

The Stilo Abarth is a wiring *disaster*, doesn't handle that well, doesn't appear to be built very well, is chronically overweight, and depreciates faster than a Daewoo. This is not good.

Um, I love Alfas, but a Zetec Focus will out handle most of them. Ok, the Focus doesn't have as much character, but it's not got any of Alfas trademark flaws.

When I worked as a salesman, the one car all the salesmen loved to look at, but no-one would take home, was a 156 Selespeed. "Need a car for tonight", "Take the 156", "The reason I need a car is to get home", "oh, take a Mondeo then"

Why not just give the money to me, I'll burn it for you.

If you want a big Alfa, get a 164 Cloverleaf, 166's are a *liability*

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.ntlworld.com, Lordy.UK decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

100+ from Congleton to Warrington in a 1.4 Focus poverty model, three up. Speedo *did not* drop below 100 all the way, and three of the roads we were on are rated as the most dangerous in the country.

I can't think of another mass produced family hatch that could get near that. Not including stuff like the Civic Type R, etc.

Oh but it is.

It means that I'll be able to afford a 12 month flirtation with a 2.4

5-pot car very soon :-)

If you're buying with your heart and not your head, you wouldn't buy a Focus.

A career driving the stuff you don't really want to drive... sounds torture.

You'd be heartbroken buying an Alfa, then. Where's the point in buying something superb to drive if it spends half of its life in the dealership?

Actually with the Focus compared to the Italian competition, you can have your cake and eat it too. You get something larger inside, better to drive and better built, for the same price.

Of course, that statement is absolute tosh. It's what the media tell you, and you choose to believe it.

My experience and that of other Alfisti says different.

They're not better built, the styling is light years behind, and they don't have the corking TSpark, JTS, JTD or V6 engines.

Top Gear summed it up - the Golf R32 walked all over the Alfa 147 GTA in their test, but they'd all, without exception, have the 147 if they were spending their own money.

They are deceptive. The first few times you drive them, they feel too tall and the seat feels too tall.

But persevere and they have a chassis with _immense_ abilities.

Thing is, you'll lose more than it cost over the 12 months. Trust me, I've got a soft spot the the 5 pot Bravo / Marea, but I'm not puddled enough to even remotely consider one - and I drive a bloody Range Rover.

Actually, I would, happily. They're painless on the daily trudge, reliable, and huge fun on B road blasts.

The 20v Fiat would make me smile when I started it, but after that I'd be concerned as to whether it'd get to my destination without eating a suspension bush, big end bearing, clutch or gearbox.

Having something that's as much fun to drive very quickly, yet bull-buggeringly reliable is the reason I'd buy the Focus every time.

Seriously, try one for a few days, you'll be a convert.

Depends on how much you spend on one.

The Bravo HGT seems to have picked up a bit of a cult following, meaning that they're not cheap to buy at all these days.

Mareas, on the other hand, can be bought for very little, if you can find one.

I've driven a couple, cheap, plastic interior with odd styling and a driving position out of a National Express coach. Not my cup of tea *at all*.

Dearie me, so you've driven a couple for 10 minutes at a time?

After a short while you don't notice the driving position, and when you do it's only to notice how good it is.

The cheap, plastic interior is vastly better than the Bravo/a/Marea one.

[snip]

No, not the Cinquecento, the Focus.

The Focus _is_ better built.

Styling is personal - Alfas look like they're trying too hard. But I'm ignoring the styling (you should try it too).

Engines? Good engines don't make a good car, or vice-versa. Hello variable valve Zetec-SE, revs to somewhere around 8,000 rpm and, importantly, is tractable at "ordinary" (read: cruising) engine speeds. Oh and it doesn't require some extra special thin oil so doesn't need checking every week.*

*Anybody who doesn't check their oil at least every week _deserves_ to have an engine die on them in my opinion.

Correct: which means there are very few people buying 'em. Few people with this sort of cash buy this kind of car. Where's the market? Those people lucky enough to have a company car allowance that extends. Err, and that's about it really.