Sod Top Gear.....

Shame..they were bigging up Alfas.

Watching it now.

If you watched Top Gear, you really did miss the best game of tennis of all time.

Nah, nothing more exciting than wondering if an Alfa will start or not. Makes me wonder why I've never owned one for the thrill every morning.

Did you mention your brakes went off during your track day?

My Passat has failed to start more often than any of the Alfas.

Yes, they do. Mostly because they're 1970s brakes on a car with 1990s performance.....

Easily sorted with uprated pads and fluid, though.

Bear in mind the cars they bought were utter sheds - if Clarkson's 75 had been a decent one, it would have been worth anything from £2k-£4k - a 400 quid shed on its last legs is better for comedy value, though.

How much was yours?

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

Hmmm, 600 quid, nearly 5 years ago.

Spent a lot of money turning it into a £2k example, though....

Mine's a great laugh on the track. Lairy as hell and chews through tyres like you wouldn't believe. But more fun than just about everything else out there....

What about this one.

This one has a Harvey Bailey handling package. I think the last one I saw was on James May's Bently Blanc Mange.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

That would be pretty good - but I'd be worried that it only has a 3 week MOT and I suspect that has affected the selling price.

Whatever... even I like the look of that at that price.

-- JackH

Was that the men's final between the two Williams boys?

Heh, they were far less masculine than that ;-)

Whatever... even I like the look of that at that price.

It's over a grand now, what was it when you were lookin?

"All Alfas are ugly little rot-boxes and you'd have to be galactically stupid to buy one."

Harsh, but having own an Alfa and having driven several, I have to sort of agree.

Hehe yea, how much did it make you want one ;-) ?

I never wanted one before top gear. It just confirmed what I already knew.

Yeah, it confirmed that cheap old sheds are crap.

The same exercise could be carried out on any number of cars bought at a third or less of the market value of a usable one.

Maybe, but not say hondas, toymotas, etc..

But A bite?

Top Gear seem to specialise in finding cars in poor mechanical health for this sort of test. Remember the Dolly Sprint that couldn't get out of its own way? Suppose it adds to the entertainment value.

Engines or tennis rackets, and you picked tennis.

Sad.