You know that Alfa V6 I'm borrowing?

Dojj with his mental Sierra 2.9 twin turbo, Matt with his mental Saab, and any of the Ti boys with their 200bhp Rover 620 Ti's. And the fastest little Citroen is the C2 GT, which would be pasted by a Saxo VTS i agree, C2 VTS is coming out soon apparantly with a 130bhp....

The quoted figures are on the high side for the Germans, and the low side for the 156, IME.

However, it appears the 'honeymoon' for the 156 is now over - they're starting to loose value these days.

I was basing my thoughts on looking at getting a 156 12-18 months ago - you couldn't find one for under £5k back then.

You may not like them, but good 33s are worth a lot of money these days

- mine had a solid shell, tidy interior and good gearbox.

If I hadn't killed it, it could have been worth up to £1500 to the right person.

Trade Price guides are _always_ wrong for Alfas.

In news:1ghnk6t.urwki8rmkalhN% snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk, SteveH decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Indeed, I'm lucky in that I'm still connected to the trade and can quite often get 'em for less than Parkers guide prices. Best place to buy an Alfa is at auction. As long as you know what to look for, you can buy them for truly f*ck all.

That stands with anything slightly scary for Joe Public though. Mate of mine buys probably 2 cars a year from auction, goes three times a week to see what's there but will only buy immaculate cars for stupidly low money, bought a FSH'd, 71000 mile, unmarked inside and out, 2 previous ownered, taxed and tested, fully specced up, dark blue with cream leather, 91 H reg, BMW 750iL tonight....

... for £165. The bastard. So including premium, that's £195 for a 71k mile, battlecruiser that cost >£50k new. I took it for a spin before and there's bugger all wrong with it, smooth, quiet, comfy, AC works, exhaust is a new stainless item, even the lambswool rugs in it are spotless. I've so far offered him £600 for it and he's still not budging, but watch this space... He'll give in eventually. I'll go to a grand. Grudgingly.

Yes, but I'd rather crash the C2.

Also, the terminal velocity at Santa Pod is a guestimate. It guestimates that Kermit's hunkering along at around 70 mph.

Maybe by numpties, but no.

It's usually fifteen notes for as many runs as you can squeeze in.

But Crail Raceway, Scotland, is better value 'cos it's quieter, so you get more runs in. :)

Or somebody to have already done it: 19.4 seconds.

It makes a percentage difference, yes. It also makes a cash difference. But market forces of supply and demand dictate that a discounted car depreciates more.

If Alfa Romeos don't depreciate quickly, but are discounted, why do same list price Alfas, BMWs, Audis and Mercedes-Benz cars have different lease costs... the Alfa Romeo being expensive? For a £20,000 example, the Alfa Romeo costs around £50 more (20K pa 3x35 basis).

Especially if, as you claim, one cannot get discounts off the German cars (which is not true).

I had one dealership tell our fleet manager that they wouldn't discount the

I was just about to say "oh yeah, d'oh", but actually you're wrong. You need torque/power curves and knowledge of gearing (and drag coefficient) of the Ka to compare its own theoretical acceleration with the acceleration of the ovlov towing the Ka. So there :-)

Peter

Would I get laughed at in a mildly smoky diesel A6? I quite fancy a go at this. How much does it cost to partake?

Oh, and stop changing your username, you're confusing me!

Peter

Is that all?

Again, is that all?

Peter

I'd bloody love one of them. Lucky, lucky, lucky bastard getting it for £165.

Peter

In news:MfVNc.696$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net, AstraVanMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

but the drag coeffiient will be different because it'll be affected by the fact it's right behind the Ovlov, shirley

In news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de, DervMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Because, for example, a 156 that costs £20k here can be bought in Holland or Denmark for about £14k... which is going to affect the initial depreciation more than on a BMW which the import savings aren't as great on.

And you can pick them up for not much more than that from TradeSales in Slough, too.

Makes a complete mockery of depreciation figures, as the real depreciation is a hell of a lot less than the quoted.

Also makes a complete mockery of what they're trying to sell them for, too, eh?

I've told you before, don't call me Shirley.

Peter

In article , snipped-for-privacy@mason.sh spouted forth into uk.rec.cars.modifications...

I haven't looked yet, but try

Yeah, fair point.

It's only an issue if you do "work at home" though - I simply can't be bothered, so I always send mine to the garage. Although I suppose if you took that route with an Alfa, you'd soon be bankrupt ;)

I think the £6000 discount may have had something to do with that :)