Alfa Romeo

GTAm · June 4, 2008

hmmm the New Season of Top Gear which will begin airing toward the end of June is said to include an episode with a "Cheap Car Challenge" featuring , you guessed it - Alfa Romeo's!

Yes a 75, Spider S3 and a GTV.

Devinda_Z · June 4, 2008

Yes a 75, Spider S3 and a GTV.

its shocking how cheap how cheap those cars sell - just this morning one of those biritsh autotrading sites offered up a GTV for 1000 sterling!

Devinda_Z · June 4, 2008

can't find that link

but here are 2 - one for a 2L and the other the V6

http://www.uk-cars-for-sale.com/25945_1515...eo/GTV.car4sale - 1,999 :blink:

http://www.autoweb.co.uk/car_detail.asp?cd...mp;cdID=1801176 - 2,550

3,250 for a 99 GTV6 http://www.exchangeandmart.co.uk/iad/motor...2cbazRCvC637335

GTAm · June 4, 2008

can't find that link
but here are 2 - one for a 2L and the other the V6

http://www.uk-cars-for-sale.com/25945_1515...eo/GTV.car4sale - 1,999

http://www.autoweb.co.uk/car_detail.asp?cd...mp;cdID=1801176 - 2,550

3,250 for a 99 GTV6 http://www.exchangeandmart.co.uk/iad/motor...2cbazRCvC637335

Likely to be a scary nightmare. Properly maintained ones are likely to be twice the price.... But then Alfas of this age tend to drop like bombs. I guess the equalent Audi or Beemer with be at least 50% more.

Devinda_Z · June 4, 2008

Likely to be a scary nightmare. Properly maintained ones are likely to be twice the price.... But then Alfas of this age tend to drop like bombs. I guess the equalent Audi or Beemer with be at least 50% more.

just think what someone with a permit after working abroad could do...

can someone say 'bargain' :lol:

GTAm · June 5, 2008

A TG video lots of Alfas.

Devinda_Z · June 5, 2008

A TG video lots of Alfas.

hmmm the video description says it was at Stanford Hall yes? wiki tells me thats in Leicestershire

where as Finalgear says they were filming the Alfa's in Hinxton which is supposedly in Cambridgeshire

:huh:

and there is another video and pictures at the following link to coroborate that story as well :blink:

http://www.saffronwaldenreporter.co.uk/con...3A46%3A17%3A717

Devinda_Z · June 5, 2008

if you can understand german (belgian :unsure: - or do they just speak German? )

here is another link off James May's blog about Top Gear shooting overseas

http://www.tvl.be/nl/nieuws/2008-05-22/top-gear-in-zolder/

Devinda_Z · June 6, 2008

LAND ROVER / ALFA ROMEO CARNIVAL in Malaysia!

Land Rover and Alfa Romeo owners and enthusiasts can look forward to a weekend of fun, test-drives and great bargains for parts and accessories at the first-ever combined Land Rover and Alfa Romeo Carnival to be held at Section 13 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on May 31 and June 1, 2008

The 2-day carnival was aimed at bringing together owners and enthusiasts of the two luxury marques

http://www.star-motoring.com/news/story.as...p;sec=motornews

Pericles · June 6, 2008

LAND ROVER / ALFA ROMEO CARNIVAL in Malaysia!
Land Rover and Alfa Romeo owners and enthusiasts can look forward to a weekend of fun, test-drives and great bargains for parts and accessories at the first-ever combined Land Rover and Alfa Romeo Carnival to be held at Section 13 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on May 31 and June 1, 2008

The 2-day carnival was aimed at bringing together owners and enthusiasts of the two luxury marques

http://www.star-motoring.com/news/story.as...p;sec=motornews

Bit late for that, nuh? :lol:

Devinda_Z · June 6, 2008

Bit late for that, nuh?

i was actually hoping this would get the Italian Car Owners Club and the LROC thinking...

possiblity of a similar local event in the future?

GTAm · June 6, 2008

i was actually hoping this would get the Italian Car Owners Club and the LROC thinking...
possiblity of a similar local event in the future?

Not a bad idea.

GTAm · June 16, 2008

More news on the TG Alfa Feature..... They had to talk about the rust :rolleyes: I just knew it. Every British review of the new Lancia Delta had the word rust too :huh:

http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/2951/

Devinda_Z · June 16, 2008

More news on the TG Alfa Feature..... They had to talk about the rust I just knew it. Every British review of the new Lancia Delta had the word rust too
http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/2951/

thats just plain typical of them - i noticed the cover of one such mag and it had a cover which read something along the lines of "Lancia is back - but do we even want it back" , which imo seemed a slightly harsh way to greet a classic marque on the comeback trail :mellow:

GTAm · June 17, 2008

thats just plain typical of them - i noticed the cover of one such mag and it had a cover which read something along the lines of "Lancia is back - but do we even want it back" , which imo seemed a slightly harsh way to greet a classic marque on the comeback trail

Yep the Lancisti are quite furious with the British reaction - typical, they all want a fire spitting Integrale when the company is limping out of near death. I mean Subaru had to make the Impreza a hatch for a similar reason. Autocar thrashed it - They are so inconsistant anyway that I can't take them seriously. CAR was kinder and gave it 4 stars out of 5.

I don't like the chrome grille but the rest of it is really classy from the pics for a comfy, spacious, luxurious family car, which is exactly what it is meant to be.

Devinda_Z · June 17, 2008

Yep the Lancisti are quite furious with the British reaction - typical, they all want a fire spitting Integrale when the company is limping out of near death. I mean Subaru had to make the Impreza a hatch for a similar reason. Autocar thrashed it - They are so inconsistant anyway that I can't take them seriously. CAR was kinder and gave it 4 stars out of 5.
I don't like the chrome grille but the rest of it is really classy from the pics for a comfy, spacious, luxurious family car, which is exactly what it is meant to be.

i didn't wanna say anything straight off for but that grill looks disasterous!

its like someone took it off some pimped & blinged out American rapper mobile and stuck it up front ,whislt expecting it to give a Lancia the aura of an Excellero

very disappointed!

...unlike a hot woman with buck teeth, who can be asked to keep her mouth shut so no one notices , there is hardly anything anyone can do about that Lancia front end is there ?

GTAm · June 18, 2008

i didn't wanna say anything straight off for but that grill looks disasterous!
its like someone took it off some pimped & blinged out American rapper mobile and stuck it up front ,whislt expecting it to give a Lancia the aura of an Excellero

very disappointed!

...unlike a hot woman with buck teeth, who can be asked to keep her mouth shut so no one notices , there is hardly anything anyone can do about that Lancia front end is there ?

Yes it looks a bit of a mistake, but Europe (except UK) seems to like it. And the rest of the aging range have been keeping the brand afloat with this grille......... The Ypsilon which is actually based on the old Punto still sells very well! Then there's the Phedra which is also ancient, and the soon to be killed Thesis. With these dinosaurs they sell the same number as Alfa Romeo (who have a much newer range and sell in RHD markets) each year. Which means lots of people like luxury and that chrome grille

Unfortunately Fiat Spa has too many sporting brands in its portfolio. And so Lancia is now the luxury arm. This actually pleases the purist Lancisti as well, because before the Fiat take over Lancia was a highly engineering oriented maker of luxurious GTs and Saloons that mixed with the likes of Mercedes. It is said that the cars were over-engineered as Vincenzo and later his son Gianni were obsessed with quality.

So it makes sense even that their going back to their roots, even if to us Lancia means Delta grales, S4 s and Stratoi(?).

Last weekend I borrowed a few Classic and Sports car mags and in one of them was a twin test between the Aston DB2/4 and a Lancia Aurelia B20GT. The writer says that the Aston feels almost vintage while the Lancia feel won't be out of place in the 70's. Both cars are from the 1950s............and the mag is Bitish. So you can figure out how well engineered and advanced the cars were...

There's good news too. Apart from the Fulvia and the Stratos (this I won't believe untilI see an official press release), there's a new car that will be smaller than this Delta which is quite large with that long wheel base. It's nick-named Deltino and could spawn a high performance 4wd twin turbo model.

After all 10 :blink: WRC titles cannot just sit in files can it? And it was the Integrale that gave the definitive template to the WRXs and EVOs that are around today. Imagine a WRX/EVO that looks truly elegant, has a classy interior, spunds better than a Ferrari and some latin soul :rolleyes: !!!!!!

In the meantime they should offer a no-extra-cost black mesh grille option Right?

pradfred · June 19, 2008

So it makes sense even that their going back to their roots, even if to us Lancia means Delta grales, S4 s and Stratoi(?).

Stratoi ? hmmmmmm

Devinda_Z · June 19, 2008

Lancia CEO Olivier Francois had mentioned in the British Autmotive press that they will showcase a mid mounted car based on the MonteCarlo & Stratos at new years Geneva Motorshow!

This is said to be a low volume "Image Car" as they put it! :blink:

but as you rightly mentioned GTAm, their current focus will be luxury , cuz apparently the new Delta has dimenssions bigger than that of rivals in the same class of car

Sporting aspirations will well remain in the shadows as Lancias new positioning as you noted will be more about a more prestigious , innovative and well engineered machine,as opposed to a line of sporty racing cars

apparently one of the main delays in the Lancia roll out has been the dealer networks who are ifnding it hard to differenciate between Alfa and Lancia whilst also having to cope with the new Mito launch... :mellow:

GTAm · June 20, 2008

GTAm · June 20, 2008

The Mito was launched yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLn8aG2zREE...&start=4775

Devinda_Z · June 20, 2008

The Mito was launched yesterday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLn8aG2zREE...&start=4775

some issue with that link GTAm

but i did find this -

quite comprehensive in that it has everything from extrior to interior to some on the road footage as well

Cute little thing -any chance of it eating into the Cinquecento's market share?

GTAm · June 20, 2008

some issue with that link GTAm
but i did find this -

quite comprehensive in that it has everything from extrior to interior to some on the road footage as well

Cute little thing -any chance of it eating into the Cinquecento's market share?

Maybe there'll be a slight clash with the 500 and G. Punto Abarth. But two different personalities. The Mito is aimed squarely at the Mini. It's a kind of spiritual successor to the Sud (+Sprint) (this time without rust and with build quality )

The 500 is smaller (A-segment) Panda based. Mito is B seg G.Punto based. So there's a price diff. Alfas tend to be sophiticated - Mito's DNA switch, Electronic Q2(LSD) etc, Abarths raw , brutal , performance bargain .....etc. Those long pillar-less doors make it more coupe-like as well. GTA will have 230bhp with DDCT box . Should be a cracker. So far read just a Dutch review with a web translation. Can't make much of it but superlatives flow and "class best" mentioned a few times

Anyway GP and 500 Abarths are sellouts. So looks like Fiat Spa will buy some serious market share. US mkt launch is also on the cards for Alfa and the 500, looks like they'll do a deal with Chrysler..........

Try this -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLn8aG2zREE...&start=4775

Devinda_Z · June 21, 2008

The 500 is smaller (A-segment) Panda based. Mito is B seg G.Punto based. So there's a price diff
Anyway GP and 500 Abarths are sellouts. So looks like Fiat Spa will buy some serious market share. US mkt launch is also on the cards for Alfa and the 500, looks like they'll do a deal with Chrysler..........

Try this -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLn8aG2zREE...&start=4775

some of that footage was included in that link posted earlier...

any reason why they're going with Chrysler?? :unsure: ...hmmm globally Alfa hasn't had the best reputation in terms of dealer networks have they

GTAm · June 21, 2008

any reason why they're going with Chrysler?? ...hmmm globally Alfa hasn't had the best reputation in terms of dealer networks have they

Spare capacity. And Chrysler must have offered the best deal...... They were looking to buy a GM plant in Canada as well. I don't think they've signed anything as yet though.

Oh the dealers......probably the worst in the world . It's the biggest part of their down fall. They're on a restructuring drive....and started with the UK. Sacked a lot of them and are selecting/appointing new ones. With the lesser number sales actually grew in the UK while everywhere else apart from Italy saw declines due to the aging 147 and GT with only the 159, Brera/Spider as 'new' cars... Mito should boost it up

At last they've learned good things from the Japanese it seems......