extralarge
3rd July 2004, 12:07 AM
Shopping around for Astra Turbos' and SRIs' lately, and strode accross an Alfa 156 '00 at $20k drive away.
First impressions - timeless design in and out. Immediately forgot the astra's interior.. absorbed the alfa's.
Eventually, the salesman convinced me to test drive it - what a quality gearbox, smooth revving, and brisk.
Faster than an astra 1.8 in reality and on par with the 2.2 sri, this car felt surprisingly quick for a 2.0. torque kick in from 4.5 revs sang beautifully and gave the identical feeling of acceleration as the astra 2.0t. Much better sound.
Corning was spot on, comparable to the bmw 3 series despite the fwd (thanks to double wishbones?). Very stable body with minimal body roll.
in all... an amazing car to drive, every second throughly enjoyable, every moment unforgettable.
then i went to drive the 156 selespeed, alfa romeo gtv (2 dr gt coupe). Didn't get a chance to drive the 'legendary' v6 (0-100kmh 6.5s) as the last one was sold yesterday. driving the other alfas was another story, but all provided the same pleasurable experience.
Anybody had similar experiences with alfas or other cars?
First impressions - timeless design in and out. Immediately forgot the astra's interior.. absorbed the alfa's.
Eventually, the salesman convinced me to test drive it - what a quality gearbox, smooth revving, and brisk.
Faster than an astra 1.8 in reality and on par with the 2.2 sri, this car felt surprisingly quick for a 2.0. torque kick in from 4.5 revs sang beautifully and gave the identical feeling of acceleration as the astra 2.0t. Much better sound.
Corning was spot on, comparable to the bmw 3 series despite the fwd (thanks to double wishbones?). Very stable body with minimal body roll.
in all... an amazing car to drive, every second throughly enjoyable, every moment unforgettable.
then i went to drive the 156 selespeed, alfa romeo gtv (2 dr gt coupe). Didn't get a chance to drive the 'legendary' v6 (0-100kmh 6.5s) as the last one was sold yesterday. driving the other alfas was another story, but all provided the same pleasurable experience.
Anybody had similar experiences with alfas or other cars?