BMW Z3 vs Alfa Spider

[Liquid Knight]

I'm looking for some topless fun and am torn between these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232038226700?_trksid=p20...

...two...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201625745708?_trksid=p20...

...potential bargains.



What do we think?

[kambites]

Neither is anything to write home about dynamically but both are good looking and pleasant enough cruisers.

I'd probably find the extra money to get a mk3 MR2 over either; or failing that an MX5.

[TR4man]

Alfa looks nicer but I think that example is a dog.

The Z3 being the smaller 1.9 is the least desirable spec but the chances are it will be more reliable.

I owned a Z3 for 3 years as a daily driver and it did 51,000 miles with the only expenditure being on servicing and consumables. It was a great little car, but I still think a decent Alfa (not your example!) is nicer.

Edited by TR4man on Friday 5th August 14:12

[Vitorio]

I'd have the alfa, but that is my personal idiocy

Its got pretty rims, and the paint looks half decent, so with a bit of cleanup it would look cracking as a summer droptop. The Z3 would look relatively boring though..

[BuzzBravado]

i had the 1.9 Z3, so feel qualified to say DONT do it. Slower than a week in jail. In 6 cylinder guise they are decent enough, and seem to be climbing in value quite quickly.

[Liquid Knight]

My old GTV was glorious. Needed a little more headroom but I made the fatal mistake of driving mostly to work and I fell out of love with her. Commuting is a criminal waste of a car.

I may be out of the job soon and need something I can turn up to a job interview in and not look like a complete tool.

The Z3 is slower, more cumbersome, expensive parts, crap in Winter and for the money a bit "like drifta innit".

I think I've talked myself out of it.

[Liquid Knight]

Crud!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331921100318?_trksid=p20...

Portofino blue is my favorite Coupe colour. I have an original set of wheels in my shed, a mate who lives in Glasgow (who can pick me up if I fly from Norwich) and it won't be a silly car like the 20V turbo to insure.

[P700DEE]

We had a 96 Spider and it was great, sold it to get my XKR (much better)
Ours was manual roof and no a/c two negatives If you are just going to use as second car roof down it will be fine but we found... The roof gets very hot in the sun and undoing it manual burned my wifes hands. Get the solendoids fixed. No a/c sounds like no problem but on hot damp days the car mists up and you roast inside. In the winter they don't dry out easily so you can get mould form. Get one with a/c that works and use it.

[Vitorio]

Liquid Knight said:

My old GTV was glorious. Needed a little more headroom but I made the fatal mistake of driving mostly to work and I fell out of love with her. Commuting is a criminal waste of a car.

I may be out of the job soon and need something I can turn up to a job interview in and not look like a complete tool.

The Z3 is slower, more cumbersome, expensive parts, crap in Winter and for the money a bit "like drifta innit".

I think I've talked myself out of it.

Wait a sec, i didnt notice it was you LK, go get that alfa! you arent afraid of italian cars, go get it bought!

Or find a cheapo barchetta if you want to stick closer to the Fiat heritage

[Liquid Knight]

Vitorio said:

Wait a sec, i didnt notice it was you LK, go get that alfa! you arent afraid of italian cars, go get it bought!

Vitorio said:

Or find a cheapo barchetta if you want to stick closer to the Fiat heritage

Ah, the Bachetta. You know those Head vs Heart battles.

Heart - lovely looking, reliable, handles well etc.

Head - It's a Punto HGT in a frock, the (GM) electric power steering is a time bomb and the steering wheel is on the wrong side (not an issue if you have something with enough poke to get round stuff the long way, Lancia Delta etc but a nightmare if you only have 120hp to play with and a tool in front of you).

I've just been offered a Punto GT for bargain money. That Punto and the Spider would be a bloody good two car driveway.

Just need to shift my Bravo and Coupe Turbo.



This cam up on a retro page on Facebook for £150!!!

I called the guy five minutes after it sold.

My 155 Was P666RUU and with my Fiat Coupe I could have made a Q2 Turbo.

[zz55]

none from them. friend had the alfa, misserable car,always requiring work on it and hardly a good looking thing.
Had z3 for a couple of weeks, totally meh and I do not find them good looking anymore..

as for barchetta, I actually got a barchetta right now for 3years already, decent looking thing for the age of it, fairly fun car but the saying about FIAT - Fix It Again Tomorrow is totally true. Althought I haven't spent anything much on it since I have had it since I don't want to throw money at it, fairly simple car, you can do a lot on that car with just a simple screwdriver.
mine:

[Vitorio]

Liquid Knight said:

Ah, the Bachetta. You know those Head vs Heart battles.

Heart - lovely looking, reliable, handles well etc.

Head - It's a Punto HGT in a frock, the (GM) electric power steering is a time bomb and the steering wheel is on the wrong side (not an issue if you have something with enough poke to get round stuff the long way, Lancia Delta etc but a nightmare if you only have 120hp to play with and a tool in front of you).

I've just been offered a Punto GT for bargain money. That Punto and the Spider would be a bloody good two car driveway.

Just need to shift my Bravo and Coupe Turbo.



This cam up on a retro page on Facebook for £150!!!

I called the guy five minutes after it sold.

My 155 Was P666RUU and with my Fiat Coupe I could have made a Q2 Turbo.

Bloody hell, shame on missing that 155, i absolutely love how they look, and they should be fun to drive

Punto GT should be fun too, properly fast with 130-140ps in a car that small.

Either way, my demands are two-fold, 1) you forget all this nonsense about german cars, there are plenty of cool italian cars to choose from and 2) you keep us updated you hear?

[Liquid Knight]

I'm the winning bidder of the Spider. Collecting the Punto Tuesday. If I win the Alfa I'll have to get the train ooop North as there are no flights from Norwich to Leeds Bradford.

[Dog Star]

I had to make this exact choice when I was looking at these cars brand new in November 1997.

I got the Alfa and I'm glad I did. It never went wrong and it looked amazing and got a lot of attention back in the day, not something you'd get in the Z3 (which looks like a Noddy car from the side with such low doors).

[Liquid Knight]

zz55 said:

Jumping off the fence here...

I prefer the way the Barchetta looks compared with the new 124

If the Barchetta had the SuperFIRE 1.4 engine (and later 120 or 150 turbo SuperFIRE) instead of the Lamperalli headed genIII 128/Alfa lump it would have been unbeatable.

[Vitorio]

Liquid Knight said:

I'm the winning bidder of the Spider. Collecting the Punto Tuesday. If I win the Alfa I'll have to get the train ooop North as there are no flights from Norwich to Leeds Bradford.

Excellent!

Liquid Knight said:

Jumping off the fence here...

I prefer the way the Barchetta looks compared with the new 124

If the Barchetta had the SuperFIRE 1.4 engine (and later 120 or 150 turbo SuperFIRE) instead of the Lamperalli headed genIII 128/Alfa lump it would have been unbeatable.

I dont like the new 124 much TBH, i'd have the mx-5 version instead, small NA engine seems to suit the style of car better imho, and the styling on the 124 is a bit meh.. im not a big fan of fiat turning everything they can into a 60s retro flashback.

And for some reason the 124 is 3-4K more expensive then the mx-5 over here...

The 1.4 16v superfire topped out at 95-105hp though didnt it? seems a bit light for a barchetta, maybe alfas 1.6 TS lump?

[Liquid Knight]

I thought the Bravo 150 and Punto 120 t-jets were SuperFIRE units.

Anyway I'm not a fan of the newer Fiat 500's either. Too much like the "Modtro" modern-retro Micra of the period and just like the BMW MINI now available throughout the entire range from a 1.2 to a Multipla sized JTD powered shoe box with rounded edges.

But I wouldn't mind a twin-air engine in a proper Panda for laugh.

[k-ink]

OP, both of those are famous for bad scuttle shake.

MX5

[Liquid Knight]

k-ink said:

OP, both of those are famous for bad scuttle shake.

MX5

I've had a few...



...



...starting to warm to the non-pop up head light models (especially that metallic orange colour) and in a European sports car way I spent as much time welding them as I did driving them.

For every decent MX5 there are a thousand crap boxes that have either been on/off track, drifted into a hedge or Wheeler Dealer'd (a few basic repairs and run over with a polishing mop so it can be sold "fully restored". Imports with untraceable history and an arse to insure compared to the UK models that hold a premium price. Don't get me wrong they are great cars and good fun but a bit of a risk.

[Liquid Knight]

P.S Sorry everyone. This is going on a tangent. I'm just waiting for an auction to end.