RE: Alfa Romeo Alfasud | Spotted
Discussion
integrale_evo said:
My dad had 5 all together, after moving up after several minis.
This was his first, the car I was taken home in after being born
This was the second, unfortunately written off with us all in it, the first car crash I was in…
That was replaced by this orange one, the car probably the closest in spec to my own one.
Replaced by a plastic bumper s3 1.3sc
And finally a gold cloverleaf with the twin carb engine, wood effect gear knob and steering wheel, and from memory the first car we had with electric windows!
This is a photo I took on my compact camera at around 6 years old
Followed by a pair of red 33s.
So I spent a fair bit of my childhood in cars powered by Alfa boxer engines.
What a fantastic story and set of pictures. Thanks for sharing. I’m ashamed to say I’ve never even ridden in an Alfasud so I missed the magic but I was very familiar with BMC / BL products such as the Allegro compared earlier in the thread. Tell us more about your Dad and why he chose so many Alfasuds. Surely he got bitten by all the rust and unreliability yet he came back for more time after time !This was his first, the car I was taken home in after being born
This was the second, unfortunately written off with us all in it, the first car crash I was in…
That was replaced by this orange one, the car probably the closest in spec to my own one.
Replaced by a plastic bumper s3 1.3sc
And finally a gold cloverleaf with the twin carb engine, wood effect gear knob and steering wheel, and from memory the first car we had with electric windows!
This is a photo I took on my compact camera at around 6 years old
Followed by a pair of red 33s.
So I spent a fair bit of my childhood in cars powered by Alfa boxer engines.
StescoG66 said:
KP328 said:
Glasgow registered car 
Martin 480 Turbo said:
That's fascinating. Could you expand?
I never saw a serial buyer of Alfasuds standing it for more than 2 cars. How did those cars hold up? How long did your dad keep them.
Wasn't that incredible expensive? Over here the value of an Alfasud dropped like 40% with the first turn of the key. After 5 years -> scrap.
So effectively if you bought new it was as expensive to run as a much bigger and costly car. (that one might not have afforded)
I have no idea to be honest, he was an accountant and always pretty careful with money, I guess maybe the Alfa’s were one extravagance he seemed worth spending on!I never saw a serial buyer of Alfasuds standing it for more than 2 cars. How did those cars hold up? How long did your dad keep them.
Wasn't that incredible expensive? Over here the value of an Alfasud dropped like 40% with the first turn of the key. After 5 years -> scrap.
So effectively if you bought new it was as expensive to run as a much bigger and costly car. (that one might not have afforded)
From memory the first sud was the only car he went backwards in age on, it was older then the mini it replaced. Most cars were bought at around 2 years old and kept for a couple of years before trading up.
After the two 33s he came very close to buying a brand new s3 33 around 1992/93, but his sensible head kicked in. He bought a 1990 bmw e30 316i, which he hated, and had terrible luck with. The only car he had which left us stranded and awaiting recovery at the side of the road!
He went back to Alfa’s and had a boxer engined 146, then 3 156s in a row. By that time the children were grown up and he bought a 56 Reg alfa spider. He kept that the longest he’s ever kept a car, but when the time came alfa didn’t sell a suitable replacement so he bought a Mk2 TT, and now has a TTs.
However, after buying the first TT, my mum wanted to upgrade her punto sporting and ended up buying the mito I now own, when she wanted to replace that with something a bit bigger she bought a giulietta. In the past 43ish years there’s been a window of around 2.5 years in total without an alfa parked on their drive.
The mito was often proclaimed as the spiritual successor to the alfasud at launch, but really the giulietta better fits the small practical family car role.
Alfasud super meets giulietta super
integrale_evo said:
After the two 33s he came very close to buying a brand new s3 33 around 1992/93, but his sensible head kicked in. He bought a 1990 bmw e30 316i, which he hated, and had terrible luck with. The only car he had which left us stranded and awaiting recovery at the side of the road!
The mother of my mate with the Sprint Veloce bought an E30 318i. The other three cars in their family fleet were a Sud, a Sprint and a Guilietta.In comparison, the BMW was horribly equipped and pretty rubbish to drive. I just thought it was a bit of a posh Cortina, tbh.
I always thought the real USP of the E30 was the 6 cyl engine and without that it was (very expensive) example of emperor's new clothes.
And even with the 6 engine, it had awful rear axle articulation compared to the Alfa transaxle cars.
integrale_evo said:
I have no idea to be honest, he was an accountant and always pretty careful with money, I guess maybe the Alfa’s were one extravagance he seemed worth spending on!
From memory the first sud was the only car he went backwards in age on, it was older then the mini it replaced. Most cars were bought at around 2 years old and kept for a couple of years before trading up.
After the two 33s he came very close to buying a brand new s3 33 around 1992/93, but his sensible head kicked in. He bought a 1990 bmw e30 316i, which he hated, and had terrible luck with. The only car he had which left us stranded and awaiting recovery at the side of the road!
Thank you for painting the broader picture. That must have made sense at the time. Buying at 50% value and selling at 30% after a couple of years is exacly what my old man did back in the day. But had only the nerve for one Alfa. (Which left him stranded en route to an important meeting. A pine needle in one carb was the fault.)From memory the first sud was the only car he went backwards in age on, it was older then the mini it replaced. Most cars were bought at around 2 years old and kept for a couple of years before trading up.
After the two 33s he came very close to buying a brand new s3 33 around 1992/93, but his sensible head kicked in. He bought a 1990 bmw e30 316i, which he hated, and had terrible luck with. The only car he had which left us stranded and awaiting recovery at the side of the road!
The comparison of the Sud to the Giulietta is hilarious. Shows what our idea of "frugal" has become.
Have a nice weekend, everyone. Happy motoring.
In hindsight yes . But in period , not at all , cars like the Sud were the safest they'd ever been . Seat belts, disc brakes, collapsible steering columns , great roadholding and even laminated glass made them so much safer than cars from ten or twenty years earlier . And not having access to a Tardis we Alfisti of the Seventies weren't to know that what was cutting edge then would become death traps now . In some eyes anyway .
gazza285 said:
That’s when all you had between your hips and an incoming car was a single sheet of Coke tin thick cheap steel and a bit of plastic covered hardboard…
In reality the Alfasud was one of the safer cars of its time. The main "trick" being the double bulkhead at the front, which was constructed in a way, that the flat boxer engine would be shoved under the bulkheads in a head on crash. And not into the passenger compartement. 
There are pics online, which show it worked irl, to some extend, but those do not belong here.
Of course modern cars are much safer. But they do also weigh double our tripple what the Sud was.
I always wondered if that was part of the design just by looking at the shapes and how it’s all suspended in the car, looks like it works how I had thought it should in my head.
It’s quite amusing opening the bonnet for someone who’s not seen one before and watching them have to do a double take and reposition to look deep into the engine bay. The effect is lost a little on the twin carb engines with their big airbox which makes the whole package look a lot bigger.
It’s quite amusing opening the bonnet for someone who’s not seen one before and watching them have to do a double take and reposition to look deep into the engine bay. The effect is lost a little on the twin carb engines with their big airbox which makes the whole package look a lot bigger.
http://www.citroenet.org.uk/miscellaneous/gs-alfas...
Test Alfasud against Citroen GS.
I had both of them in succession, only interrupted by a sensible VW Polo from my aunt, which was nearly as rubbish as the Citroen.
The characteristics of both cars nicely reflected in this double test:
Times long gone, when cars were no jacks of all trades, but had strong individual character.
2xChevrons said:
wpa1975 said:
Sorry but the Arna was one of the worst cars ever made: https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/alfa-romeo/97620/alf...
The fact that in 4 years they only made 53k cars in total tells how poor a seller it was.
The general view is that the Arna exhibited the worst qualities of each of its parents with tempestuous mechanicals, rust prone bodywork and indifferent build quality courtesy of Alfa Romeo, married to a Nissan body of questionable build and frumpy box like styling, with insipid handling common to Japanese cars of the time
It's undeniable that the Arna was a marketing and sales disaster - I said as much. It was almost tailor made to be an Alfa-Nissan hybrid that repelled both existing Alfa customers and existing Nissan buyers. The fact that in 4 years they only made 53k cars in total tells how poor a seller it was.
The general view is that the Arna exhibited the worst qualities of each of its parents with tempestuous mechanicals, rust prone bodywork and indifferent build quality courtesy of Alfa Romeo, married to a Nissan body of questionable build and frumpy box like styling, with insipid handling common to Japanese cars of the time
All I can say is that the one I drove did not exhibit insipid handling. The build quality seemed 'fine' for an early 80s hatchback too, but then they managed to nail Alfasuds together pretty well on occasion too.
The Arna's front end is carried over almost directly from the 'Sud, so it has very similar responsive, smooth and tactile steering.
"True, the rear suspension doesn't have the Watt's-linkage sophistication of the Alfasud (it uses Nissan Cherry trailing arms and coil springs) but the result is a car that still offers glimpses of the 'Sud's flair.
Twisty roads are best. In such conditions the Arna's front wheels track faithfully with accurate turn-in, telegraphing plenty of feel back to the driver through the precise (but low-geared) steering. The car feels taut and predictable. Certainly it will understeer 'in extremis', but the limits of grip are high and lifting-off mid-bend reveals no nasty tricks.
Fast open sweeps show the Arna in a less favourable light. There's a disconcerting moment of indecision before the car responds to the helm, which it then does abruptly making smooth cornering difficult to achieve...The ride too, isn't quite up to the Alfasud's high standards, although road noise is muted. The suspension rounds off most of the bumps effectively, but there is always an underlying restlessness which doesn't go away at speed. It's not actually uncomfortable, though, and a corollary of the firmness is a lack of excessive body roll and lurching in the bends.
...It has its faults, yes, but the crucial point in its favour is the driving pleasure afford by the Alfa Romeo power train. The Arna is no Alfasud substitute, simply a Cherry with a fine Italian engine. But, at the price, the combination works well."
Not my words, wpa1975, the words of MOTOR magazine!
Edited by 2xChevrons on Thursday 3rd March 11:30
coppice said:
Surprised you didn't like the GS . I preferred the Sud - faster, sportier, it's an Alfa - but I was very impressed with the GS's I drove and rode in . Silky smooth engine , slippery looks and wonderful ride .
Now that the thread is a little derailed already:Al those cars were of the older used type."sheds". The Citroen GS was a GSA Break Club. Made in 1981. I bought it in 1992. It was too far gone at 110k miles, but in my youthful eyes I could not see it. The engine had been rebuilt. In all honesty I hated the quirky ergonomics with the handbrake in the dash. The seats were soft, but on the verge of collapse. The ride was smooth, but the engine weak and the gearbox noisy. The handling far exceeded what the engine could muster. Not helped by the meager tires. Despite those tires the steering was heavy and had no feel. I would imagine that a real GS out of an earlier series with less mileage would have been a better car. But the cool shape, that Robert Opron had sketched was destroyed by all the cheap plastic parts, that they threw on the poor GSA from several feet distance. Nothing matched and everything rattled.
(Rant over)
Martin 480 Turbo said:
http://www.citroenet.org.uk/miscellaneous/gs-alfas...
Test Alfasud against Citroen GS.
I had both of them in succession, only interrupted by a sensible VW Polo from my aunt, which was nearly as rubbish as the Citroen.
The characteristics of both cars nicely reflected in this double test:
Times long gone, when cars were no jacks of all trades, but had strong individual character.
I loved the gs, a good one would sit flat out all day in much more comfort than more traditional saloons. Cracking cars, friend of my family had a dyane with an Ami chassis and one of the gs flat four engines, went past 90mph no problem and stayed there much to the consternation of many repmobiles...Test Alfasud against Citroen GS.
I had both of them in succession, only interrupted by a sensible VW Polo from my aunt, which was nearly as rubbish as the Citroen.
The characteristics of both cars nicely reflected in this double test:
Times long gone, when cars were no jacks of all trades, but had strong individual character.
Sorting through some old boxes of stuff at the weekend and found this. Love that colour:
"A full programme of special protection treatments...has been adopted to guarantee that the Alfasud will have high resistance to atmospheric contamination and corrosion." Given that the floor fell out of mine, is it too late to bring a mis-selling claim against Alfa UK?
"A full programme of special protection treatments...has been adopted to guarantee that the Alfasud will have high resistance to atmospheric contamination and corrosion." Given that the floor fell out of mine, is it too late to bring a mis-selling claim against Alfa UK?
I miss my old Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce 1.7 every day since I sold it. Despite it being only 8 years old when I bought it, I still had to treat it like a classic car. FInding replacement seats (at 8 years old and only 40k miles!!) and sympathetic mechanics (in a field near Winchester), I still had no regrets. I've yet to hear another 4cyl that sounds as good, all on standard components.
Edited by mekondelta on Monday 14th March 12:52
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff