Thursday 13th February 2014

Alfa Romeo GTV V6 Cup: Spotted

The first GTV Cup is certainly a significant car, but is it POA signifcant?

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As a petrolhead, receiving a car as a 21st birthday present is surely the ultimate gift. How on earth the seller of this Alfa GTV Cup reacted on being given this we can only imagine. A V6 Alfa Romeo on turning 21? It's the stuff dreams are made of. Let's hope the insurance was covered too...

Driving position terrible; do you care?

And moreover this isn't just any V6 Cup, if such a thing exists. It is number 001 of 419 produced globally and 155 offered in Britain. This is according to alfaowner.com, which encouragingly does list this very car with its current owner and for sale. So it's a pretty important Alfa.

The GTV Cup road car was produced off the back of the GTV Cup championship (can you imagine the noise?) and launched in 2001 as a run out special for the GTV before the GT replacement arrived. All UK cars were V6s (some four-cylinder cars were sold in Europe) in Alfa Red, of course. The Cup was identified by a unique bodykit, a pair of Momo sports seats and the silver production plaque. But then the GTV was hardly in need of much visual enhancement, was it?

That glorious 3.0-litre Alfa V6 continued unchanged in the Cup as well, making 218hp, 199lb ft and probably one of the finest noises to be made by a combustion engine. Contemporary reports suggested it wasn't a bad steer either, with decent traction and a nice amount of adjustability. It did lack the ultimate finesse of something like an E46 330Ci though. And at £26,995, the Alfa wasn't a huge amount cheaper.

If Carlsberg did 21st birthday presents...

But, tired old cliche though it certainly is, rationality doesn't often figure in an Alfa Romeo purchase. If you wanted one in the early 2000s, nothing else would have sufficed; today it will be much the same. POA seems a little ambitious but the seller could probably name his price to the right Alfa enthusiast. For some reference, there's one other Cup available in the classifieds at £8,995. Again, pointing out that an ostensibly very similar GTV V6 can be had for £4K (with more miles, yes) probably won't be a factor at all.

You may have noticed this entire feature has not mentioned the 4C. We hope to bring you some UK driving impressions just as soon as possible. Wonder if we can get a Cup along too?

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ALFA ROMEO GTV V6 CUP
Engine: 2,959cc V6
Transmission: 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 218@6,300rpm
Torque (lb ft): 199@5,000rpm
MPG: 24.1
CO2: N/A
Recorded mileage: 68,000
First registered: 2002
Price new: £26,995
Yours for: POA

See the original advert here

[RossP]

Alfa Riomeo??

[VladD]

RossP said:

Alfa Riomeo??

wherefore art thou Riomeo.

[patrickgovier]

I have a Spider V6, which was my 30th birthday present to myself. I love these cars and the enthusiastic community that exists around them.

[4a4]

I still think 'Gtv' reads as 'Glo' from a distance.

Nice car - larrrrvely sounding engine

[anonymous-user]

I used to have a GTV V6 Aero. They are lovely cars but there is no way on earth a cup is worth nearly 10k!!!

[bencollins]

Brazilian Alfas, estupendo

[Baryonyx]

Ah the GTV, so much better to look at than it is to drive.

[Alfa159Ti]

I was looking at these about twelve months ago.

Decent GTV V6s were listing at circa £4k, but anecdotal evidence indicated they were selling for closer to £3k.

There were a few GTV cups that came up around that time that were listed at £5k to £7k, so they were carrying a hefty premium from the standard cars.

No doubt the cited example from the classifieds has been there some time at that price.

I still have a 2.5 V6 156 with the smaller Busso engine. It sounds absolutely incredible - makes my straight six Z4 sound like a vacuum cleaner. The 3.0s are even better and therre are some good vids on Youtube for the curious.

[Zircon]

Would love one of these.

Does anyone else think that a foreign produced car with a predominantly left hand drive market would badge up a right hand drive export car as 001?

Probably just coincidence but?

[j_s14a]

I really want a red V6 Spider. I haven't seen one for sale in ages though

[crostonian]

I know it's a limited edition but I never saw the appeal of the Cup, certainly not at a price premium over the regular car, although I suppose in the future it will be the collectable one.

The half leather seats, blingy alloys, heavy handed bodykit and the fact they're all Alfa Red puts me off - red GTVs have a habit of fading, the plastic bits at a different rate to the steel panels so you end up with a car in about five shades of pink!

[QBee]

Always loved Alfas, owned three in the early 80s, and fancy that one, a real head turner.....
.....but SWMBO would make me elbow my TVR Chimaera 500 into Classifieds, so it ain't going to happen any time soon.
Now where did I put that winning lottery ticket?

[JamesMK]

Makes a 2.0 twin-spark look like a bargain. Much prettier without the aero kit too. One of those might have to be my next car while they sit at the bottom of the depreciation curve.

[Escy]

I appreciate these but personally i'd rather a standard V6, prefer the full leather. Especially with the red style interior. Not worth the premium they command.

[audidoody]

Wasn't the Alfa RioMio a joint venture with Brazil?

[tannedstamina]

The red ones also have a lacquer issue where it can start to peel off!

Great cars to drive though - not as front heavy as you'd expect.

[only1ian]

I owned number 76 and the cup was not a run out special! The last GTV where 56 plate 5 years after the cups. Had a TS, V6 and finally a cup the only variants I never drove where the exceptionally rare V6 Turbo and final 3.2 V6.

Epic cars, massively flawed... loved them all! Great noise and despite what everyone says the only car brand that has never left me stranded on the roadside.

This one is very much over priced I bought mine in 2007 for 3500 or have the prices bounced?

Edited by only1ian on Thursday 13th February 13:47

[Cresco]

Owner is having a laugh if he thinks its worth that much £8k tops.

[Alfa159Ti]

Yep many of the red cups I was looking at either had peeling lacquer or were faded.

The plastics and roof on my 156 are faded a bit pink comapred to the bodywork.

Alfa's in general have shockingly poor paint in my experience.

I owned three modern Alfas (a GT, a 159 and a Spider) and all of them stone chipped terribly. Many owners successfully pursued claims against Alfa for resprays due to unacceptable paint damage within months of purchasing new cars. By comparison the paint on my 7 year old Z4 has barely a scratch or chip and it gets driven hard.

It really frustrates me that Alfa nail certain atributes that many manufacturers uselessly flail at (image, styling, charisma, individuality), then fall down in areas that are surely not that hard to get right (paint, shocks, belts, clutches, gearboxes, electrics).

Heres to hoping they properly nail the Giulia and new Spider.

[judas]

Escy said:

I appreciate these but personally i'd rather a standard V6, prefer the full leather. Especially with the red style interior. Not worth the premium they command.

Full leather looks better, but the half leather seats offer better support and your arse doesn't end up sliding about all over the place

GTV prices have started rising slowly, but the price he's asking is highly optimistic and based solely on the 001 number on the plaque. For that sort of money I'd expect it to have, at the very least, all the desirable upgrades: Q2 diff, GTA clutch/solid flywheel, koni dampers, full set of Powerflex bushes and a nicely presented engine bay with powder coated cam covers etc.

Edited by judas on Thursday 13th February 15:10