Anybody going to the Brera Spyder launch thing later in Sept
Discussion
DJC said:
Thought Id wander along to the one in Maidstone, might aswell see what its like.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Yes, although not as a driver. Clearly the thought of allowing an Alfa driver and a potential buyer of said car to test-drive one is too much for the marketing gimps @ Alfa UK.
SCOOTERMAN said:
DJC said:
Thought Id wander along to the one in Maidstone, might aswell see what its like.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Yes, although not as a driver (what with being 23). Clearly the thought of allowing an Alfa driver and a potential buyer of said car to test-drive one is too much for the marketing gimps @ Alfa UK.
DJC said:
Thought Id wander along to the one in Maidstone, might aswell see what its like.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Didn't realise you were and Alfa person DJC. Invite recieved from local Alfa Dealer (with comb). Intend to go and have a blimp.
How's the plastic surgery coming along BTW
Daftlad said:
DJC said:
Thought Id wander along to the one in Maidstone, might aswell see what its like.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Still waiting for any decent news on the 8C.
Didn't realise you were and Alfa person DJC. Invite recieved from local Alfa Dealer (with comb). Intend to go and have a blimp.
How's the plastic surgery coming along BTW
Im a car snob Dafty...*of course* Im an Alfaista!
Ive got a few posts on here about the 8C, Ive made it fairly clear that Im gaurenteed money if they make the 8C. It is the best looking car I have seen in a long long time. The only problem is that if they ramp the price to £100k money gets very tight then, Id have to do some serious shuffling of cash to make that happen, but I would. Have to laugh about the comb aswell, my fiancee has used it to comb the cat!
The Brera isnt really my cup of tea, but I think the Spyder looks OK. I wasnt that interested in it at the Motorshow, was asking the salesdude about the 8C, but asked if I wanted to go along to the launch of the Spyder anyway, so decided it would be rude not to!
CBR...that was you this morning!!! Thought it was exceedingly generous for somebody to let 2 cars out at College Rd, I was quite prepared to wait until after you! I did wave twice to say thanks
Bugger, forgot to say Dafty the plastic surgery is coming on a stormer! Get the first customer car in next week and my toolmaker sent me the pics he has done of the wing with the inserts in, they look the dogs utter bollox! I was seriously impressed by them
If yer interested at all, drop me an email and Ill send em to you.
If yer interested at all, drop me an email and Ill send em to you.
DJC said:
Bugger, forgot to say Dafty the plastic surgery is coming on a stormer! Get the first customer car in next week and my toolmaker sent me the pics he has done of the wing with the inserts in, they look the dogs utter bollox! I was seriously impressed by them
If yer interested at all, drop me an email and Ill send em to you.
If yer interested at all, drop me an email and Ill send em to you.
Its not for me Dave, but good luck with the work. The Saga Lout is OTT as it is for an old bloke without putting vents in!!
jimjamspider said:
I have 2 passes for the kent Alfa Spider Drive this Sunday if anyone is interested. I can't make it unfortunately. They are in my name but I assume no one will mind if you turn up in my place.
Just don't let me know how good they are!!
It's worth a look but I don't think it's a stunner. Just don't let me know how good they are!!
Here's my thoughts on the car following last Sundays drives... www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=99&t=306320 Edited by richb on Wednesday 13th September 16:30
Went to the demo day in Lenham today and I must say it was very well organised. Regarding the cars I drove a 3.2 spyder and 2.4 JTD sportwagon and I must say I was very impressed with both, I have a 156 GTA in which I have done 75k miles and to be honest although the engine note was not quite as nice and it was a bit slower the syder was really rather good, I also drive a Maserati 3200 so was expecting something pretty poor in comparison but for real world driving the spyder is more than adequate and looks extremely nice as well. As for the 2.4 diesel it was a real revelation, very quite at most speeds and very good performance for a diesel but that said a JTD is not for me
vulcan1208 said:
Went to the demo day in Lenham today and I must say it was very well organised. Regarding the cars I drove a 3.2 spyder and 2.4 JTD sportwagon and I must say I was very impressed with both, I have a 156 GTA in which I have done 75k miles and to be honest although the engine note was not quite as nice and it was a bit slower the syder was really rather good, I also drive a Maserati 3200 so was expecting something pretty poor in comparison but for real world driving the spyder is more than adequate and looks extremely nice as well. As for the 2.4 diesel it was a real revelation, very quite at most speeds and very good performance for a diesel but that said a JTD is not for me
Well you could have fooled me.
Got there and there was a Q at the desk thing. Stood in there for 30 mins, got to the desk and they then said no we had to go round the back to get registered. Asked if somebody *might*have bothered telling ppl this and they said yes that might have been a good idea, so then started to tell ppl! Thanks girls!
Anyway, trotted off round the corner to get registered, etc. came back and booked a 2.4JTD Sw for 11.20. Said times comes around and they call the guy who was right behind us in the Q for our car. When asked, they admit to having forgot to write out name down!
Anyway, drove the 2.4Sw eventually and what an absolutely outstanding piece of kit! The car is very good, interior is excellent and the engine!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely f**king fantastic engine! Its, a diesel, it accelerates hard, and it has a rather good induction noise! Was astonishingly impressed with the car and has seriously made me rethink the Audi estate I was toying with. Next step is finding out if they are making a 4x4 SW.
The Spyder.
What
A
Heap
Of
Sh1t
Case, closed, job done, throw the thing down the toilet. Spent 2 hrs waiting to drive it and I have to say watching it...esp the electric blue car...I couldnt wait to get in. I completely changed my mind over its looks in those 2 hrs. I turned up not really caring about it, very ambivalent, but changed my views totally in those 2hrs. The car look sensational, absolutely top draw. Got in and...wtf was this? The interior was shocking, boring, drab, naff and uninspiring. In between the SW and Spyder, we drive the 1.9JTD GT and it was agreat. The seats in that were fantastic and the interior wrapped itself around you a little. The interior in the SW was also very nice, the ridged alloy look metal centre console was a great touch. The seats in the Spyder were nothing short of shite. No support. The centre console had no class, no style, no sense of ... well, anything! It was as souless in there as a BMW.
The engine.
An Alfa V6 that was boringly quiet and the 2.4JTD sounded better under full bore. Not only that, the SW felt quicker, seemed quicker and just plain more urgency at every pt in the rev range upto 5k rpm. And wtf is an Alfa V6 doing with a redline at 6500rpm and f**k all at the top end? No fizz, no whizz, no crackle, no sound, no fury, no scream, no spark. Christ, I got lambasted when I said driving a Tamora was so boring it felt like I was in a Mondeo, the Spyder was so boring I might aswell have been in a 1.6ltr Vectra! It has absolutely no power anywhere in the rev range, it just didnt go anywhere, no torque whatsoever. Oh yes it was smooth alright, but smoothness means buggery when there is no power being produced.
Handling.
Understeer. Understeer and er oh yes understeer! With an added side order of roll. No support in the seats either, added to a cabin which failed to wrap itself around you unlike the other cars and on the sharpish righ hand corner after crossing over the bridge, it just felt like I was going flop onto the passenger seat and the car would end up somewhere in the field. None of the others felt like that, hell the SW felt fantastic through there and I was going quicker in it!
Basically the car weighs too much and you can feel all that weight up front in the engine bay. It utterly kills the car.
I got out of the car and presumed Id been in the 4 pot, but 2 guys got out of another right behind me and we all said *exactly* the same thing. I caught up with my m8, who had finished his run in a Spyder 5mins beforehand and he said exactly the same again. So I checked the booking sheets and we had all been in the V6 cars.
So in the end the morning turned out to be worth it afterall, Alfa have a very interested customer, not only in the 8C, but also the SW. The Spyder though? Well that is the greatest PR the new Audi TT could ever recieve because it is going to murder it in the marketplace when with those looks, the Spyder should be eating it for breakfast.
I think I'm somewhere in between you two.
On the day (Crieff, in my case) I drove the 3.2 Spider and the 2.2 Brera, and have previously driven the 2.4 (diesel) Brera. Of the three, I'd say the 2.4 was probably the best of them.
I thought the organisation at Crieff could have been a lot better - 40 people queueing to register, where there's one girl giving out the forms. The same girl takes your driving licence, and then she gives it back to you when you're finished. So as well as the 40 people registering, there's the odd person every now and then jumping the queue to get their license back. Not the end of the world, but it just could have been a lot slicker.
The test route we got was a bit disappointing as well, narrow roads (1.5 cars wide, really) with all fairly tight curves, almost all of them blind - there was only one short stretch (a bit less than a mile) where you had sight through the corners and could press on a bit.
I was pleasantly surprised by the 2.2 Brera, because it was better than I expected, but that's maybe faint praise because I expected it to be pretty poor. I guess it's a bit like the 2.0 GTV where it flows at a reasonable average speed, but the blind corners really prevented you finding out.
I didn't get any hint of understeer in the 3.2 Spider, but that could well have been because there were so few fastish corners. I found it comfy, safe-feeling, generally well-made (except for the trim on the roll-hoop that had fallen off!), and fast enough for what it is. It's not razor-sharp by any means, but neither was the previous Spider, and I think this is a pretty good replacement for it. Best car in its class? Probably not. Decent enough car for someone who wants a good-looking, reasonably fast convertible? I'd say so.
On the day (Crieff, in my case) I drove the 3.2 Spider and the 2.2 Brera, and have previously driven the 2.4 (diesel) Brera. Of the three, I'd say the 2.4 was probably the best of them.
I thought the organisation at Crieff could have been a lot better - 40 people queueing to register, where there's one girl giving out the forms. The same girl takes your driving licence, and then she gives it back to you when you're finished. So as well as the 40 people registering, there's the odd person every now and then jumping the queue to get their license back. Not the end of the world, but it just could have been a lot slicker.
The test route we got was a bit disappointing as well, narrow roads (1.5 cars wide, really) with all fairly tight curves, almost all of them blind - there was only one short stretch (a bit less than a mile) where you had sight through the corners and could press on a bit.
I was pleasantly surprised by the 2.2 Brera, because it was better than I expected, but that's maybe faint praise because I expected it to be pretty poor. I guess it's a bit like the 2.0 GTV where it flows at a reasonable average speed, but the blind corners really prevented you finding out.
I didn't get any hint of understeer in the 3.2 Spider, but that could well have been because there were so few fastish corners. I found it comfy, safe-feeling, generally well-made (except for the trim on the roll-hoop that had fallen off!), and fast enough for what it is. It's not razor-sharp by any means, but neither was the previous Spider, and I think this is a pretty good replacement for it. Best car in its class? Probably not. Decent enough car for someone who wants a good-looking, reasonably fast convertible? I'd say so.
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