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Thread: Alfa Romeo Brera...

  1. #1
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    Alfa Romeo Brera...

    So I just got Forza 3 and i won this car and entered it into a race. It seems like a sweet little car. I think it is just gorgeous in the game, although I've never seen one in real life.

    So for my own curiosity, i thought I would ask you guys about it being as i know nothing about Alfa's. you never hear about them in america

    How does it drive in real life? how much horsepower does it have? what are the 0-60 and 1/4 mile times on it?

    does it look good in real life?

    whats the story on Alfa Romeo's in general? are they good cars? reliable? what other cool Alfa's are out there that I have no idea about? why arent they sold in America?
    A woman goes to the doctor to figure out why she is having breathing problems...The doctor tells her she is overweight. She says she wants a second opinion...the doctor says, "your ugly".

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    Quick summary.
    Alfas used to be among the best driver cars out there, especially considering they were kinda "cheap".Weak sales (mainly because people moved on wanting something else) and weird management decisions transformed it into another wannabe german company. They are still among the best fwd everyday cars, but they lack the sportiness of the past.

    The Brera IS good looking in real life, the Spider perhaps even better, say my 2 Italian cents.

    It isn't a rocket though, it starts from around 170 bhp up to 260 (with the Holden V6, slightly retuned by Alfa).
    It used to be heavy as well, but now the issue is solved on smaller engines (like on the 200 bhp 1,8 liter turbo engine). They are also cheaper now, starting from 30.000 € with that engine.
    Perhaps not the funniest drive you could buy with 30.000 € (new cars), surely among the better looking.

    Alfas were sold States side until mid ninties, should come back in a couple of years though.

    And no, the 8C is not an Alfa, is a Maserati, period.
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  3. #3
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    Good take. its interesting that they are so expensive. you can get a camaro SS for about the same price as one of those.

    What class would you say an Alfa romeo is? for example, chevy's tend to be lower end, every day cars some of which have some performance. While buick is the every day semi luxurious car which is much nicer than a chevy but not as gaudy as a cadillac. and then the caddy is the luxury car (although not high end like a mercedes). Where would alfa fall in among these classes?

    the one with the 260hp, what does that do 0-60 in?
    A woman goes to the doctor to figure out why she is having breathing problems...The doctor tells her she is overweight. She says she wants a second opinion...the doctor says, "your ugly".

  4. #4
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    To be simplistic Alfa Romeo is the italian BMW (or BMW is the german Alfa Romeo if you want).

    To complement Damiano's post, before WWII Alfa Romeo's were at the pinnacle of the automotive world. They were the Ferraris of thier day. In fact, Enzo Ferrari started his Scuderia Ferrari racing Alfa Romeos.

    After WWII conditions in Europe were quite bad and there was no money to buy expensive, luxurious and powerful cars. So rather like BMW, Alfa Romeo struggled until they decided to downsize and launch the Giulietta in the 50's. Then, much like BMW some years later, became the maker of some of the best sports saloons and coupes.

    In the 70's they launched their first front wheel drive car, the Alfasud, which handled brilliantly. However built quality was poor and it was prone to rust. And there its problems started, I'm sure someone can go into much more detail here, but sales went down, racing success pretty much disappeared and eventually Fiat bought them in 1986.

    Since then they've been making front wheel drive cars, which while competent and even some quite good, don't usually carry the same cachet as the one made in the pre-Fiat era. It also of note that since Fiat bought Alfa Romeo they haven't turned a profit.

    Alfa Romeo also has a long and illustrious history, at Le Mans, F1, touring car racing, endurance racing...
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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    Consider that Imported Mustangs sell for about 30/35.000 €, V6 models.
    You just can't compare price from here and there. What I pay here 50.000 € will probably cost you 50.000 $. Don't ask me why.

    Supposedly, the Brera is a 3 Series Coupe contender, but its style positioned it somewhat against the Z4 and TT. That's a problem as those cars are smaller, lighter and more focused. The Brera is a a sort of Audi A5, not a good performer es the 3er, while stilostically is more of a TT/Z4.

    I suppose Alfa is what Pontiac was supposed to be. A sporty but still not too expensive brand. They recently introduced the MiTo, which is based on the cheaper Fiat (Grande) Punto, but with a better (subjective) style and a better performing behavior. Not as extreme as the Abarth (an officially tuned Punto), still pretty fun. Like a Mini Cooper/S without the JCW kit.

    0/60:

    1,8 turbo, 200 bhp, 1.370 kg, fwd: 7,7 secs
    3,2, 260 bhp, 1.555 kg, fwd: 6,8 secs
    3,2, 260 bhp, 1.630 kg, awd: 7,0 secs
    2,0 turbo diesel, 170 bhp, 1.550 kg, fwd: 8,8 secs
    2,4 turbo diesel, 210 bhp, 1.600 kg, fwd, 8,3 secs

    All manuals (auto or fake sequential versions available though).
    The weights are a bit mixed, they should be all with driver + 20 liter of fuel or thereabouts, except maybe the 1.8 turbo.
    A naturally aspirated 2.2 4 cylinder engine is avalable too, with 185 bhp.
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    About their recent racing pedigree, they won among other trophies the ITC in 1995 with the 155, and almost all the touring championships they entered with the 156 from the 1997 to the 2003, and since 2004 no factory team exists anymore.
    KFL Racing Enterprises - Kicking your ass since 2008

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    Quote Originally Posted by roosterjuicer View Post
    why arent they sold in America?
    Because Americans generally are sensible people, who buy Toyotas and Chevrolets and such.

    It is important to remember that you'd have to be quite bonkers in the first place to buy an Alfa. They are not fast. Not practical. Not cheap. Not efficent. No street credit. In 2008, there were only 100,000 nutters in EU who were willing to buy a new one. That is a market share of 0,7%.

    Nobody cares about the racing pedigree. That is ancient history.

    About the design - sure, it is generally accepted as the finest Italy has to offer. However, everbody knows that mechanically these cars are shoddy, unreliable, rustprone nightmares that will eat deep into your pocket.

    In short - no good.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Revo View Post
    It is important to remember that you'd have to be quite bonkers in the first place to buy an Alfa. They are not fast. Not practical. Not cheap. Not efficent. No street credit. In 2008, there were only 100,000 nutters in EU who were willing to buy a new one. That is a market share of 0,7%.
    Curiously that's about the same number of dumb people who bought Lancias. Compared, two thirds of the lunatics bought Saabs and one third of the bonkers people bought Jags.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    Curiously that's about the same number of dumb people who bought Lancias. Compared, two thirds of the lunatics bought Saabs and one third of the bonkers people bought Jags.
    Fortunately, this collective stupidity is limited to a tiny minority.

    For whatever reason these people think they know better than others. They don't.

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    I must say Alfas are reliable though, for real.
    Both the 164 and the 156 we had were bulletproof, with 420.000 and 210.000 km respectively. The Stilo (same powertrain as some Alfas) has minor electric problems (who doesn't these years) and the Croma is just fine, both with about 90.000 km so far.
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    Quote Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead View Post
    I must say Alfas are reliable though, for real.
    Irrelevant.

    The people have spoken.

  12. #12
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    But Alfa's are sooooooo pretty!!! In general im not a fan of most "small car" european styling (you know, when someone who doesn't know much about cars says, "that car looks european") but if a company made a car that looked as good as the Brera and did 0-60 in around 5 flat or less id probably be willing to shell out 30,000 or so for it.
    A woman goes to the doctor to figure out why she is having breathing problems...The doctor tells her she is overweight. She says she wants a second opinion...the doctor says, "your ugly".

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    So where does Lancia fit in with all of this?

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    id like to learn more about Lancia too. the most of my knowledge about them revolves around the lancia delta rally car in sega rally on sega saturn.

    do they make any gorgeous cars too?
    Last edited by roosterjuicer; 11-30-2009 at 02:35 PM.
    A woman goes to the doctor to figure out why she is having breathing problems...The doctor tells her she is overweight. She says she wants a second opinion...the doctor says, "your ugly".

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by roosterjuicer View Post
    id like to learn more about Lancia too. the most of my knowledge about them revolves around the lancia delta rally car in sega rally on sega saturn.

    do they make an gorgeous cars too?
    According to my little knowledge (and some from Gran Turismo 4 and a little from UCP), yes they did.

    But when they got rolled into Fiat, all hell broke loose.

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