In a past life I used to rally and occasionally sprint/rallycross cars.
I rallied my Mk 1 Lotus Cortina, and a 3 litre V6 Capri road cars and then for a few years managed to run a Mk 1 Twin Cam Escort as a Rally car. Always liked to try and have interesting road cars as well but usually pretty cheap. In earlier days I had things like a Frogeye Mk1 Austin Healey Sprite, Mk 2 Sprite, Mk 1 and Mk2 MG Midget, Mk 11 Lotus Cortina, then a load of compromise family but fun cars always with a few miles on them. Some really fun cars like a Alfa Sud Sprint Veloce, a 1.5 flat four with two big twin choke Del-Orto carbs, a couple of Opel Mantas, Astra Mk 1 GTE, then a couple of 2 litre MG Maestros and then ditto MG Montegos. One of the really good ones was a Peugeot 405 MI-16 x 4 (think of it as an early Scoobie with around 180 bhp from a 1.9 unit with no turbo), followed by another 2.0 version with a bit less power and just FWD.
Later there came a 2.5 V6 Vectra and a 2.6 V6 Vectra then along came Alfie, an 8 month old Alfa Romeo 156 JTD 20Valve ( 2.4 ltr 5 pot). It had lots of nice toys like 6 speed box, climate control, full Momo leather interior, CD stacker and a cruise control that I never once used.
Don’t usually give names to cars but Terri and Joanne decided it should be called Alfie, like the old Sprint Veloce many years earlier...
Alfas are not just cars they are Italian and have character (bit like Aprilia bikes, plus I also have a thing for Italian food).
This car was to turn out to be probably the best car I have ever owned.
I had always hated diesels, nasty, oily, rattly, slow barges, spewing out diesel on roundabouts to bring bikers off.
Alfie changed all this. The motor was an absolute peach, a 5 cylinder 2.4 20 valve with an adequate 175 bhp and 284 ft lbs of torque at 2000 revs, (the torque is a couple more than a standard 911). 0 to 60 was a reasonable 7.9 sec with 140 top whack and amazing grunt to out drag most things on the road from about 1500 revs. It was very reliable other than eating a turbo every now and then, (Alfa replaced three under extended warranty).
Best thing was, even with really good performance it averaged 40 odd mpg over more than 6 years and 45k miles that I owned it (a bit better mpg than the Falco, with a similar character of instant low down grunt when needed.
A similar love affair on two and four wheels. Bikes will always be my first love but Alfie came as near as any car has.
I have never before kept a car for more than 6 years, (ditto for Falco now 71/2 years).
Because I had it so long, I kept saving money after had paid the loan off and then when I finally paid the mortgage off after 40 odd years, I put that aside each month as well. The idea was to save enough so that at the end of this year, I could buy myself one last decent, (and ideally fun car), to take into my retirement, but it had to be something well built that would last.
The tell tale turbo whine from cold was just starting to come back on Alfie, so it had to go earlier than planned. On a sad day a couple of weeks ago it got traded in and was a bit like saying goodbye to an old friend.
Anyway I did manage to get an interesting replacement.
A really nice BMW 123d M Sport 5 door, with nice 17” M Sport alloys, full leather and climate control. This model is not that common, as they are silly expensive new, and people normally go for the cheaper and slightly slower 120d
It is a Feb. 2010 model with just 6k miles on the clock and not a mark on it.
But the really good bits are a 2 litre twin turbo diesel motor; (little and large, for seemless power throughout the range ), with 204bhp and 295 ft lbs of torque, 0 to 62 in 6.9 secs and 148 top, plus a low emission rating and cheap car tax at 115 quid.
That seems to be cheating somehow.
All this and rear wheel drive!
It is also black sapphire metallic paint, the silver blue metallic bit is nothing like as obvious as the blue in the Black Crow paint of the Falco, but strangely close.
Another one from the Dark Side?
Not been able to get out on the bike much recently just once on each bike since Christmas, but have to admit I took the Beemer out round the normal bike run on the first weekend and really enjoyed it.
Like a lot of people I have often slagged off generic beemer drivers, but the claim of “ultimate driving machine” does have some justification.
It is some time since I last drove a fast rear wheel drive car, (and this one has perfect 50/50 balance).
It was a absolute joy to drive something with such perfect steering feel, never realised how much I had missed it, and it holds a perfect line through bends, with superb damping and no body roll.
Some people think they are a bit too firm, but just right for me.
The build quality feels superb and it is claimed to average around 55 mpg overall as well, (running mid 40s for now as I have been playing a bit).
It’s a small car but a bit flash, I suppose, and for the same price I could have had a new Ford Fiesta Titanium 1.6 diesel, but I think I will be happy again with a second hand car to keep for a long time, which would you choose?
Oh and just the final good news, just £325 per year fully comp insurance for an old fart like me with many years NCB.
Not a bad replacement for the much loved Alfie.
