[alfa] Berlina? Milano?

["Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nice to see Berlinas in the news here.

Aesthetics or other preferences aside, I think a Berlina is going to be the
easier car to own: much easier to work on, get parts for, and just generally
keep running, as the years progress.  Berlinas are from the
points-and-condensor era, with no computerized stuff, chips, or integrated
circuits, and so can be worked on with 19th century hand tools.  Traditional
tools, methods, and parts will keep them alive indefinitely, assuming the
body holds up.  And I believe the 105/115 mechanicals are inherently
stronger and easier to work on than comparable Milano mechanicals.  Berlinas
also benefit by association from the continued interest and high value in
Spiders and GTVs, sharing the same mechanicals.

I agree with Kevin that Berlinas have already bottomed out in value, and are
a bit on the way back up.  Milanos I think are still falling, and will
continue to do so as PS pumps, steering racks, ABS units, ECUs, plastic
trim, and all the other modern parts of the car that are no longer
supported, get harder and harder to find, not to mention donut, transaxle,
and rear brake hassles.

Of course, most of us don't buy Alfas from the good-sense part of our brain.
A Milano surely is faster, handles better, and brakes better than a Berlina,
and has AC to boot.  I'd go with which car I liked driving and looking at
more.

Andrew Watry
Berlina Register
(never owned a V6, but did own a Sport (Alfetta) Sedan once; great handling,
best brakes I've ever driven)
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided