Hot Car vs GTV

[Les Singh <Les.Singh@xxxxxxxxx>]

Had to share this with digesters. Took a very hot car for a test drive on
Saturday. This was a road version of a Group A rally car with 2 litre
flat-4, intercooled turbo, 4wd etc etc... you get the picture. Performance
of these things is mind-boggling for a road car with zero to 60 mph and
back to zero in less than the time it takes for a GTV6 to get to 60 mph.  

The car surprised me with its respectable amount of torque low down, and
when you hit just over 4000 rpm things start to happen. Man, that thing
lights up like you wouldn't believe and the handling matches the
acceleration with a beautifully compliant suspension that just makes you
want to throw it into bends faster and faster. Brakes - simply awesome.Just
out of curiousity I did an acceleration test from steady 3000 rpm to 5000
rpm in 3rd gear:  time taken was 4 seconds. As a comparison, my GTV
achieves this same figure but in 2nd gear; the 3rd gear time is a bit over
6 seconds (hand-held analog watch, times approximate).

In the ergonomics department the GTV comes out better except for the
leather seats on which I'm forever sliding around. Ask me what the
instruments were like in that hot car ... I don't know! Totally
unmemorable. The interior is claustrophobic and windscreen peculiarly
raked. But the steering wheel and gearknob - wow! - pure Italian by Nardi.

If it was decision between buying the GTV and "that car" what would I buy?
No contest; for me it would be the GTV every time.

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End of alfa-digest V7 #277
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