RE: a little rant on newbie Alfa buyers and ownership (long-ish)

[Neil Smith <neiltbag@domain.elided>]

Wow, what a complicated post. In one shot Alfabill manages to
hit a bunch of different (and controversial) issues. I agree
with the essence of the post, but like Jorge I've got to
question a couple of points.

In my experience (having owned my Milano for 8 months now) I
must have spent approx. $100 / month on maintenance. The car
only cost $3000 to start with. Of all the alternatives available
to me it has been no less economical. Leasing a car of suitable
fun / reliability / street cred etc. would have cost at least
$250-300 a month, and with my mileage, already at 16,000 I'd be
looking at the 10-15 cents per mile from now until May. At the
end of it all I own my Milano, instead of having to give it
back. What if I'd kept my beater GTI? Well, at nearly 200k miles
there was big money coming up for repairs. So, I can't see much
of a financial hit against the Milano. 

You're right of course: the people we really need to worry about
are those who see a $2500-3000 car with a cool badge, and buy it
because "hey, it's cheap but cool", not because of the heritage,
driving pleasure, great support network etc. Those are the folks
that will not do what they need to do to care for the cars, and
those cars will die a slow, painful death. The rest of us will
spend what we have to, to keep the cars in nice shape. I'm sure
a similar thing has happened with all Alfa models through the
years. Call it "natural selection" if you will. The good ones
eventually end up in the hands of good owners. We'll lose the
beaters along the way (as they give their lives to extend the
lives of others), but please don't discourage people from buying
a GTV6 or Milano based on cost alone. Everyone chooses where
their extra bit of cash each month goes, be it outdoor
activities, cultural events or Alfa maintenance. I think you're
preaching to the converted on this list though. You CAN keep a
Milano if you're a college student. It takes some creativity,
but people do it, and they are just as dedicated as the guy who
spends thousands on restoring the interior of his GTV6. Keep it
in reasonable shape until you have letters after your name and
then spend the dough to make it REALLY nice. Just look at
16-year-old Joe, buying the cheap sandwiches at school so he can
get new tranny parts.

Neil
'87 Milano Quadriturnsignalio Oro
San Francisco
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com

------------------------------