Re: USA taste

["Joe Garcia" <corsanostra@domain.elided>]

To follow up on what Rick said...

Alfae (and others, to a lesser degree) offer unparalleled driver 
involvement. We happy few, we band of brothers (and sisters) derive immense 
pleasure from this, and as a consequence, are willing to overlook a number 
of inconveniences...the phrase "so often, you don't even notice it" springs 
to mind...as payment for all this fun.

The average US driver, alas, is NOT quite so generous. The "little glitches" 
are almost (equally? more?) devastating to a brand's reputation than the Big 
Huge Problems. As an enthusiast, I accept as par for the course the fact I 
may have to replace googelplexes or routinely (every 3 months) adjust 
demodulators (which only takes 4 hours if I use an otherwise useless 
specialized tool!) but the average A-B driver, who has less than no interest 
in exploring ANY car's sporting potential, will show up to the dealership's 
service department in a purple rage if the demodulator makes that twinkly 
noise every month.

To not engineer the twinkliness out of the demodulator IMMEDIATELY shows, 
either blindness or arrogance ("In Elbonia, we don't much care for 
demodulators, but since you Americans do, we installed it as an 
afterthought.") and comes with a penalty...exile from the most lucrative 
market in the world.

The 164, marketed, warrantied (say, 6 years/60K mi.) and priced AGGRESSIVELY 
(remember the 1st year Audi A4s? I picked one up for my sister, pretty 
loaded, for $23.5K, new), with an eager eye to engineering out any driver 
complaints could have gone a long way towards saving Alfa's US hide.

And yes, I wish Alfa were still here. You have NO IDEA.

Just my due lire,

- -Joe in SoFla, currently between Alfae but looking!
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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