This, that and the other thing.

["Kim Boydell" <boydell@domain.elided>]

I said:
>Will I buy a new Alfa?  It all depends on sticking the family in a mini-van
>first (god help me) and then I will see what the business can afford.
>

Phil said:
"Are you sure you should even consider a new Alfa? Your "heart" does not
seem to be in it............"

I reply, Yes my heart is in it, but anyone who runs
their own business knows that the government does not accept "But I bought
an Alfa Romeo" as an excuse for not sending in payroll, GST and income tax.
No sense of priorities with those people.  I am also trying to save up for a
Maserati GT.  Damn things are expensive.

It is true, I haven't driven a new Alfa since they left North America, but
on the discussion groups I hear lots of people complaining about the
electrical problems on new Alfas.  Maybe it is just that the purpose of
these groups is to get information on repairing such problems and that the
reliability is no worse than other makes, but the complaints all sound
familiar.

BTW did you know that when the Milano/75 was built a special
assembly line was set up for North American production.  They knew that
North Americans would not put up with the low quality that Europeans put up
with.  The worst cars G.M. ever sold to the North American public were both
from their European subsidiaries, the Opal and Frenza (I think Frenza was a
Canada only model).  G.M. lost millions on law suits.

BTW, this has not stopped me from buying European cars.  I much prefer the
European style of small tight automobiles to the N.American style of large
soft cars.  I have own BMW, Renault (a costly mistake) and Alfas as well as
a
Moto Guzzi motorcycle (a wonderful bike that burned a wire the first week I
had it.)

When I bought my Afla I specifically looked for a car without power mirrors,
windows, door locks and air-conditioning.  In over a year of searching I
never found a car with power equipment where everything worked.

F1 and road cars can not be compared.  F1 cars are engineering
exercises that may or may not contain any parts that are actually on a road
car.  Personally, I found the Melbourne race boring, touring car class
is much more exciting.

Better sound from a spiders exhaust.  The best bet (in terms of cost) is to
leave the middle muffler stock and change the rear muffler.  I replace mine
with a Stebro, it has a
beautiful sound without being too loud and because it is stainless steel, it
won't rust out in a year.  Oh ya . . .  I used a lowered suspension to
remove the heat shield from the catalytic converter.  That got rid of the
annoying rattle.   :-)

Regards

Kim

P.S.  I am Canadian living in Canada.

_________________________________
Centre for Economic Analysis - Canada Inc.
http://www.home.istar.ca/~boydell

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