Re: Berlinas

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- Henry Kim <henry.kim@domain.elided> wrote:
> All this talk about Berlinas has me thinking - what
> are they like to drive? 

The first thing you'll notice is that the Berlina is
easiest of the 115-series Alfas to get in and out of. 
Spiders with the top down have their advantages (hard
to whack your head on something that isn't there!),
but the Berlina's seat cushion is higher, suiting its
status as a sedan... er, saloon... er, berlina. 
There's less distance for your hips to fall or rise
when entering and exiting the car than there is in
either a Spider or a GTV; if you're going to be
getting in and out of the car a lot, this is a small
but welcome addition to the car's practicality.

Once in the car, you remain in a comfortably upright
position, more so than in either of the "slinkier"
models, with what feels like more room around you
(again, top-down Spiders notwithstanding).  Visibility
is good, though the curvature of the windshield took
some getting used to (it refracts the light at the
very edges of the windscreen and makes things appear
to bend as you pass them -- drive one, you'll see what
I mean).  I've learned to ignore it, like looking
through a screen door.

Once under way, however, everything begins to change. 
The driving dynamics are all Alfa, if perhaps slightly
quieter at anything below full-throttle, high-rpm use.
 The Berlina is an eminently comfortable freeway car,
a great vehicle for puttering around the neighborhood,
a fine way to take yourself and several friends out
for dinner or to a concert.  It's quiet inside when
loafing along at 65-70 mph, easy for the passengers to
hold a conversation without becoming hoarse.  

The harder you push it, however, the more willing it
becomes.  A pleasant musical thrum from the exhaust at
3500 RPM becomes a menacing growl at 4000, a
hackle-tingling roar at 5000, and a violent, gleeful
scream at 6000 -- and in the lower gears, these sounds
come upon one another with startling alacrity.  As
with the sound, so with the forward motion: drop the
car two gears or so on the freeway, press the
accelerator to the end of its long travel, and
suddenly the cars that were beside you are now dots in
the mirror.

One almost silly thing that I really enjoy: the
variety of ventilation options.  On the AROO Old
Spider Tour, I had fun rolling the window down when we
were in the mountains, on tight roads with mostly 2nd-
and 3rd-gear corners; when we got to the more open,
4th- and 5th-gear sections, the window went up, the
eyeball and floor-level vents came open, and the car
was quiet but pleasant inside.  Very nice.

> Anything near the handling of a GTV?

Yes -- I *think*.  Mine still needs restoration of the
suspension (bushings and shocks), so I'll reserve
judgment till I get it back as it was intended.  The
two primary changes relative to the GTV are a longer
wheelbase and a higher center of gravity.  The
wheelbase seems to be a pure benefit in practice; it
doesn't really detract all that much from the car's
willingness to enter a corner, yet it adds immensely
to the car's high-speed tracking in a straight line or
moderate curves.  In particular, where the Spider is
susceptible to being jostled side-to-side by ruts in
the road (as on I-5 here south of Portland), the
Berlina just seems to hold straight.

The higher center of gravity is... different.  At
speeds up to 40-50 mph, the Berlina has a really
delightful feel, in part BECAUSE it feels as if it's
rolling over onto its doorhandles -- but the tires
just stick and the car just goes faster around ther
corner the harder you push it.  It's a simply
brilliant car, for example, on the outside of a
two-lane cloverleaf onramp where the traffic on the
inside lane isn't expecting this slightly dowdy
looking car to rip past them and fly around onto the
freeway.  

At speeds above that, my Berlina's rear suspension is
too worn to be enjoyable.  Ask me at the end of
summer, when I've replaced the bushings and shocks.

> I must admit, I like the brick-like homliness of the
> car.  It out-bricks a Volvo.

The few times I've ever driven a 140-series Volvo, I
was pleasantly surprised -- given Volvo's reputation
for stolidity, I always expected something with the
vaguely turgid floatiness of a domestic barge of the
period.  Instead, I found a distinctly European feel
to the Swedes, a supple but well-articulated ride that
was surprisingly precise.  If you like the brick-like
integrity that makes up the driving experience of
older Volvos, the Berlina is similar -- except it's an
Alfa, with all the musical and urgent performance that
goes along with the marque.  

More than anything else, the Berlina is a Secret
Performance Car.  It doesn't advertise itself with
fins and fender flares, with taped-on stripes or
"sport" badges.  It's just a simple, unassuming
four-door of indeterminate age (could be the
slab-sided Sixties, could be the razor-cut Eighties;
nothing in particular gives away its era, except for
that Italian-police-car roofline.)  But give it the
boot as you pass the apex of the corner and the
chassis takes a set, the four throttle bodies open up,
and the Alfa music starts in earnest.  

And I find myself wondering just what the hell this
thing would be like with intelligent updates and
enhancements (modern bushings, sporting shocks,
perhaps a nicely matched set of cams, port
configurations and Spica pump).  Or, for that matter,
what it would have been like to drive one home off the
dealer's lot...

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
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