E Types and Berlinas

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

The Berlina was essentially equivalent to the GTV and Spider in terms of 
handling, etc. In those days the four door gave up  a little in weight 
(unlike today when the four door version is usually the best choice) and 
would have softer springs but, give me a break, if the GTV could beat the 
2002 then so could the Berlina. Given that the Alfa had a power advantage 
and a much better rear suspension I'd be amazed if that shitbox of a BMW 
could outperform the Alfa Romeo Berlina 2000. I seem to recall that R & T 
of the day was able to prove that the Berlina was superior. That BMW 2002 
was the most overblown sports sedan ever. It was flat just not a brilliant 
car. It was a very nice car but never a great car. The Tii, Alpina, or 
Turbo would be worth a look now but the others are legends only in the 
minds of their owners. Actual performance was dismal. Heck, even a SAAB 99 
EMS could easily blow off a stock 2002 (and you could carry the lawnmower 
in the SAAB if you needed to), and that would be on dry pavement. In the 
wet or in snow....whatever. BMW runs the biggest automobile con game in the 
world and the three series (and the 1600/2002 before it) is the leader in 
that game. The numbers just don't describe the actual car.

Noone in their right mind would claim the BMW semi trailing arm rear 
suspension was superior to Alfa's well located live axle. As for the front 
end, double wishbone beats McPherson strut for geometry. The strut 
suspension is superior because it is cheap to build and cheap to maintain. 
It is inferior in every other respect. Fact is, no self respecting 
performance car has struts unless money is in issue. I note with approval 
that the new Mazda 6 has double wishbone front suspension (and the 
geometric equivalent in the rear, given it is fwd).

As for E Types, well there are E Types and E Types.  The suspension was 
superb and the 4.2 inline 6 is hard to improve upon, except for its 
unconscionably long stroke in that displacement. The series III with the 
V12 was OK but nothing to write home about, only available in overweight 
roadster and the very ugly 2+2 "coupe" bodyshell (yeccch). The 3.4 was the 
cooking motor of that series, much shorter stroke. I maintain that, barring 
an attempt to pass off the overweight V12 model as a real E Type (ya gotta 
put real springs and shocks under the V12 versions to make it a real car), 
if you put proper tires and wheels under any E Type it'll run with whatever 
you brung...

Cheers


Michael Smith
White 1991 164L
Original owner
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