Re: Alfa Museo and Driving in Italia

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Overall, I have to agree with you about driving in Italia. Offhand, I'd 
say that from my experiences, the average woman driver in Italy is far 
more competent behind the wheel than are 95% of American male drivers. 
Our Sears-Roebuck method of licensing drivers coupled with TOO MANY 
laws and a general paranoia with regard to traffic cops, makes 
Americans really timid behind the wheel in my humble opinion. There is 
simply no way for the average driver here to acquire any real skill, 
unless he/she is an enthusiast and willing to spend big bucks at Derek 
Daily or Bob Bondurant or some such venue .


George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0S


On Thursday, July 3, 2003, at 07:38 AM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2003 22:57:42 -0700
> From: Mark Tamas <mst@domain.elided>
> Subject: Alfa Museo and Driving in Italia
>
> I, too, was fortunate enough to spend two weeks in Italia in May.  One
> thing is for sure: I can't wait to go back.  The Museo Alfa Romeo is 
> not
> that easy to find.  There aren't any signs telling you where to go.  I
> would recommend having the directions from the Alfa website, which I
> forgot to bring.  I ended up going to the main gate and asking the
> guard.  The Museo was nothing short of spectacular- much bigger than I
> expected and the brochure/catalog is more than worth the price of
> admission (free, although I would have gladly paid the 10Euro that it
> cost to get into the Galleria Ferrari, which was a slight 
> disappointment).
>     I also rented a 156 with 1.9JTD.  I had requested a gas engine, but
> the diesel turned out to be more than adequate for the task and the
> range was much appreciated; not to mention the lower cost at fill-up!
>  Nice handling car, of course, it made my Eclipse feel like an
> understeering slug when I got home!
>     One last thing to mention about driving in Italy (which I wish I 
> had
> more time to write about! Maybe later!).  If you must drive in the
> cities, make sure you have a navigator!  I found it next to impossible
> to drive and navigate at the same time and spent more time than I care
> to mention being lost with no place to stop and look at the map!
>  Drivers in Italy are very aggressive- I should say people in Italy
> drive con brio- but are very skillful and are paying attention!   You
> must pay attention as well!  I really enjoyed it as long as I didn't
> have to navigate.  It's kind of like bumper cars without the contact.  
> I
> must say I was very impressed with the overall skill of  the drivers in
> Italy.
>
> Mark Tamas
> Eugene, OR
> 79 116 GT (soon to be two)
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