[alfa] Re:147 GTA in Automobile mag.

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Having driven a 147 GTA for about 3000 miles in Italy recently, I can 
attest to the fact the 147 GTA IS "the most desirable hatch that ever 
was." If they were available in the USA RIGHT NOW, I would own one - no 
question about it. The car isn't perfect, mind you. The boot area 
behind the rear seat, for instance, is pretty skimpy - only really big 
enough for one 30" soft-sided airplane bag -  two, if you stack them. 
Together they will fill the entire "trunk" and make it impossible to 
close the parcel shelf and damned difficult to close the hatch but it 
can be done. The car is a veritable rocket sled. The most fun I had was 
leaving a gas station on the Italian Autostrade with my foot to the 
floor in each and every gear. The 0-60 time of 6.2 seconds doesn't tell 
the entire story. After 60, there is no let-up in acceleration until 
you are in 6th and way north of 130! I only got it to an indicated 150 
(~240 K/h), and then only once. There was still more after that, but I 
ran into traffic. The car handles beautifully for a FWD automobile, a 
little understeer as one might expect given that big, heavy motor up 
front, but it's not bad. Turn-in is crisp and the less than 2-turns 
lock-to-lock steering makes the car very responsive, but since it's 
progressive, it's not twitchy like one would expect such fast steering 
to be. The one I drove had a manual gearbox- not a paddle shift 
"Selespeed" and the box felt solid, with good positive shifts. The huge 
245 X 17 wheels that were fitted to the car I had made the car stick 
like glue, but it also made the car tramline badly on concrete -quite 
disconcerting at high speed to have the lines in the concrete feel like 
they're trying to jerk the steering wheel out of your hand. The factory 
setting for the shocks on the car I had was really stiff. The car 
cornered flat, but rough roads coupled with a short wheelbase made for 
a somewhat choppy ride. The Bose Stereo, as fitted, sounded very good, 
but in my opinion, the Fiat "Connect" 
navigation/communication/entertainment center is next to worthless.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0'S'


On Friday, October 10, 2003, at 02:04 AM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 22:26:04 -0700
> From: Jorge Mazlumian <jmazlumian@domain.elided>
> Subject: [alfa] 147 GTA in Automobile mag.
>
> The November issue of Automobile magazine has an article called "The 
> Three
> Must-have-heres", about the 147 GTA, the Ford Focus RS and the Honda 
> Cicic
> Type-R.  Even though the GTA was praised in several areas, the Ford was
> prtrayed as the overall winner.  The comparison was among 3 cars that 
> the
> only thing in common they have is the fact they hatchbacks.  The Alfa 
> is a
> heavy (but sweet and powerful) V6, the Focus is a 2 liter turbo, and 
> the
> Honda, a high performance n/a 2 liter.  Prices are 30K, 26K and 21K 
> base,
> respectively.
> But they say: "And the Alfa may be the most desirable hatch that ever 
> was".
> Enjoy
> Jorge Mazlumian
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