I was at a charity auction a couple of weeks ago and there was a red Graduate almost identical to the one in your test for sale. It only had about 60k original miles and looked great. It sold for a market-correct $5,100. A lot of fun for the money. I was very tempted until I remembered the 1991 silver Miata sitting in my driveway at home.

The late 1980s and early ’90s surely had a lot of interesting Japanese cars hitting the market. Objectively, any CRX, MR2 or Miata were all superior to the dated roadsters from Alfa, Fiat, and MG that were either being sold or on their last legs just a few years earlier. The Miata was the first modern roadster introduced since, I don’t know, the Triumph TR7?

You do need some perpective in your article. In 1986 the Ford Mustang’s base 4-cylinder had something like 85 hp and build quality was abysmal… my girlfriend (who’s father was a Ford exec) got one new and the paint started peeling off before the car was 2 weeks old). Other alternatives included the Chrysler K-car convertible or from GM, a Cavalier or Sunbird convertible… white vinyl was available if you were feeling sporty. Against this, the Alfa with a twin-cam engine, slick 5-speed manual, one of the best operating tops ever designed (save for the Miata’s) and, of course, a bit of style was still dated, but not totally out of the running. Basically, nearly every car on the market sucked big time compared to even the cheapest appliance available these days.

On the other hand, I drove one from Idaho Falls,ID to Sacramento, CA after working a graveyard shift. 735 miles to be exact. I’ve driven that route in various cars and trucks over the years. The ride in the Alfa was the best. Got to Sacramento and I felt like I could turn it around and do it again. The car fit like a glove. No sore spots, no pressure points, no stiffness. All without inflatable back support, lumbar adjustement or other fancy new stuff.

That being said, the Alfa is best as a second or third car. They have their own internal maintenance schedule. Which they do not share until it is time for you to fix them.

She’s owned it since new, and it served as her daily driver for 8 years.

Reliability: The 1990 was a “transition year”, with the old body style and newer Bosch Motronic engine controls. The car never failed to start, even when the temp was in the single digits.

Overall, it has been very reliable, never leaving us stranded. The key to these cars is regular (maniacal) maintenance. You have to stay on top of anything that goes wrong, or you’re in for a cascade of problems and repair costs. It helps if you’re willing to do basic preventative stuff yourself. The Alfa twin-cam holds 7 QUARTS of oil, so you have no excuse to let it get starved for dino juice. These cars were designed back when reliability was not a big concern, especially for Italians. Electrical gremlins can pop up and be Hell to track down, but the basic design is pretty simple and easy to fix.

The biggest problem for these are the 3rd owners, who buy them used and who can’t afford or don’t understand the upkeep requirements. They let the car go, and then dump it on some poor schlub who has to fix years of neglect. You have to find and keep a good mechanic who understands them!

Handling: Back in 1966, this was a great handling car, but let’s face it, chassis technoolgy has come a long, long way. These cars are best suited to top-down cruising at 7/10ths. Any decent Miata will run rings around one, but a Miata won’t ever have the soul of an Italian. Don’t get cocky, kid, and you’ll be just fine. An aftermarket chassis stiffener will do wonders, though.

Ergonomics: The Italians, they spit on your ergonomics. One fine point: The shifter, directly hooked to the tranny and sprouting out of the console, is mechanical bliss. Watch out for those 2nd gear synchro’s, though.

Engine: The classic Alfa twin-cam is a wonderful engine, and a thing of beauty under the hood. Emissions controls have dulled it’s rev-happy nature. Try a 60’s vintage Alfa, 1300 through 1750, and enjoy running that bad boy to 7,000 rpm all day long. The 2 liter still has all those wonderful mechanical sounds, and it returns great fuel economy to boot.

We love the Spider, and it will remain the garage as long as we can keep the insurance paid. There’s nothing like an Italian roadster on a mountain road in the springtime.

Tail of The Dragon, anyone?

Maybe one day I’ll set keyboard to blog and defend the honor of my ‘95 164 Quadrifoglio.

More broadly, Alfa Romeo is known historically for its 4 seater coupes. Post-WW2 these have been the top of the model range. Only in the United States is Alfa synonymous with the spider.

Put it this way, Alfa Romeo is more BMW and less Porsche; i.e. 4 seaters over 2 seaters.

The Spider was a joy to drive. It would -always- do whatever you asked of it. I think that the author underestimates the car’s abilities (although I never drove the later 80’s versions so things might have changed by then).

I remember reading a review of a late 60’s spider that really summed up the Alfa experience well.
The author and a friend were testing the spider and found it nice enough, but not too exciting on the mountain roads they were using for the test. They stopped for a late lunch at a mountaintop cafe and lazed away the afternoon.

They came out to the car about an hour before sunset, with a two hour drive home, and soon discovered that the headlights weren’t working. Typical.

The answer: get home before sunset. The harder the author pushed the car, the more it responded. They made it back home just as the sun was fading below the horizon, with a new love for Alfas.

His conclusion:

Always drive your Alfa like it’s an hour before sunset, and you’re two hours away from home.

If Alfa comes back to the U.S. and there’s any way I can afford one, I’ll own another one, and you practical types can go to Hel Toyota.

Having said all that: In 1986, I bought my first Acura Integra. It had all the virtues of my Alfa (an aluminum DOHC engine, a 5 speed, 4 wheel disc brakes, and fuel injection); it was fun to drive, and it never, ever, needed to see the mechanic.

Count me among those that worship at TOV, so this line caught my eye.

Granted, variable timing has been around for a while – there was an aftermarket automatic timing adjust cam pulley available watercooled VWs back in the 80s – I know, I had a 79 Scirocco.

Remember, though, that VTEC is timing and lift. I don’t recall anyone doing both until (for the US market) the 92 Integra GS-R.

Nit-picking aside, nice review. Count me as another who is liking the “old car” reviews.

Great article – let’s have more in this vein.

Of course it started falling apart almost as soon as i drove it out of the dealer. It overheated all the time. The drivers seat broke, the driver window handle broke. what a mess.

but my god what a ride, i still remember the wail of the engine, it gave me goosebumps. U didnt as much get into it, u put it on. LOved to be flailed, always came back for more. amazing vehicle, i miss it so bad. Nothing like it on the road today except the Lotus, but i can barely fit into that.

sigh. few sexy cars anymore.

With the 156 (1998) they made a first big step forwards in terms of reliability and it seems the new generation (159, 149) will be better still. The 156/147 were about on par with much of the German competition (VW/Opel), which obviously is worse than the Japanese but quite acceptable to me. In Europe the reliabilty of the Japanese is largely offset by the much higher service costs. New FIATs also do quite well in reliability tests nowadays, so it’s looking good.

The awful part about European cars–especially VW, MB and BMW–is that attitude of treating North American customers and dealers like proverbial lepers persists to this day. It would be problematic for Honda or Toyota to do it (they don’t–the Asians are very good about warranty work); yet VW and MB do it regularly and I’ll wager there’s executives who can’t understand why their collective reputations are in the tank.

In Europe, there is a very different mentality about customer is king than in the US. That has both it’s benefits but also drawbacks…

I love the possibility of a company coming here and making the D3 look like they’ve got their act together.

you left out rust as a defect. I remember brand new ones coming in for stereo upgrade, pull up carpet, look at cracks in paint on floor with rust bleeding out, shake head and move on.

Very pretty motor.

0-60, who cares. Go buy a vette if you don’t get it. or a 15 year old GSXR.

The best I can say about Alfa of the late 1980s to early 1990s is that thet are intersting and very quirky. They had very bad ergonomics, the seating postions sucked, the petals were badly offset, the foot wells were too small. Brand new from the dealer and they still looked of questionable quality.
These were cars the people purchased for the sake of being different and always ended up hating themselves for it.
The spyders were all dog slow, even for a tiny little roadster and by the mid 1980s the than new MR2 showed us just how old fashion and obsolete the Spyder was by than. BUT, and I MEAN BUT you felt like a HERO driving that thing. We were young back than and “grown” mature women used to love that car and whoever was driving it! One of the spyders was a silver 1987 Quadafiglio with the grey leather with red stitching, nice but the car was ruined by an ugly body kit. I could never get used to the location of the gearshift coming out of the dash!
The GTV-6 was a true poor-mans exotic back then. Ah the joy of RWD motoring, 150hp never felt so good. But in the end the GTV was a heartbreaker for my brother. Fix one thing, think the car is now right and than bang something else is broken. The GTV was that beautiful chick you dated and loved but in the end never really made you satisfied.
Now that Milano, it was different with that strange kink in the back that made it look like it had been rear-ended. What a narrow car on inside, it felt like Afla took a GTV and simply added two doors and was not very comfortable in the front or back seats. The 2.5 engine was ok but the 3.0 in the quadofiglio (spelling?) was a blast.
The 164, what can I say? WhoTF wanted to deal with Alfa quirks in a FWD car! By 1990 with the SAAB 9000 pushing out 200 turboed HP the 164 made zero sense. Once again, it was a nice looking car inside and out.

I’m planning on buying an Alfa when they come back to the U.S. as long as they drive more like my old GTV-6 than my Spider.

It did have quirky ergonomics but I grew to love them, especially that shifter attached right to the tranny with no linkage. I drove a Miata and absulutely hated it, very sterile, and the suspension beat me up good.

I can’t wait until Alfa finally comes back, I have been waiting 19 years, and if I can afford it I will be first in line for one of their RWD offerings with 4 doors this time since I need to cram the family in it. I am still considering replacing the Cadillac with an old Milano or GTV6, might as well have fun working on the car instead of cursing at it constantly. BTW the cars are surprisingly easy to work on if you get a detailed service book, you will really start to understand and admire the engineering.

Also to note the Spider ran on a 25 year old platform, it changed very little from the original Duetto, body panel changes and a little more rigidity. I would consider that pretty impresive when comparing it to other cars offered in the 80’s. The engine was also very advanced for its day, why else would Nissan basically steal the design for their SR20DE, look familair.

GT cars should be fast and handle well.
Muscle cars are fast but handle like pigs.
Sports cars handle like a dream but are not really all that fast.

If Alfa comes back to the USA, with a Spider equipped with the JTDM engine, I’ll be the first guy to buy one. I’ll likely regret it, but that won’t stop me from writing the check!

–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org