On Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:28:54 +0100, Catman
<catman (AT) rustcuore-sportivo (DOT) co.uk> wrote:

Clearly a woman of taste and sophistication unlike my wife and
daughter who are all for one because, get this, it has 4
cupholders!!!!!!!!!! 8-| Next they'll be wanting a cooker and beds
and somewhere to hang their clothes..

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)

Zathras <webnewsgroup (AT) nospamthanks (DOT) hotmail.com> wrote:

I'm assuming a current shape 3-series?

That's a pretty good engine - the advantage of a 6 pot vs a 4 or 5 pot
comes into play with those.

However, you pay an awful lot for it.

(When I was pricing up the 320d, I could have had one in SE trim with
auto box - the whole idea was canned when I found out I'd be paying tax
on a £28k repmobile - a similarly specced Audi was £4k cheaper and a
Passat another £2-3k cheaper than that...)
--
SteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
Alfa 156 TSpark Sportwagon Veloce Selespeed - Alfa 75 TSpark Lusso -
Ducati 750SS - BMW R100RT - Toyota Prius T-Spirit

Zathras wrote:
Indeed. She married me. Is currently bitching because she has finally
decided that she doesn't want a 1.6 147 cos it'll be too slow....

That's just unreasonable!


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 21:36:01 +0100, steve (AT) italiancar (DOT) co.uk (SteveH)
wrote:

Yes albeit pre the 2009 model year facelift.

I wouldn't put the 5 pot along with the 4 pot in your comparison. I
think the 5 pot is great. If only Fiat/Alfa were able to make it less
rattly. It's so full of character and fun where the BMW is just a
distant (albeit extremely potent) hum.

That's certainly the case new but I've found that the bigger they are
the harder they fall. For example, I've been looking at secondhand
values off dealerships all over the country and it's not impossible to
find a 159 2.4JTDm TI and a 325d M Sport at a similar age (about a
year) and mileage (less than 10K) at remarkably similar prices!! A
high (IMHO) 20-21K for the Alfa and 22-23K (not the low depreciation
pundits would have you expect) for a comparably specified M-Sport with
leather.

In your example, IMHO the Passat looks like the deal (I've heard Audis
aren't nearly as reliable as they once were). In my case, with the
example above, the choice seems simpler. Drive them and pick the one I
prefer.

Unfortunately, Alfa dealerships are seriously thin on the ground in
the west of Scotland (there are none - only one Arnold Clark service
centre in northern Glasgow) and this will weigh heavily against
getting another Alfa for logistical reasons and a personal wish to
avoid Arnold Clark if humanly possible.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)

On Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:51:50 +0100, Catman
<catman (AT) rustcuore-sportivo (DOT) co.uk> wrote:

!

What about the diesel? I know it doesn't sound sexy but it will drive
with some guts. Having said that, although the 1.6 isn't actually
quick, it is quite an eager little unit. It's one of those rare
engines that actually tries to please. I found the 2.0 petrol felt
little quicker..it just felt a bit lazy - maybe that was because it
needed slightly less thrashing to get going.

It's unbelievable. You try and explain how good/bad this and that is
with a car and all they could ask was (bairn) "has it got two
cupholders in the rear armrest?" and (wife) "has it got two cupholders
for me in the front?" to which I hastily replied "I don't think
so..but you don't need cupholders in an Italian work of art...". This
gibberish is from the woman who, 9 years ago, *told* me to get an
Azzurro Fantasia 156 Veloce with Irish Grey leather!!! Maybe dementia
is interfering with play here?

I'm sorry to say here but I'm under pressure to get a BMW 325d M Sport
instead of a 159 2.4JTDm TI and the BMW is winning. Short of divorce
(too expensive), I need help to persuade them to stay in the Alfa
fold. Any ideas? Help!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)

Zathras wrote:


She'll do some tests, I hope. See what's what.

You don't need cup holder. IMHO of course.

Yes, just go and buy one.
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

In article <sbj9a597gfiakbl5s1sg5msbggh44b3gn2 (AT) 4ax (DOT) com>,
webnewsgroup (AT) nospamthanks (DOT) hotmail.com says...
I'm baffled. Why does she need *two* cupholders?

My wife's MX5 has cupholders in the door *and* in the centre console. Why?!?
The ones in the centre are especially annoying because they reduce the amount
of space available for small items.

--
Halmyre

The more you know the less the better.

Halmyre wrote:
<snip>
Why does she need *any*? It's a car, not a cafe.
You could (radical suggestion I know) put some small items in them?


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

"Catman" <catman (AT) rustcuore-sportivo (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Because she wants to grab a coffee and take it with her, perhaps?

I drink loads of coffee in the car - I don't have time to stop and sit
around drinking coffee, but I like drinking coffee, so having cupholders is
quite important to me.

When I bought the 156, I bought a couple of cupholders which clip over the
doors, between the door and window.

The 'cupholder' in the door is to hold bottles of water. The cupholders
elsewhere are for coffee.

My Prius has similar - 1 bottle holder in each front door, 2 cupholders in
the centre console and 2 for rear seat passengers.

Not as fancy as the pop-out cupholder / table type mechanism in the rear arm
rest of the Passat, though...

--
Steve H
Still in Plymouth.

On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:17:00 +0100, Catman
<catman (AT) rustcuore-sportivo (DOT) co.uk> wrote:

Hmmm. Kinda do. At the moment the wife has to play football with my
drink bottle when we travel any distance. I think it pisses her off.

Divorce is not an option.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)