Alfa was always my first love, its what let me to Maserati, Alfa's loss, Maserati's gain.
I was a Renault man I am sorry to admit, but always bought old sheds as a nipper. Then, once my business was established, I bought a new Megane Coupé, the ones with the pair of round lights on the back, it was terrible and more aggro than the old sheds. So, enough was enough, and I chopped it in, and you guessed it, bought another one, a Megane Convertible this time. Once again, fell to pieces, god awful horrid little French Sh!te box!
Its here that enough really was enough and turned to another marque.....Alfa Romeo. I bought a brand new 1999 GTV Phase 2 2L TS Lusso from Simon Jordon (Specialist Cars Direct) down in Bristol, who was importing them in, and I was blown away. It proved to be a pleasant experience, with only maybe 2 niggles, one was the windscreen wiper juddering....hum, sounds familiar!
I weathered the storm of my mate, you know, Italian rot box, Italian electrics, Italian depreciation!!!! ARRRGGHHH!
As I was Alfa hooked, my next car was a Beetle Turbo, hey, what, well, I had just met my wife and most decisions where being made with my trouser brain...hum. To be fair I was commuting from Chichester to Woking every day and bought a Bellingo van (don't laugh, it was very, very good as a van).
Next up was a 3 year old Alfa 156 1.8TS Sportwagon (which I still drive today) which I bought for the wife and the emerging family which replaced the Beetle (very good car, just felt a bit gay in it) freeing up the money for me to buy a new Alfa GTV 3.2V6 24v......oh.....my......god!
That was such a car, so powerful, so soulful.
After 3 years of ownership (mid 2005) it was time for a replacement, so looking to Alfa, nothing was grabbing me. The GT has always caught my eye, and anything from that point on that Alfa has produced, just did not float my boat.....a common complaint from Alfa's loyal customer base.
This is were I started to notice the 3200, and the rest as they say, is history.
I look forward to returning to Alfa one day, when they get their act together, and am sure, with the newly forged alliance with Maserati, it wont be long.