Alfasud.

Rookie145

Anybody remember the Alfasud?

I owned a 1975 model, great engine dreadful body, rusted like hell, lovely car o drive.

cashmni1

Yes I do, beautiful car, really beautiful. My dad had one for a while and yes, rust like no other.
I remember him saying that he felt safe in the Alfasud, even at speed, which I thought was ironic.
Great sound too.:cool:

vectra

Rookie145 wrote: »

Anybody remember the Alfasud?

I owned a 1975 model, great engine dreadful body, rusted like hell, lovely car o drive.

Great handling..
End of..!!
Everything else was crap in it.
Engine
Gearbox
Brakes
Body

Pity Alfa didnt discontinue them before I bought one. :mad:

Put me off Alfa's for life :pac:

testicle

Here is its replacement

Max_Damage

Bad engine, bad Soviet steel body, the whole car was a heap of shít.

Then came the Alfa 'Nissan Cherry' Arna...

10-10-20

Hey Rookie145, I take it you actually drive a 145...?
Me too. A 1.8TS. Goes like hot shyte off a shovel.

And while I don't 'remember' the Sud, I have a photo of one in me jax...
I want a GTV6. Oh yes.

WHITE_P

If you think the Italian built ones rusted badly, I had one that came from South Africa. It was like tea bag there was that many holes in it. Had hours of fun one summer trying to make it look respectable again. But they shurely were fun to drive.

Rookie145

Max_Damage wrote: »

Bad engine, bad Soviet steel body, the whole car was a heap of shít.

Then came the Alfa 'Nissan Cherry' Arna...

Yeah, were any of those cars sold in this country?

Rookie145

cashmni1 wrote: »

Yes I do, beautiful car, really beautiful. My dad had one for a while and yes, rust like no other.
I remember him saying that he felt safe in the Alfasud, even at speed, which I thought was ironic.
Great sound too.:cool:

Yes, it had a certain "crackle" at a particular engine speed.

.Longshanks.

testicle wrote: »

Here is its replacement

If the final production version looks like that.....christ thats a good looking wee car

milltown

Mad! I saw what appeared to be a mint Sprint GTV in traffic today. Delighted to see some people are still keeping these rustbuckets going. I'll always have fond memories.

alfarocks

milltown wrote: »

Mad! I saw what appeared to be a mint Sprint GTV in traffic today. Delighted to see some people are still keeping these rustbuckets going. I'll always have fond memories.

If it looked like this then it was me.. GTV6 btw

miju

nice looking GTV6 alfarocks have been keeping an eye out on a few sites for one to buy.

no luck yet though

Max_Damage

Longshanks100 wrote: »

If the final production version looks like that.....christ thats a good looking wee car

I think it looks like an insect or something. Beauty in the eye of the holder I reckon.

carchaeologist

testicle wrote: »

Here is its replacement

I bet they will have got the rust proofing right with this one!!!:D:D

miju

is that not the mee-tow (pronounced me-two)

Max_Damage

miju wrote: »

is that not the mee-tow (pronounced me-two)

The what now?

Bluefoam

miju wrote: »

is that not the mee-tow (pronounced me-two)

Mi To (pronounced me-tow)

miju

what blue foam said LOL

SecureSounds

Funny how people see them as nothing more than a rust bucket when in it's day every, and I mean EVERY car magazine could not stop raving about its road holding, handling and driver satisfaction.

As the owner of a series 1 1975 TI I can say that my modern BMW, Renault and old mercedes and even my mothers EX Mazda MX5 come now where near to the Alfasud for driver enjoyment and REAL feel.

Its like good food, if you aint tried it, even a 1/4 pounder with cheese tastes brill!!!

Oilrig

Amazing car.

I had two, a 78 1350 and an 83 1500ti

Wonderful to drive, but reliability was a nightmare.

Citroen ZX Volcane was the nearest to come close recently.

pburns

SecureSounds wrote: »

Funny how people see them as nothing more than a rust bucket when in it's day every, and I mean EVERY car magazine could not stop raving about its road holding, handling and driver satisfaction.

As the owner of a series 1 1975 TI I can say that my modern BMW, Renault and old mercedes and even my mothers EX Mazda MX5 come now where near to the Alfasud for driver enjoyment and REAL feel.

Its like good food, if you aint tried it, even a 1/4 pounder with cheese tastes brill!!!

Try telling that to the 'any-colour-you-like-as long-as-it's-German' brigade that makes up the bulk of this forum.

Rookie145

SecureSounds wrote: »

Funny how people see them as nothing more than a rust bucket when in it's day every, and I mean EVERY car magazine could not stop raving about its road holding, handling and driver satisfaction.

As the owner of a series 1 1975 TI I can say that my modern BMW, Renault and old mercedes and even my mothers EX Mazda MX5 come now where near to the Alfasud for driver enjoyment and REAL feel.

Its like good food, if you aint tried it, even a 1/4 pounder with cheese tastes brill!!!

I used to buy my weekly copy of the Autocar back then, and whenever there would be a feature on the Alfasud, it's handling and pure driving
pleasure were raved about.

It won "Car of the decade" award among motoring journalists of the day.

cjt156

alfarocks wrote: »

If it looked like this then it was me.. GTV6 btw

WOW!

On holiday in france last year the camp-site handyman's runabout was a Sprint, hadn't seen one in years. Covered in tree-sap and pin-needles; possibly integral to the bodywork in fairness...

WHITE_P

SecureSounds wrote: »

Funny how people see them as nothing more than a rust bucket when in it's day every, and I mean EVERY car magazine could not stop raving about its road holding, handling and driver satisfaction.

As the owner of a series 1 1975 TI I can say that my modern BMW, Renault and old mercedes and even my mothers EX Mazda MX5 come now where near to the Alfasud for driver enjoyment and REAL feel.

Its like good food, if you aint tried it, even a 1/4 pounder with cheese tastes brill!!!

Lucky man, nice car. Got any pic's.

RobAMerc

What a super motor car

I remember the neighbors son came to visit in his brand new Ti - I was so jealous - I offered to wash it for him but he wouldn't let me near it.

I tried to buy a Cloverleaf many years later but I couldn't insure the bloody thing.

the handling and the sound of that flat 4 were awesome - and remember this was a family hatch.

SecureSounds wrote: »

Funny how people see them as nothing more than a rust bucket when in it's day every, and I mean EVERY car magazine could not stop raving about its road holding, handling and driver satisfaction.

Welcome to boards - cars are judged by their reliability and nothing else. :rolleyes: Comes from a lack of knowledge and a one week long interest.

siralfalot

my neighbour had a Sud when I was a kid, awesome car, it left a big impression on me

I'm raging I missed out oin this sprint http://pistonheads.com/sales/433509.htm :mad:

beautiful.....

WHITE_P

siralfalot wrote: »

my neighbour had a Sud when I was a kid, awesome car, it left a big impression on me

I'm raging I missed out oin this sprint http://pistonheads.com/sales/433509.htm :mad:

beautiful.....

Except for the aftermarket body kit. Even if he claims its factory fitted.

blackbox

I can still remember the sound of the sud exhaust - so distinctive. Never got to drive one unfortunately, but by all reports they were unmatched for handling at the time.

Its a shame they were only built to last for an Italian summer. :cool:

peelaaa

Owned 4 suds in my time , a 1982 1.5ti, 1983 1.3ti, a 1979 1.3ti(bought for engine as body completely rusted through, when it was jacked up the jack went right through the sills) and a 1983 lhd sprint trofeo. The sprint was the best of the lot, wonderful steering, handling, fan heater rubbish(almost got chill blains on fingers during one winter!!!)
Sold the lhd a few years ago. WITH REGRET.
The sud had better feedback through the steering than the peugeot 205 imho, must have been those inboard disc brakes...
Had a drive of a fiat uno turbo during the early nineties and it was extremely fast but was rubbish when you hit a bend unlike the sud.
Nothing better for a quick dart around country lanes.

skyhighflyer

We had a 1995 146 Boxer a few years ago. It had a flat four in it that was apparently lifted out of the 33 which in turn came fromt he Alfasud. Some roar out of it and never gave a moments hassle over 80,000 miles. At least the engine didn't anyway, the gearbox to which it was connected was also a relic from the Alfasud days and started to wear out.

Still, have my eye on a GTV V6 as the mad option for my next car, looks like I'm asking for trouble!