Originally Posted by ABYSS
Charlie, you might not change your car if you had the Q2...
My friend, lack of performance or satisfaction had nothing to do with it, and I had actually already sourced a place to do the Q2 conversion if I kept her. I changed my car for the following reasons:
1) Jan 08 was three years and at that point the warranty would run out. Also, the three year inspection in Japan is expensive, and would have cost 200,000 yen.
2) Because of the way I drove my GTA (Hard and fast!), it was time to replace both the clutch and timing belt assembly (another 400,000 yen)
3) My tax accountant said it would be advantageous to change cars at the end of 07 allowing me to claim the full cost of the GTA for my 07 return and the new car for 08 and 09.
The question then became, do I want to put 600,000 yen (close to 4000 Euros) into a car with 50,000km on it and no warranty or get something else.
Initially I was looking for another low mileage 147 GTA Selespeed (hopefully in white), so that I could keep all my upgrades (and the big smile on my face
), but there were hardly any Selepseeds available.
I really fell in love with the clutchless manual - since the new GTAs are still years away, I then turned to alternatives (new GTR or new Evo were at the top of the list). But then the wife got involved and said I should get an "elegant" car... Since she loves BMWs I thought the Alpina with Switchtronic was a good compromise. I can drive it for 1-2 years max, give it to her, then return to the Alfa fold when the new GTAs finally come out (or to Maserati if the GTAs are not to my liking).
Am preparing another thread on my impressions on the Alpina - but the short story is that it is utterly fantastic for what it was designed to do (i.e. to be an elegant and slightly softer version of the M3 with much more low down torque and a much higher top speed), but to tell the truth, it just isn't my cup of tea....
GTA - the only way to fly!