I got tired of family's second car '98 Mondeo and few days later it was history. When browsing '01 -'03 cars from the net, having less than 100 tkm and 10 k€ - suddenly it hit me...
Why not Alfa?
In Nordic conditions, Alfa's reputation has gone quite bad. In addition to cam belt issues, there's lots of talk about rust and many problems occuring in temperatures going below -15 C. Also a big chorus of Volvo-/Toyota-/VW-/Opel-owners (formerly so-called-friends
) was crying at loud: "Man, just don't do that! / You must be totally nuts! / I won't know you anymore!"
Too late - after a proper test drive in landscapes of WRC Neste Rally (I live very near to few special stages) - I was sold. I stayed on tarmac roads, but enough corners and other variation was found there, anyway, to realize: "This is it!".
So - 147 / 1.6 the mild 105 hp / '02 was suddenly mine and only 70 tkm behind, lots of kilometres ahead. Well, it's not a rocket, but with new cam belt I just love to having 4 - 5 k rounds from the engine and simply let it go without paying any attention to petrol price (1.65 euros/litre). We have '06 Renault Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi for economic and "easy going" family trips... It's nice when picking up 4 -5 hockey juniors with gear - but bo-o-oring...
My wife said at first: "Well, it has a nice red colour, looks mean etc. - but it's just another car..." - she's used to quite frequent turnover at our front-yard.
Then I made a HUGE mistake (
) - I put her onto driver's seat and said: "Just try it, honey! It's not so bad..."
After that, there's been big battles in the mornings - "Who's the one to drive Alfa today?"
and all the blame should on my Alfa! 
