Some treats for you all....
Ok, so my quick report on it:-
The car is very solid, well built (well it should be for £28k base price!
), the roof is really very very good and adds so much rigidity. I hate to say it but far better than the Spider is drove a while back. Very little road noise and no creaks, rattles or even a hint that its a convertible. The mechanism is fast and the window/door/roof seals are perfect.
Engine is underpowered, even if it actually sounded good (ok, so it had got only 1700 miles on the odo and IT IS a hair dressers car
) but I doubt if the 0-60mph time of 8 secs could be achieved very easily and nor do I doubt the 145 mph top speed is that quick to arrive, if ever.
The worst thing was the gearbox. It is frankly AWFUL!
It lurches through the gears, hunts around, holds onto them for far too long and takes an age to kickdown and then actually change the cogs. A far cry from the tiptronic/auto G-7-speed gearbox on the CLS (which I'm VERY impressed with btw)
The traction control can't be turned off - so bye bye those wanting some oversteery fun (like I did today in the sun!
)
Space is at a premium, but no less than the Spider, and with roof down (not that I dared folks
), there's virtually no room in the boot.
Some glaring things missing/odd on this car:- No parking sensors front or back, no external temp gauge (wierd!), wing mirrors dont fold in and seats adjustable manually but only with the door open (you can't reach the levers with the door closed due to lack of space)
Handling is actually very good. The ride is hard but compliant and the turn-in sharp and composed. Body roll is non-existent really and only under extreme provocation does it understeer. Very solid and communicative both on fast B roads and motorway thrashing.
The most surprising part? The fuel economy. It's a young engine, I fair hammered it most of the day to and from Newcastle in mixed driving for over 300 miles in total and it returned an AVERAGE of 32mpg!
Pretty impressive in my book.
A car for me? No.
Better than a Spider? On this quick showing, mechanically and dynamically, yes I'm afraid. The Spider I had flexed and bounced across the road and the 2.2JTS engine was no better than the Merc one and needed revving like hell to get anywhere.
Better looking/styled/road presence? Not a chance.
Hopefully getting the CLS back on Monday and I'm back in my 159 tomorrow! YAY!!!
Don't Panic Everyone - It's Not Just My Alfas That Go Bang!
The turbo blew (shredded itself apparently), an oil pipe burst, sprayed hot oil onto the engine and the air intake swallowed gallons of it - all in about 10 seconds 
and this week I'm mostly feeling like a camp hairdresser in a brand spanking new, loaned, automatic..........................
