Hi,
I've been reading this forum for a while, but never posted in the past. Do electronics and computing for work, but have been a car nut for years. Mini and Cooper / S decades ago, followed by various Alfa twin cam rust boxes for over a decade and the last Alfa, a GTV6, which did nearly 90 k miles in 5 years. Keep cars a long time here, gain experience in maintenance, work out all the niggles etc and better the devil you know.
Really like 4x4's and have also run Land Rovers, Isuzu 3.1 and currently, an Isuzu Trooper 3.0td for the family hack vehicle. In the early nineties, needed a strong car for a weekly work trip from Oxford to Ipswich. Something like a ten year old Saab 9000 or Audi, but eventually settled on an 1985 Audi 90 quattro saloon. Revelation. Here was a car with 140k on the clock that burnt no oil between changes, had no rust and with not a squeek or rattle anywhere. Good in the snow cross country, where late model BMW. Merc etc at 10 times the price couldn't make it up the hills. I guess I was hooked at that point, as Alfas of that age and mileage are a labour of love, typically rotten, falling to bits and needing a full rebuild.
I bought the S2 back in late 1999, a 4 year old, one owner example. Have run it on and off since then, sometimes for daily commute and at other times, laid up for months or more. It's not been thrashed, but used, driven and has had to live outside and be expected to work. It's arguably the best fast cross country car i've ever owned. Compact, pin sharp handling within it's limits and enough performance to be interesting without breaking the bank. Finally, old enough to have far less automation and electronics, so easier to maintian without a load of specialist tools. The red paint is suffering the usual fade and needs painting, but that may happen next year. It's been ultra reliable and has never failed get me home, with the only real show stopper being the com position sensor. It's expensive from Audi, but was rebuilt using the correct part number hall sensor. Have been thinking about what to replace it with for some time, but other than something mad like a TT or S6 4.2 V8, nothing really appeals, so have decided to keep it and do what needs to be done. Has been regularly serviced over the years, but no attempt to gold plate anything, just replaced what was needed. Fed up with replacing wishbone bushes and have a set of Powerflex coming to hopefully provide a permanent solution. Some surface corrosion underneath, but not serious and has had plenty of Waxoyl over the years. Odometer stopped working some time last year and the dials are flaking, so instrument cluster currently in bits. Found a broken gear in the odometer and panic, but available from several sellers on Ebay, so that's on it's way. Dials are a bit more of a problem. Several flashy "upgrades" available, but want to keep it original and no sign of them anywhere, so need to dig a bit more I guess.
So there it is, 22 years old, 16 years here. Not a showroom example by any means, but still worth keeping...
Chris
I've been reading this forum for a while, but never posted in the past. Do electronics and computing for work, but have been a car nut for years. Mini and Cooper / S decades ago, followed by various Alfa twin cam rust boxes for over a decade and the last Alfa, a GTV6, which did nearly 90 k miles in 5 years. Keep cars a long time here, gain experience in maintenance, work out all the niggles etc and better the devil you know.
Really like 4x4's and have also run Land Rovers, Isuzu 3.1 and currently, an Isuzu Trooper 3.0td for the family hack vehicle. In the early nineties, needed a strong car for a weekly work trip from Oxford to Ipswich. Something like a ten year old Saab 9000 or Audi, but eventually settled on an 1985 Audi 90 quattro saloon. Revelation. Here was a car with 140k on the clock that burnt no oil between changes, had no rust and with not a squeek or rattle anywhere. Good in the snow cross country, where late model BMW. Merc etc at 10 times the price couldn't make it up the hills. I guess I was hooked at that point, as Alfas of that age and mileage are a labour of love, typically rotten, falling to bits and needing a full rebuild.
I bought the S2 back in late 1999, a 4 year old, one owner example. Have run it on and off since then, sometimes for daily commute and at other times, laid up for months or more. It's not been thrashed, but used, driven and has had to live outside and be expected to work. It's arguably the best fast cross country car i've ever owned. Compact, pin sharp handling within it's limits and enough performance to be interesting without breaking the bank. Finally, old enough to have far less automation and electronics, so easier to maintian without a load of specialist tools. The red paint is suffering the usual fade and needs painting, but that may happen next year. It's been ultra reliable and has never failed get me home, with the only real show stopper being the com position sensor. It's expensive from Audi, but was rebuilt using the correct part number hall sensor. Have been thinking about what to replace it with for some time, but other than something mad like a TT or S6 4.2 V8, nothing really appeals, so have decided to keep it and do what needs to be done. Has been regularly serviced over the years, but no attempt to gold plate anything, just replaced what was needed. Fed up with replacing wishbone bushes and have a set of Powerflex coming to hopefully provide a permanent solution. Some surface corrosion underneath, but not serious and has had plenty of Waxoyl over the years. Odometer stopped working some time last year and the dials are flaking, so instrument cluster currently in bits. Found a broken gear in the odometer and panic, but available from several sellers on Ebay, so that's on it's way. Dials are a bit more of a problem. Several flashy "upgrades" available, but want to keep it original and no sign of them anywhere, so need to dig a bit more I guess.
So there it is, 22 years old, 16 years here. Not a showroom example by any means, but still worth keeping...
Chris
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