Your fleet running reports

[DeskJockey]

Galaxy now sporting a set of brand new Primacy 4s to match the refurbished wheels.

Used a local, one-man-band, place. £60 a corner including disposing of the old tyres. Results are impressive.

In the back of the garage he was storing a friend of his dad's 993 Carerra 2 cab. Had a good look at it, needs a thorough cleaning/valet (and a big service no doubt), but looked good nonetheless. Apparently it is a cat C, it was rear ended when it was new, but repaired. They look rather small these days!

[Sundayjumper]

As winters?

For rallying. Race car.

[mik]

Ah

[duncs500]

As winters?

For rallying. Race car.

#becauseracecar

[McSwede]

I had mine waxed again today. Still looks spanking. Well, apart from the wheel I kerbed and the stone chips.

[JonMad]

Picked up some proper knobblies for The Compact. Six matching Yokohamas, four slightly used, two completely unused, £60 for the lot. Seems like a good deal.



4145C64F-9AC1-40E0-A036-228D85230A5B.jpeg

I thought these weren't allowed?

[Sundayjumper]

Not on FDMC events, but it varies around the country. If/when I/we go further afield they might come in handy

[Sundayjumper]

Compact #1 rear beam out in one piece !

5E459CC3-E646-4B9D-B6B5-8F06BD3C8AA7.jpeg (146.85 KiB) Viewed 2847 times

[integrale_evo]

That's the way

[integrale_evo]

So, I've been driving it as mine for a couple of days, and had a quick poke around. It's straight and tidy, drives nicely but has been owned rather than properly cared for. It looks clean on the outside but is going green around the top of the boot opening, leaves and stuff in the windscreen gully etc so needs a proper deep clean.

Likes

Feels pretty punchy given the modest power

Engine sounds quite gruff when pushed but feels pretty smooth for a fourpot, burble at idle reminds me a lot of the lancia, just a lot quieter

No lag unless you try and pull away from a crawl in second where the small capacity gives the game away

Feels nice and firm ( motoring press criticised them for being too stiff, but it's fine, even on bumpy stuff )

Love the squat rear end with the single round led lights and the bulging arches which you can see in the wingmirrors

Auto climate works as well as on the German cars

Frameless doors and chunky handles make it feel a bit more special than the average runaround when you get in
Carbon effect dash and doors look great, even if it's just moulded plastic

Feels well screwed together

Boot looks tiny, but swallowed the same amount of stuff which usually fills the compacts boot


Dislikes

Not overly fond of the pinched mouth, chubby cheek mouse front end, especially with a huge uk spec numberplate which needs a big lump of plastic wrapping around the corner to fit it on. I don't dislike it, I just don't think it looks anywhere near as good as the side / rear aspects

Halogen drls look very old tech. I've turned them off but there's no sidelight only lighting position, lights are either off, off with drls enabled in the menu, or on dip with the drls dropping down to 5w sidelight power

Fwd. I really do love a cheeky slippery roundabout few degrees of oppo that even a low output rwd car can do

Some of the interior plastics are awful, the door cappings are very hard plastic with a terrible grain, even the built to be cheap, decade and a half older compact is miles better. Likewise silly things like visible fasteners to hold trim on, and the hideous elephants foreskin 'flap' to fill the gap between the dash and steering column.

Seats don't go low enough

Doesn't feel turbocharged, pretty much zero lag, 99% of the time it just feels like a bigger engine, should be a good thing but I'd love a few more turbo noises and a little bit more drama.

Driving modes. Rubbish. Alfas have their DNA system, for three driving modes. Dynamic, Normal, All weather. In Normal the throttle response is so dulled it feels like the car has half its supposed power output and you get an annoying dash nanny telling you to change up all the time unless you're in 5th gear by about 25mph. Dynamic mode gives a nice keen throttle and firms the steering up a tad, yeah it's a nice improvement but it shouldn't need it, that's how a warm hatch sold as something sporty should feel all the time. Dynamic also lets you display a cool bar graph boost gauge in the dash cluster. Not tried allweather, but can see how modified traction and braking parameters could be helpful in slippery conditions. Annoyingly it doesn't remember the mode so you have to hold the little toggle switch to force it into dynamic every time you start it.

Looks pretty good I think


But don't look too closely at the awful looking 'grain' and really hard cheap noisy plastic


Big saggy flap


Teeny weeny garret turbot

[McSwede]

Harry, take the engine out of the MiTo and put it in the 850

[nuttinnew]

^

The seats in an Alfa always look inviting

[integrale_evo]

Harry, take the engine out of the MiTo and put it in the 850

I bet that would be fun

I do actually like it, but as it was purchased with head rather than heart I find it easier to pick holes in it than most of my usual purchases.

Seats are ok, not quite as good as good as bmw sports seats, but better than most normal comfort seats, although do seem to suffer a bit from sundayjumpers headrests too far forward issue. Adjustable lumbar support on both front seats is nice, but only the drivers side has height adjustment and is still higher than I would like even right down.

I was going to criticise it for a typical Italian short leg / long arm driving position, but then found the adjuster and the wheel comes towards you quite a long way. Much happier with it now.

Also found the crazy Italians have got either the switches or the plugs for the heated seats the wrong way round. As well as being in a stupid place on the arm rest mount, the switch closest to the left seat works the drivers seat, and vice versa

[Mito Man]

They were a cheap car to begin with, I remember in 2009 they started on offer at £9,995 the Veloce pack was about £1,500 and then another £500 for decent paint. Back then they were still selling the 147 new for a few grand more and they felt noticeably a class above. I tested a Mini One, 500, Polo and Ibeza and the Mito felt like the most plush and comfortable.

[duncs500]

Been wanting to do this for a while, but bought a spare set of wheels and had them powdercoated gold. Pleased with the results, I think it gives the car a visual lift.

[JLv3.0]

APPROVED Gold wheels are teh awsumz.

[NotoriousREV]

^

The seats in an Alfa always look inviting

They’re not, ime. The seat bases are always too short and they lack side support in the Mito and the Giulietta. They look great, though. I nearly fell out of my Mito during enthusiastic cornering once

[Sundayjumper]

Black & gold, classic livery. Nice.

[Jobbo]

Been wanting to do this for a while, but bought a spare set of wheels and had them powdercoated gold. Pleased with the results, I think it gives the car a visual lift.

That looks fantastic. It had the gold nosecone tip before, I take it? You've done what's right and proper

[speedingfine]

Been wanting to do this for a while, but bought a spare set of wheels and had them powdercoated gold. Pleased with the results, I think it gives the car a visual lift.

Looks brilliant Duncs. JPS stripes next

Edited to ask how it's running at the mo?

There's a fella on here who suggested bronze wheels to me, I still owe him a pint as it's always a great idea.