In praise of High Mileage Alfas

[HeavyMetalAlfa]

I'm here to say, I love to see High Mileage Alfas.
So many people think they want a low mile car, but when I see a GTV6 with 180,000 miles thats running strong, I love it !!! I think about all the great driving this car has seen, how many hours the owner has spent howling down backroads or cruising down highways. I mean, think about it. A lot of sports cars don't make it to 100,000 miles. Look at Ferrari's, seeing one with over a hundred K is very rare!!! So many people might say Alfa's are problematic and hard to maintain. Then tell me this, why do MOST GTV6's have well over 100 K on them ???
I retired my first GTV6 at 300,00 plus miles due to rust and an idiot rear ending me. I am currently driving an 86 with 174,000. My personal fave, 'Blacky' is off the road for a bit because the transaxle finally gave out, in a rather spectacular way, at well over 200,000 miles.
A car with 23,000 miles, or a car with 114,000 ?? I'd sooner trust the high mile car if I was driving cross country !!!

[elite38868]

I completely agree. One of the ARA board members has a Montreal with over 400k miles on it.

[TCL]

Those mileage figures are good to hear. Mine has 87K on it and since I only drive it on weekends, I'm only adding about 2K per year. Should last me quite a while at that rate if I keep up with the time related maintenance items.

[bianchi1]

my spider (84) now has 156287 miles on it no smoke, lots of power( yes i did some head work on it) but the 'bottom' end, not touched... oil pressure hot at 2000 rpm 65/70...

[lgbalfa]

how about low mileage alfas?

i was at a car show today.

there was a 1980 datsun 280zx - it had 7 miles.

[oz3litre]

My 1992 164 has 227,421 miles on it and runs beautifully. It does use a bit of oil, but not excessively. The amazing thing is that the car is in mint condition inside and out. Even the engine compartment is shiny and clean. It is a credit to its former three owners. A fellow club member ran his 164 up to 310,000 miles before rebuilding the engine and there was very little wrong with it. It has now done 380,000 plus and is owned by another club member.

[turbobuick]

My fathers 59 spider has well over 400,000 miles, In about 1989 he
put 38,000 miles that year alone. He lost track of his milage in the
early 90's and at that time it was 385,000. This was his every day
car in the early 60's and it has never sat any length of time. He still
puts a couple thousand miles on it each year, more if it had a/c. He
also did not start tracking his milage until the eartly 70's so I would
not be surprised if he missed a 100,000 miles, I even came home from
the hospital in the car. High milage cars are the best.
Steve

[RandallM]

Usually, high mileage means it has been well maintained. I keep my vehicles so long I equate mileage to trips around the earth. 24,000 miles equals 1 trip around the globe. So far my 86 Spider is on its 5th and my 96 Trooper is on its 8th trip around the planet. My last Isuzu had so many miles on it I'd say its on its way back from the moon. One way to the moon is 238,000 miles.

It gives you a perspective of how far you have really gone. We drive back and forth in our little comfort zones, but if we could stretch it out we've covered a lot of miles compared to our little planet.

[lowmileage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TCL Those mileage figures are good to hear. Mine has 87K on it and since I only drive it on weekends, I'm only adding about 2K per year. Should last me quite a while at that rate if I keep up with the time related maintenance items.

[TCL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowmileage : ... Having a car you don't drive, might as well sell it.

[Del]

I usually put at least 150k miles on my Alfas, and they have all been daily drivers. I always said they had to earn their keep, and for the most part, they have, while being fun to drive.

[Joe Papa Sr]

Good to hear about the high mileage. But you can forget about good mileage (I mean mpg's).........Thats OK. Guess mileage economy never interested Alfa. For that, one should buy a Toyota......

[Del]

Well, I've always gotten decent mileage with my Alfas. On a recent trip to Texas and back, we averaged 28+ mpg in our 94LS for the highway portions at speeds of 70-90 mph, and about 23-24 mpg in the cities. Older Alfa models (mostly 4 bangers) always gave me 25-35 mpg, depending on how I drove. I don't think that is too bad.

It does depend on how you drive, just as does the life of the clutch in an Alfa.

[lgbalfa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbobuick My fathers 59 spider has well over 400,000 miles, In about 1989 he put 38,000 miles that year alone. He lost track of his milage in the early 90's and at that time it was 385,000. This was his every day car in the early 60's and it has never sat any length of time. He still puts a couple thousand miles on it each year, more if it had a/c. He also did not start tracking his milage until the eartly 70's so I would not be surprised if he missed a 100,000 miles, I even came home from the hospital in the car. High milage cars are the best. Steve

[alfa2go]

I was a little shocked after receiving a letter back from a PO that owned my Super for about 25 years. He lives in the country and says the clock went around at least 4 times! So that is at least 400000kms! I knew the old girl had a hard life but after knowing this she is doing very well as it is also my daily driver. The engine is still quite perky really. And the body has a few dings but not a great deal of rust, the floors were excellent. He bought it off a widow and it had been sitting in a garage for 10 years in as new condition, still with the plastic on the door cards. Better to drive and enjoy I agree! A few pics of it on my website www.giuliasuper.com.au.