Oh, please. Lets get real here. Sure Alfas are great cars, and though I may not get carried away to the same degree as Nikos and others, I love them too.
I think we need to distinquish between what Alfa is and what we want it to be. It has been MANY years since Alfa turned out cars solely with the purporse of winning races and making the true drivers machine. No company can survive doing that. You need to sell cars, and in order to do that, you need to compromise. Lets realise that although more Alfa drivers than any other are drivers, aware of performance etc, I still believe they represent a minority. In the US where being an Alfa driver is the same as being a classic car nut, this may be different, but mostly everywhere else in the world, an Alfa is a car that you can choose among many other new cars. Before the 156, you would have to be an Alfa nut to buy an Alfa, because of the lack of quality etc. Today, I believe (at least here in Denmark) that the main reason people have for buying an Alfa is not performance, but the design. Its has become a style icon, chosen by yuppies and the style-conscious.
And you know what: thats fine with me, because its has made Alfa tremendously succesfull, compared to the years before where it was close to bankruptcy.
Please dont call me naive, because I think the above shows that I am much more aware of real life economics, than those who wants a RWD Alfa at all cost, believing that if only a "true" Alfa like that was made, everything would be good.
Like Alex, I dont understand whyPSk is so negative about the future of Alfa. 10 years ago I was too - along with most of the motoring press, who foresaw Alfa dead within the near future, but the 156 changed this completely. The succes of these mainstream cars is the basis for Alfa being closer to making a RWD like the 8C, than ever before. I dont believe Alfa will make a complete return to RWD, too much is simply at stake. But I do believe that they will make a "sporting" range of RWD cars, for the "true" Alfista to buy - and lets see how many that will be........
FWD is not a bad thing - if so, please explain to me how Alfa could win the ETCC with the 156, with BMW coming in second.
And by the way: the 155 is a great car too - and had tremendous succes in the touringcar series as well. In the Alfa club of Denmark (which I believe reflects the whole Alfa production run), its is the 3rd most common car - after the 156 and the 33.
Alfa can not continue to make any type of car, and we like blind sheep continue to rave about Alfa Romoes.
Well, speak for yourself, I believe I'm taking a realistic view at thing while some "rave about RWD like blind sheep".
Again, to quote Alex (this dude has some good points
)
until you actually drive some of those cars, you shouldn't be so quick to criticize!
If you get a chance to drive the 156 or 147 against its modern competitors: VW Golf, Ford Mondeo, Mazda 626, Toyota Avensis AND FIATs etc - you will realize, that these are remarkably different cars. In no way badge-engineered FIATs, and a totally different experience in terms of grip, performance and handling.
(my longest post ever.)