> Anyway, how come the name "Ex Alfa Adam" - don't tell me you've gone to
the
> dark side and bought a BMW

Not quite - I finally saw sense for a moment after much (over 2 engine
rebuilds on one of my Alfa 33s!) excessive maintainence and sold my last 33
a month ago. Good riddance, goodbye, so long, auf wiedersehen, au revoir,
arrivederci, etc.

Don't miss them at all. Much, not for the magic handling, the responsive
engine, the great accelleration, the (ahem, officer!) remarkably good top
speed. Not a bit of it. Just had a gut full of the maintainence of fixing
something every week. There is a lot to rebuild in a 16v injected boxer
engine you know!

So there I was, carless, perusing ebay thinking - 'cheap and reliable, cheap
insurance, low tax, economical' - and suddenly instead of buying a toyota
corolla, nissan sunny or proton persona, I'd bought a Fiat Tipo, the one
with the 148bhp 2.0 16v engine - damn it goes well!

However, I've always had a problem with Fiats - I've always regarded them as
being a 'second grade' vehicle - so I stuck with the 'Alfa' bit - but
although I hold BMWs in high esteem, (I used to work in 1st tier motor
industry supply to ford, rover, landrover, jag, aston martin, fiat, buick,
toyota, nissan, renault - I understand vehicle build quality - get the
picture) I just couldn't stoop to buying one as they are just not me.
(Interestingly I used to have a Fiat Multipla as a company car...) If I
ever had to get sensible and buy a 'decent' car I'd buy something like a PT
Cruiser or another Multipla. Oh yes, we have 3 kids.

Somehow, the italians have the edge in appealing car design - I've owned
lancias as well and loved them all - oh well, less of my life story -
somehow from the above you'll grasp that I love Alfas but can't live with
them anymore!

Adam H