Alfa Romeo Alfasud

...the game, even now the Alfa will show a clean pair of heels on a twisty A road to some modern day cars. Performance was also reasonably good and if you own one you get the joys of listening to the beautiful sound of the boxer engine which would also see its way into the Alfa 33 and Alfa 145 before being replaced by the Twin Spark versions. The downside here being that economy is fairly dismal (no more than 25MPG in town typically although this rose ...
.../> In my experience, the Alfa rusts everywhere and anywhere thus mk1 versions are extremely scarce - plenty of mk2`s about though as plenty were sold in this country. Electrics (this is a 70`s Italian car!) are fairly disastrous too and do often go wrong. Build quality wasn`t the best - the Alfa was built in the south of Italy (the poorer regions of grape pickers, farmers, etc) to reduce unemployment there - note the Sud=South name.
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The Alfasud first appeared in the UK in the mid 70`s to rapturous acclaim. Far more stylish than the likes of the Allegro and Escort, it left them standing as far as driving abilities were concerned.
Bearing in mind the car was launched nearly 30 years ago, handling and ride capabilities were way ahead of the game, even now the Alfa will show a clean pair of heels on a twisty A road to some modern day cars. Performance was also reasonably good and if you own one you get the joys of listening to the beautiful sound of the boxer engine which would also see its way into the Alfa 33 and Alfa 145 before being replaced by the Twin Spark versions. The downside here being that economy is fairly dismal (no more than 25MPG in town typically although this rose considerably on a run)
The car looked the part too particularly in Mk1 guise - slightly losing its character after the 1980 facelift. Interiors are fairly basic but not unreasonable for the time.
In my experience, the Alfa rusts everywhere and anywhere thus mk1 versions are extremely scarce - plenty of mk2`s about though as plenty were sold in this country. Electrics (this is a 70`s Italian car!) are fairly disastrous too and do often go wrong. Build quality wasn`t the best - the Alfa was built in the south of Italy (the poorer regions of grape pickers, farmers, etc) to reduce unemployment there - note the Sud=South name.
You will need to put in some work if you own one - some stuff is fairly simple, some is specialist work, the inboard brakes are "different" and the boxer can be tricky - I would recommend an oil change every 6000 miles without fail. It is still possible to pick up a Sud cheap - if you find a mk1 with a good body, buy the car - engines/parts are fiarly well available - most parts passed over to the later 33 which was in production until the mid 1990`s - basically the same car! In a nutshell, the Alfa will reward you completely for TLC and good maintinance. Pay no more than £2000 though, there are plenty about and for some reason the Suds have yet to earn "full" collector status
 

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