Alfanatics

Our lives are a plethora of choices, options, decisions; day-in-day-out we make decisions and choices! What time to wake up, when to go to work, what to eat, who to see, what we wear etc. everything we do is a decision, a choice and when it comes to buying a new car it’s no different  - but the real question is…are we limited in our choices, do we really have other options and most importantly, am I making the right one?

Of course the gravity of our decisions vary on the importance of the situation, and none more so than when we decide to purchase a new car which, if you’re an Alfanatic (which if you’re reading this you probably are), would be one of the most intense and emotional periods of you life!

So when it comes to forking-out for something that you’ll either be stuck-with or in-love with, it’s a bloody good idea to make sure that you make to correct one – not one that seems or feels right, but one that IS right!

As I sat in the morning traffic with the winter sun just beginning to peer over the horizon, I looked around at all the “fancy” cars that people were driving. Some people were in their cars with an intense gaze, as if focused on getting through the maze of traffic ahead, others appeared to be singing along (off-key no doubt) to whatever was playing on their stereos….and others, well, they looked as if they were still half-asleep – in need of some serious caffeine! But the one thing that they all had in common, was that none were smiling like I was, which leads me to believe they hadn’t made the right decision – they weren’t in an Alfa…

As I thought about the last 5 -1/2 years that I’ve had my GT, I couldn’t recall a single moment where I was not totally happy with it, which is what got me to thinking about the decisions we make in life – especially those about buying a car! I’ve read about a phenomenon called the “base-level happiness” which in a nutshell, is ones happiness vs. your latest acquisition and can be represented on a graph (as seen below).

This is a very normal human “condition”, which we’ve all experienced and will continue to experience in one way or another, especially when buying a car – you get a new car and for a couple of weeks you keep it clean inside and out, make sure that you park it away from every other car in the lot, take photos of it, Facebook it all the time and ultimately really appreciate it!

However, this feeling soon subsides and familiarity takes hold – the need to “fill to empty gap” (be it subliminal or not) eats away at you and, soon you find yourself trolling the internet looking for your next car/fix – in an endless spiral of need vs. fulfilment that unless broken, will leave you out of pocket and unfulfilled!

There is however a way to curb the rut, to break the norm and lift yourself out of the abyss! You need to seek out and commit to the Alfa to ensure you have unending happiness! The happiness found here, as can be seen on the Alfa-base-happiness chart below, clearly shows the happiness and fulfilment that is experienced when making the right decision, when it comes to purchasing a car – because in the end, one’s happiness after meeting the Alfa is infinitum and when the time comes to purchase a new one (out of need more than trying to fill a gap), you can rest assured that the Alfa will once again leave you fulfilled for many years to come.

So go-on, make the right decision and ensure a life filled with unrivalled happiness and joy – get yourself an Alfa, and join all the other smiling Alfa drivers in the traffic! You know it’s the right thing to do!!

- Stalliano

So it rumored that the stunning new Alfa Romeo Gloria  Concept will be shown at the Geneva motor show, this is very exciting as it showcases some new fresh ideas from Alfa Romeo.

The Gloria is the result of a collaboration between the IED (European Design Institute of Turin) and the Alfa Romeo Style Centre.  The 4-door sports sedan carries a few trademarked Alfa Romeo styling, such as the bold bonnet creases culminating in the famous triangular grille. Leather straps on the bonnet are a nod to some of Alfa’s previous sporting models.  While Alfa is very clear that this will strictly be a concept car the newcomer in the event it reaches production would be powered by bi-turbo V6 and V8 engines, which would be shared with the latest Maserati Quattroporte

The European Design Institute of Turin, thanks to the support of and vicinity to the Fiat-Chrysler EMEA Design Center, has had the opportunity of ‘training’ its young car designers on the subject of: “conceiving an Alfa Romeo saloon to communicate to the American and Asian markets”. In effect, the saloon remains a symbol of elegance and prestige for these markets, associated with the idea of comfortable space both at the front and the rear, expressed by the length of the model. In particular, the Alfa Romeo Style Centre participated with passion in the various phases of the project: from the product brief to the brand’s historic collection, and from the first style proposals up to the development, in clay, of the model in 1:1 scale.

“We asked the students in the Master programme to give us their completely independent interpretation of a new Alfa Romeo saloon,” states Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Head of Fiat & Chrysler Design. “During development, we commented, discussed and guided the projects in order to get the most from their spontaneous expressions of creativity. The result was stimulating and marked by professional and creative excellence.”

We sincerely hope this car makes it to production and breathes some new Life into Alfa Romeo. We think it is a piece of art as all Alfa’s are and would be proud to see this vehicle in our local Alfa Dealership.

A year ago I became the proud owner of my second Alfa Romeo, the 1,4 T Distinctive. Having traded-in my GT for this latest beauty, I was curious how I would react in the long term. Would it surprise or disappoint me? Well the answer is simply that it has lived up to, and exceeded my expectations.

The decision to buy this Giulietta was half heart, half head. A rare combination for a car that invokes my deepest passion. But the allure of a new warranty and service plan while the warranty on my GT was winding up was too much to resist. Incredibly, the change from a 1,9 Diesel to a 1,4 Petrol car actually left me with an extra 15 kW! These multi-air engines are something else.

Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of months, you’ll be well aware of the rumours that the end of the world is nigh (if the Mayans are to be believed anyhow). And it’s on that note, while I sit on the beach on the west-coast of sunny SA, listening to wave-after-wave crash against the shore in the never-ending battle between sea and land, “waiting for the end” as it were, that I’ve decided to write this this piece.

As I think of all that we as a civilization have created and achieved, it would be very sad to have it all end in an instant. The entire history of man wiped-out in the blink of an eye, without the slightest hope of at least a fighting chance for our survival (as is the norm in any typical Hollywood-style armageddon movie)…surely we should be able to fight for our survival? If not, all I want is enough time to get to my GT, so that I can drive into the penultimate sunset in style! I guess we’ll find out soon enough, one way or the other…

So if it all ends today, I will at least know that I’ve had the pleasure of driving (and owning) two amazing Alfa’s. My first was a dark-blue, 2.0L twin-spark, 2003 156; she was amazing! She had all the refinements one would expect in an Alfa; the angled dials of the driver and central consoles, full leather interior, power-steering, AC, cruise-control, you name it, it was the full-house! And going from the ‘city’ to her, was pure bliss, if you know what I mean!

We weren’t even 18 months into our relationship, when another younger, sexier model caught my eye. As Dean Martin put it, she hit me in the eye like a big pizza-pie! It indeed was amore! The enchanting curves, sleek-sexy lines, and a grill that to this day makes me grin like a primary school boy who’s just found his older-brothers FHM collection! This was all the car-porn you could ever want from a Bertoni designed masterpiece. The Stromboli Grey, 1.9JTD GT stirred up something inside of me, something impossible to capture on paper.

And so, as I sit admiring the sunset (yup, that’s it in the photo below), I cannot help but appreciate these two creations and the countless others, that not only Alfa Romeo have created, but that we as a civilization have thought up and ultimately created. The creative expression by individuals throughout time in various mediums, defines man’s yearning for new creations and his expressive characteristic. His ability to continually produce new masterpieces is, in my opinion, inspiring. And while I might not be blessed with creative talent, I’m glad to know that many others have been, and that they’ve found their way to Alfa Romeo’s design studio, to bring us these and other amazing creations.

We truly have done and created some amazing things; we’ve been to the moon, transplanted hearts and lungs, broken the sound barrier and of course created Alfa Romeo! Having spoken to many people over the last 18-months or so, there is a common trend when it come to Alfa Romeo – the cars that they create are spectacular!

They’ve been at the forefront of car design for over 100-years and have created some of the world’s most spectacular cars for all to enjoy, and without it we would be less! So here’s to hoping that tomorrow greets us with a renewed spirit and purpose, knowing that we survived “the end of the world”. And with that, I wish you good luck and hope to see you all on the other side!!

Stalliano

I was sent this clip earlier today, and love to see people enjoying the performance of the Giulietta…that being said, we don’t encourage driving above the speed limit unless in a controlled environment!! Never the less, you can still enjoy this clip!!

Now that you have one of the New Generation Alfa Romeos, you see there is a little Windows badge on the steering wheel but what does this all mean??

Well I’m pretty sure that you guessed it that your Alfa Romeo comes equipped with what is termed “Blue & Me” which is in essence based on ‘Windows Embedded Automotive’ software and is installed into the Alfas with functinality including Hands Free Kit, Media Player as well as options like “Message Reader” (not in SA unfortunately) and various Phone options Read the rest of this entry »

A few months ago Goat wrote an article entitled “Can You Fall in Love More Than Once??”.  He concluded that it is indeed possible to fall in love more than once. As he was going through all of that, I found myself in somewhat of a situation as well. I found myself having to somehow survive without my precious 156Ti for a full 2 months this year. This got me thinking though, is it possible to fall in love more than once, with the same car?! Read the rest of this entry »

The modern day PC is a marvel; it allows us to communicate with one another, it entertains us with video games, music and movies. We use it to read news, access sport-scores and results, not to mention access the latest amazing articles on www.Alfanatics.co.za!!

The PC is an extension of ourselves in a sense; its an electronic copy if you will. We all have loads of data stored on laptops, external hard-drives, USB’s, iCloud’s etc. No matter who you are, you have an electronic extension of yourself somewhere…and if you don’t have a copy, the government does!  - cue conspiracy music!

Now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this, having titled it the article: MiTo GTA – Will it be!? You see, it was the modern day PC where my need to write this article originated!! The thing is, I like the other Alfanatics, am a tech-junkie. Yes I’ve got an iPhone’s with hundreds of app’s, a PS3′s, HDTV etc. that I cocoon myself in everyday – what kind of a tech-junkie would I be if I didn’t?

So naturally, by marrying an Alfanatic with a tech-junkie, you get an Alfa-driving, iPhone loving, desktop alternating background nut. I show-off my alternating desktop of Alfa’s at every chance that I get. With the pictures varying from the Pandion through to the 156, I have a wide array of Alfa’s on rotation, which I’ve set to 5-min intervals. So every 5-min, a new stunning photo of an Alfa pops up on my desktop back-ground, and one of these is the MiTo GTA looking sexier than ever!

With it’s huge twin-exhausts encased in the black rear diffuser, flanked by two-pairs of fins and black side-skirts to match; it looks more like a piece of car-porn than a sport version of the MiTo! The accompanying 17″ Giulietta anthracite rim’s suggests that even though stationary, it would still dish out a hiding to any other vehicle in it’s class!

So I ask the question…WILL WE SEE THIS BEAST ON THE ROAD IN 2013!!? The prototype (pictured below) has been put on hold due to global economic conditions, which even though we respect from a company economic perspective, we cannot quite figure-out why they would not push this through and produce it regardless – even if  made to order!!

Alfa Romeo’s racing heritage suggests that even with the 8C and 4C being produced, a GTA version of both the MiTo and Giulietta is a obvious move! It tugs at my heart-strings, longing for a GTA version of these amazing machines – SO I PLEAD AND ASK…PLEASE ALFA, PLEEEESSSSEEE!!! produce the GTA version of the MiTo and Giulietta! I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE…WE NEED THIS IN OUR LIVES!!

We want to feel the uncontrolled raw power of the GTA pushing us back into the seat – we need it…we need it!!! So with that, I conclude my plea, hopefully the guys from Alfa will answer it!!

So here’s hoping for the GTA version’s of the amazing machines that are currently being produced…we wait in hope!

Stalliano!

If there was any doubt that the 4c is one of the most beautiful cars ever created, let it be forgotten. Alfa has once again proven that this brand of car is as much renowned for artistry as it is for engineering excellence. They did it again at one of the most prestigious automotive events on the calendar, the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este, hosted at the picturesque Lake Como, Italy.

This annual event showcases the latest and greatest examples of design from the manufacturers of cars that have graced the bedroom walls of boys and men around the world for years. Aston Martin was in it to win for a record third time. That was until the 4c parked its pretty face on the lush green lawns of the lakeside Villa. Alfa Romeo won hands down, prompting the powers that be at Alfa to conclusively decide that this car had an obligation to go into production. And be produced it shall, with manufacturing on a large scale set to commence in 2013! Other cars it beat into submission include the Stile Bertone Jaguar B99, Ford’s EVOS concept and the Lexus LF-LC. Read the rest of this entry »

I love YouTube! It’s such an awesome entertainment medium that you can use to literally spend hours watching any and every kind of clip that you want! Naturally, I spend most of my time on YouTube searching for Alfa Romeo related clips and today I found a great video created by the Alfa Club in Poland. It’s an amazing celebration of Alfa Romeo’s history and I thought that I’d share, so enjoy…