Dan, I was looking through the thread and saw your post on the Alfa Romeo show....and that started me off on this post
.....to tell everyone here all about my car-buying dilemma!
Buying a car can be just as much an effort as getting married and in this case there are no helpful parents and relatives to bail you out! So you might like to really think hard, consider and plan a lot before you want to buy one. I should know, I bought an Alfa Romeo this month.
I wondered on what model to buy, because the plain old sedan I had was beginning to fall apart at the hinges, and I was beginning to notice the dash board rattle every time I sat behind the wheel, the jammed windows and the fading paint on the outside. Not to mention friends hitching a lift in my car who quipped, “Hey, when did you get this one, huh? Was it before Mark’s wedding or after?”My brother Mark is the father of an ten-year-old now. That hurt, especially when I was doing them a favor, dammit!
Sleek new models, seductive as sirens, would drive past. I just had to have a new one of my own.
I had long admired the Alfa Romeo 2.2 JTS, and really wanted to check it out. After a trial run, I was even more of a fan than when I started, a 185bhp at 6500rpm, with a maximum of 220km/h can be heady for someone who usually chugs along at 65. But that was before I looked at my budget, and got my credit check done. It cost way too much, interest rates made my head spin and the theft and the total insurance was much, much more than I had reckoned. And when I considered the investment, it wasn’t attractive. I would stand to lose 20 to 40 per cent of the value the moment I bought it. What made it really hurt though was that the model could be outdated in no time. I can tell you I didn’t like the prospect of driving around an outmoded car a few years from now, at the ransom I had to pay.
The sales rep proposed a used car, but I wouldn’t look at one. That would defeat the whole point, I didn’t want someone else’s trouble on my shoulders. Next time I passed by, I entered the showroom half-hearted, I knew already that the Alfa of my dreams would remain just there, in my dreams. The sales rep recognized me from the last time, and more to stop him nagging than anything else, I entered the silvery Alfa that stood gleaming in the sunshine. I took it for a spin, and liked how I felt.
The maintenance and repair records were better than I expected, but I would have to pay extra for a warranty. I went home to rack my brains a little. Over coffee when I went over the details with a friend who is a self-confessed car nut, I began to see light. Here was a good car going cheap, that will depreciate at a slower rate than in the first two years of ownership of a new one. The insurance costs were lower, and I could go from my battered sedan to an Alfa in no time! Okay, I had to shell out more for maintenance, but I could live with that, and I could sell off the piece the moment it began to get too expensive to keep without losing too much money on the sale. Now I understand why used cars sell three times as much as new ones.
Yes, I know, it is not the same thing as buying a new one, but at least I don’t have to wait for years to get my hands on an Alfa.
As I cruise out of my street, I like the fact that I didn’t let snobbery in the way of pleasure. In any case those of my friends who don’t know, congratulate me on the new car when they are taking a lift to work. Buying a used car is not such a bad idea, after all, especially when it is as beautiful as my Alfa!
Alfa Romeo Car Show Rockville Italy 
From Mike 
Italian Cars 
Hybrid cars in Italy 
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