Out With The Old, In With The... Much Older.

I've been thinking lately of moving on from my trusty (somewhat), old (increasingly) Ford Focus SVT. Something about the $1600.00 clutch job I just endured, and the $300.00 for a key that I paid less than two months previous, and the fact that it eats brake discs at the same rate it runs out of pads...

Don't get me wrong, it's been a great car, and has provided daily transport, and driving fun, deep in the heart of LA, for several years now. That said, it's getting on in years, and mileage, and fun as it is to drive, it's a bit charmless. It's expensive to run as well (as mentioned above), and that keeps it from being as useful as a daily driver as one might assume from its hatchback proportions. It's very sensitive to setup and so every time I hit a pothole, or parallel park (a common occurrence as I have nothing so luxurious as a garage right now), I end up terrified that I'm going to kill an expensive damper, or knock the alignment out.

Ok, so what I need is a reliable daily driver, about which I don't really have to care, and that I can maintain cheaply, to a level where it should last for years... But this isn't Consumer Reports; this is Gearhead's Lament, and that means doing the stupid thing, while using all my knowledge of cars to convince myself and others that it's actually the wise move. In that spirit, I'm looking less at five-year-old Toyota Corollas, and more at something like... this.

I can hear my father hissing in disapproval from over 300 miles away, but he needn't worry too soon because finding a good one (not as good as this one of course) is going to take some work.

It's going to take some change in lifestyle as well. No matter how well I'm able to restore an Alfa Berlina, I don't think it will work for daily transport in the way that say, a Ford Focus should. I'll have to make some adjustments to the number of miles I drive, and look into an increase in bicycling locally. That's kind of the point however, I'm willing to accept that an Alfa has its foibles and limitations because it's a special car in a way that a Focus, even a fast, fine handling Focus just isn't, so I'm willing to make those adjustments. The Berlina is the suggestion of a friend of mine who, it must be said, has Alfas on the brain. It would however, almost certainly be a more practical choice than the other suggestion I've gotten since mentioning the idea of trading away the Ford... this one.

The Europa comes with almost all the foibles as the Berlina, then adds its own limitation, space. No, Europas don't have a lot of space, and finding a good one will be just as big (though perhaps not as expensive) an undertaking as the Alfa. All that said, while it won't even challenge an Alfa for practicality, it might just be more dependable once set up. That little Renault engine (not the Alpine motor in the video) is actually pretty bullet-proof as long as it's kept cool, which really just leaves the electrics... well, at least there isn't that much that's electric about the car... right?

All of this is probably just a lot of talk. I do, after all, have a life to look after, and limited funds on which to live it. But the thought of actually buying into a really special car, and not paying much more for it than I've been paying for a modern hatchback is appealing; if I can make it work, you'll read it hear first.