[alfa] Supercars and Dinos

[Steve An <stevean@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ciao Tutti.

Just catching up on email.

George Graves responded to a query about unloved Ferrari (there is such a 
thing, evidently!)

At 06:29 PM 5/20/2004, you wrote:
>was meant to be driven fast, not slow. The 308GT4 is one of the best
>handling cars Ferrari ever built. It is light, small, real tossable -
>sort of like a 2 + 2 Fiat X1/9 with balls. What put me off was the
>maintenance costs. New cam belts every 15,000 miles at a cost of about
>$3000 to change them (engine has to come out) is oft-putting in the

And he later said:

At 07:19 PM 5/24/2004, you wrote:
>On the other hand if one simply must have a real exotic on the cheap,
>might I suggest a Lamborghini Espada? A front-engined, RWD, 365 HP
>(later models) DOHC V-12 is nothing to sneeze at. Makes wonderful

Not having owned either of these cars nor having had to pay to maintain 
them won't stop me from questioning the wisdom and logic of George's 
conclusions :-)

I find it hard to believe the total cost of ownership of the Espada 
wouldn't be far more than the lowly 308 Dino. Is this just a case of 
emotional over exuberance? to quote Greenspan.

I looked seriously at Espadas (and the 365GT2+2) a few years ago, thinking 
they would be great to haul 4 friends to the Montreal GP in style every 
summer, but decided against it after consulting Paul Glynn, who had one of 
them in his shop at the time. $8K for a set of pistons and liners?

In comparison (loosely), I have a Dino 246GTS, and its maintenance cost has 
been minimal over the last 3 or 4 years, though I have not had any major 
work done, but of course, it is not a Ferrari :-), but previous owner had 
the engine rebuilt, with new heads, it was not that bad (well, relatively). 
I had heard so many horror stories about maintenance and frankly, I am 
shocked at how simple and robust this little bugger is, it is pretty 
indestructible so far, this car is far stronger than it looks.

I test drove the 308, 328 and didn't like them as much, they had less room 
and didn't fit me as well. I ruled out the longitudinal V8 over maintenance 
costs. Power wise, the 246 out accelerates my 3.0 Milano at every rev 
range, yet it weighs more than the Milano (I think). I am really shocked it 
feels so much quicker and pulls so much harder than the Milano (3.0 motor 
with 4.10 rear end). Handling is the inverse of the Milano, very little 
polar moment of inertia, while it feels less reassuring to me, a novice 
driver, it just rotates around your butt in turns, very cool, like a 
gokart. The only other car I have driven that feel more nimble (far more) 
is the McLaren F1, you just think it and it changes direction, but then, 
the A/C was crappy :-) and the stereo wasn't that great.

I also thought about a Daytona pretty seriously, test drove one with 15K 
miles on the clock, but decided against it since I just thought the Dino 
was more fun and more modern in feel. The V12 was awesome, though. Of 
course, Apr-2001 Dot.bomb happened, wished I had bought more cars, they all 
would have been far better investments.

For all around driving, I still like the Milano by FAR, and I love my 
Giulietta for so many other reasons that have nothing to do with perceived 
value. I have trouble deciding what sounds better at full song, a Columbo 
V12, the Dino V6, the Milano V6 or a 911 aircool flat 6, may be a Miura V12.

Like JH said, enjoy yours...


	- Steve.
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