Originally posted by The Necessary@Oct 21 2005, 02:09 PM
Hey, just test drove the car yesterday at Glenmarie in the pouring rain. Other than the fact that the car is pretty darn slow (for a "sporting" coupe), and the brakes were, in my opinion, inadequte, I was very, very impressed.
Build quality is of course of a rung lower than BMW/Audi, but the interior is extremely well excecuted and stylish, with a lovely cosy feeling, and I was able to get pretty comfortable in there. EXCEPT for the dreaded long armed driving position! Space in the back is pretty good too.
As for the driving experience, it handles well. Quite malleable on the limit (easily reached, thanks to the rain), and the traction control is very effective and doesn't seem overly intrusive. Ride comfort is good- but that's on 16inch wheels. It needs 17s, if not 18s to look really good, me thinks. Steering is very direct, with good levels of feel. Engine is smooth, up until the last 500rpm or so (red line at 7k), when it starts to get pretty darn thrashy. Transmission wise, I've only sampled one 156 Selespeed before, and I thought this was a great improvement on that, although, having just stepped from a M3, the shift speeds were rather slow, in my opinion, but the smoothness of the full bore shifts were better than SMG2. Maybe cos I've got SMG2 on S5.
Oh, rear visibility sucks through that letter box slot of a rear window.
Looks. Man, it looks good. Parked head to tail with Martha, it made her look SO germanic. For better or for worse! I preferred the way the GT looked.
Now, if only it didn't have that Alfa badge, had a bigger engine, RWD and a 6 speed manual...
Still, MUCH MUCH better than any 4 pot 3 series... but it IS 270k OTR... Hmmm...
