Cars Tuning

Showing posts with label Alfa Romeo. Show all posts

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Easy Virtue

Last I was watching the movie Easy Virtue (Starring Colin Firth, Jessica Biel). It was originally shot by Alfred Hitchcock in 1928 but I didn’t have chance to watch it. When I started watching this movie I was not expecting to see a grand prix racing at Monte Carlo in 1930s. The first minutes of the movie starts with nostalgic grand prix race in Monte Carlo. And at that moment, this movie caught my attention! However the involvement of cars was not limited with the race sequence. After the race, Jessica Biel drives BMW 328. I am not sure about the model but I think that is a 328! And this means the time is after 1936! Actually I am not sure about this, if I found reliable information I will share it here.

After watching the movie, I searched YouTube for vintage racing footages. And I found some :) And I also shocked! The safety measures were nothing at those times, I am not talking about safety car. There is not seat belt, no safety barrier, no safety flags, cars don’t have any safety. And drivers were dying during the race and it was mentioned like something very normal. When you consider contemporary races, drivers at those times would not consider as a real race. Like many people I always respect the drivers in early years of motor racing. Winning and losing was so tightly attached with living and dying, I think we cannot understand how it feels to race those times. By the way in one of the footage, Alfa Romeo was taking over the Bugatti !

I hope you will enjoy the nostalgic Grand Prix race :)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A detailed explanation for the problem of German Cars

For very long time I was trying understand what is wrong with German cars. I didn’t make mistake while writing, German cars. There is always something missing with them, I could not understand but German cars never have the same taste with Italian cars. Of course, I am not licking cars to identify their differences. I am pretty sure that all German cars would taste the same :)

And recently I found the problem with German cars. The huge problem which irritates me for very long and irritates many other people, I am using sales figures of Italian cars as a proof! German cars are offering everything; perfection, design (not all of them), efficient, luxury, perfect, gray, very gray, light gray, very dark gray and this goes forever. Germans cars are doing what you told them to do! Actually if a German car goes wrong, it terribly goes wrong. This happened in 2003-2004 with Mercedes E Class, electronic brake system and electronic control modules of C Class. Anyway, they don’t cause trouble anymore. The main thing is German cars are doing what they are supposed to do and they do not questionize. They just are doing it!

A German car always handles well, the automatic screen wipers always works with the same amount of rain, engine always makes the same sound, all the parts inside the car have the same millimetric distance within each other. This combination of perfection obsession is not matching with human being because we are not perfect and we want things different. I think the best explanation for German cars is they are like trains. They are doing what they are supposed to do, trains cannot change travel anywhere else than railway and they always follow a route.

The Italian cars are like pizza, each pizza is a unique dish. It is nearly impossible to have the same pizza, even if you manage to have the same one you cannot eat in the same way. All the mozzarella cheese will try to go somewhere else, you will try to make some weird moves to eat the slice and some vegetables will fell on your trousers while you are trying to clean your trousers, your elbow will hit to pizza. Basically each time you try to eat an Italian food, you will have a new adventure like in Italian cars. Each Italian car is totally unique, I don’t know how they manage to do it but they are excellent at producing each car unique. There is no identical twin of a Ferrari 458 or Alfa Romeo MiTo or Fiat 500. Even if the factory is robotized, their supplier may not be robotized and their production technique might be influence the employees emotional conditions.

Therefore each Italian car is like a sculpture, you cannot find the same one. And Italian cars do not react as you wished, try to control a Ferrari 599 GTO. Jeremy Clarkson tried to do it in “Italian Job” and he failed, try to control an Alfa MiTo diesel. The electronic systems will help you but the car will control you. You will do what the car is ordering you!

And lastly British cars; very basic definition, there is always something is missing. In order to proof this, just look at British taps! They have separate taps for hot and cold water. You cannot find this in other part of the world. British engineers never connect hot and cold water together, you either burn your hands or freeze your hand. There is no balance and you can face with this ugly truth even in the most prestigious hotels or in houses. Everything looks excellent, suddenly you want wash your hand, and you burn your hands!

You can find this in British cars also, everything is excellent. Design, materials, engines but you cannot have a door closing aid in a Bentley Azure. This is a very basic technology from Germans, when your door is not fully closed the hydraulic system closes for you. But you cannot have this in a Bentley Azure! This car costs more than a country and you have to close your door properly by yourself. But still I like British cars they are combination of Mr. Bean and Paul Smith shirt!

Pictures' Copyrights

Mercedes, Pizza Express, Aston Martin, Deutsche Bahn, Maserati, Paul Smith

Monday, November 15, 2010

Fiat

Nowadays there are rumours about Ferrari. It is not about the Formula One championship, it is about the Fiat’s tendency to sell it. You didn’t read wrong, Fiat is considering to sell the most iconic brand under its management. This lunatic behaviour is a result of Fiat’s CEO Marchionne’s dream to be the biggest automotive manufacturer and become a remarkable person. Honestly, he did a great job recovering Fiat from bankruptcy to profitable condition. This is a real miracle, nearly seven years ago GM did not wish to buy Fiat because it was in a very condition but now Fiat bought some parts of Chrysler!

Machionne wants more from Chrysler, he wants to buy more shares but they need lots of money. Even though Chrysler is excellent at producing terrible and rubbish cars, it costs a lot of money to buy its shares! And the best option is to sell Ferrari and make money and expand the Fiat brand into US.

Expansion to US is a real big gambling, it is a different market. Actually it is a different continent! What works in Europe do not work in US! American may not wish to buy a car called Lancia which sounds like a pasta sauce. Alfa Romeo has potential but it is very hard to create a brand image and inform customers and motivate them to prefer this brand and etc.

Machionne has a very interesting plan; in 2014 he is planning to produce six millions of cars under Fiat brand! Six millions, in four years! I don’t have anything to say to this. He is planning to use Grand Cherokee platform to produce Maserati SUV, which would definitely fail. Also use Chrysler’s chassis for next generation Alfa Romeos. This does not sound very promising for six millions target.

In meantime, VW is interested on Ferrari. They thought, we destroyed Lamborghini and it is not enough for us, let’s destroy another Italian brand. Let’s put Audi A8’s buttons to Ferrari, replace the instrument panel with stupid looking Audi’s Red LCD screens. Then replace the keys with same keys from Skoda, add some more senseless Audi technology and use the VW EOS chassis for next generation Ferrari. This is a flash forward of Ferrari, if it is owned by VW. Also Lamborghini would be annoyed by the presence of Ferrari and they will try to sell to someone else.

Pictures' Copyrights

Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Ferrari

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Sex Sells with MiTo Diesel

Travelling with plane in economic class is one of the unpleasant ways of transportation. It is just offering enough space for people who do not exist, you cannot sleep, you cannot feel comfortable. Also you have to arrange your luggage limit to 23 kilos and you have to drive to airport which is in the middle of nowhere and land to an airport which is in the middle somewhere. Basically if you are not travelling with first class, this is the usual way for travelling long distances.

However today I discovered another way ;) I drove Alfa Romeo MiTo diesel. That’s a diesel powered Alfa Romeo, but it is not like ordinary diesels. As I mentioned before, it is offering 320 newton metres of torque which is enough to tow moon from 1,6 litre engine. And it produces 120 horsepower. But the torque turns the travel into first class pleasure.

MiTo is a small car to compete with snob Mini. I don’t like Mini because all snobs are driving it, therefore I always ignored. And also it is too much German for a British! But the MiTo is totally something else. With this enormously powered diesel engine you ignore all the annoying details.

I really don’t like manual gearbox. I know many people are saying “I can control the car with manual, automatic is blab la”. Sorry I have never ever agree with you, the best automatic for me especially double clutch ones. But MiTo diesel does not offer automatic with diesel. Does it annoy me? Of course no! It is the best manual car to buy and to drive! And this lunatic diesel revs up to 5000 rpm. I cannot realize how it reaches to 5000 rpm so quickly. First gear 5000 rpm, second gear 5000 rpm and I couldn't realize how it happened some quickly. This engine is lunatic :)

After my journey with MiTo, I found the alternative way to travel long distance. Diesel MiTo! With MiTo, you don’t have to worry about ticket prices, luggage limitations, you can eat whatever you wish to eat, you can choose whom to seat next to you and it will be enjoying. If I had a MiTo diesel, I would definitely travel to Birmingham with it.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Alfa Giulietta: Hard to pronounce but worth to drive!

I really don’t like to talk about test drive experience of mine. It is a limited conversation, I cannot discuss about other subject that easily. And also you can drive the car and have your own opinion.

However I am breaking this principle for Alfa Romeo Giulietta. This new Alfa Romeo is a replacement of 147. And it is nearly impossible to pronounce it properly. Nissan Qashqai was the hardest brand to be pronounced but Giulietta replaced its place :)

This new Alfa Romeo is a competitor for VW Golf, Ford Focus, Audi A3, BMW 1 Series, Mercedes A Class, Seat Leon. But it is totally different its competitors. I do know that you will be thinking, this is an Alfa and it will definitely break down. Hopefully that’s old story, Alfa is not a catastrophe anymore.

Giulietta is a new chapter for Alfa Romeo, it is not cheaply built. You can feel the renaissance! And Alfa’s desire to erase its bad reputation. Hopefully it is really good car. It is not a luxury like an Audi A3 but it drives much better than an A3! The DNA button next to gear lever, is a civilized version of Ferrari’s manettino. You can choose between Dynamic, Normal and All Weather. And magic happens with Dynamic!

The magic happens inside the corner, mostly front wheel drive cars have very high tendency to under steer and hit to tree directly. This is very usual and expected behaviour from ridiculous front wheel technology. And you don’t push throttle inside a corner but with Dynamic mode, you can push inside the corner with Giulietta.

I don’t care about other things, I don’t care whether it has xenon headlights or park sensors. The engine, electronic and drive train have a great harmony and you don’t pay attention to the rest. Giulietta is one of the most enjoying car I have driven for long time. Even though it has four doors but you never feel that you are driving a family hatchback!