Which 75 to buy.

[265coupe]

Gidday,

I have already posted this question on a Pommie forum and received some good replies but I am keen on getting an Aussie perspective.

Shortly I'll buy a 75 as my car, the families second. It will be for road use only, spirited of course.

The budget is small but I'll pay a far price for a fair car. That leaves a 2.0l TS or a 2.5l V6. The 3.0l will be out of my price range.

The big question is which model to buy. It'll have to be a manual (no V6 autos thanks).

Please everyone, personal comments on each. Which one is the best balance of performance, handling, reliability, servicabilty and the all important 'grin factor'.

I'm in Qld and there seems to be a lack of available cars but I'm prepared to wait.

One last question. Was a factory sunroof offered in Aus. I have seen cars advertised with both glass and steel sunroofs. I'm keen on one.

Thanks, Mick

[265coupe]

What, is everyone to busy driving their 75 or maybe laying under it fixing something.

[Stephen Aarons]

Hey Mick,
I drive a 75 Twin Spark, its great fun around town and also fairly good on petrol.
The Twin Spark also comes with an LSD, and the 2.5 V6 does not.

Not sure what else to tell you, but hopefully this will motivate others to contribute.

[Anthony Miller]

Hey Mick, I drive a 3.0l 75 which is great, just hold it in 2nd with the window open and it's all worth it, gotta love that noise. I've also owned a twinnie but that was a transplant into a giullietta, needless to say that was a fantastic engine which I can highly recomend plus, as you said, you get the lsd so go the twinnie as everything on the 3.0l is more expensive and difficult to find.As for the sunroof, steel= Factory, glass= aftermarket.
good luck
Anthony

[hammer]

Mick,

I have also owned the 3.0 and the twinspark. The 3.0 did make a sensational noise and had tremendous straight line speed but the twinnie, in my opinion is a better alrounder. I realise you are tossing up between the 2.5 and the 2.0 but I make the comparison as it is still V6 vs 4cyl.

The twinspark is cheaper to run, register and generally repair. It has a decent amount of power, great handling and tremendous feel. I recently bought a 2005 156 TI and to be honest, I wish it was a three year old 75 twinspark!

I converted my twinnie into a club racer and have had an awesome time with it. It has been a great experience learning the fine details of the models as I've slowly made modifications. The twinspark motor in standard form mixes it on the track with several of the modified 4 plug 2 litres.

And yes, they did come with sunroofs as an option in Australia.

I think Julian Lord has a twinspark that he is currently looking to sell in Brisbane. There is very little that Julian doesn't know about twinnies and he has done most of the work on mine. Send me a PM is you would like his details.

Regards,

Brent

[pep105]

Hey Mick,
Many years ago I had the same delema in choosing between the 2.5 and Twinspark. Test drove both and ended up with an 88 Twinspark although wasnt to fussed to have either. The V6 sounds fantastic however the Twinspark has the aforementioned Limo diff as mentioned by Stephen and has the more advanced Bosch Motronic Injection system.

It was part of the series two facelift in early 88 that included the body kit, revised velour interior and instruments same as the 2.5 auto and the first of the 3.0L versions. (2.5 manual had been dropped and was replaced by the Twinspark). All up a great allrouder thats fun and reliable
Cheers
Pep

[deano]

hey mick,

a friend of mine has a TS and I think as a daily, it does a much better job then the v6. personally i havnt driven any 2.5s but from what i can gather, it will cost more when things go wrong and will use more fuel. the 2.5 gives you around the same performance for more fuel. The LSD would sell it for me, there is nothing worse then putting your foot down and spinning the inside wheel like i do in my volvo .

i just bought a 3.0L for the weekend but if i were to replace my daily volvo, the TS would win. its more balanced compared to the v6 as well.

dont worry about the noise factor, i think the TS sounds great anyways!

i've seen some nice ones around lately, there is one in adelaide on car sales that looks good, but he wants a lot for it. you can snap up a good one really cheap if you dont mind a few scratches here and there

good luck!

deano

[Paul Newby]

I'm in the Twin Spark camp as well.

I owned a TS for three years and before buying it I test drove both 2.5 and 3.0 before going with the Twinnie (a late 90 model.)

The 2.5s didn't do anything for me with their open diffs and the earlier interiors weren't up to much.

I didn't get to drive a Potenziata which I think has a 4:1 diff but an early one with the 3.7 (or is it 3.5?) was ridiculously over geared. I don't think I got it out of third on the test drive.

The TS engine is a lot cheaper to maintain than a V6 (really nothing goes wrong) and other issues like power sterring pumps and lousy electrics are common for all models.

To cap it off the TS handles better than any V6 75 (with standard torsion bars) but its handling wasn't a patch on my lightly modded Alfetta 1.8... 

[Tastarga]

I recently bought a very good (original) Twin Spark, and am delighted with it.My research suggested that the TS is the one to go for unless you want the extra power of the 3 ltr V6.

The 2.5 is not the one to go for - motor has some problems, rear self levelling suspension gives some trouble etc. The TS is better balanced (less weight over front wheels), and drives and sounds great.Money wasen't the problem - I wanted a fun daily driver that would double to take my mum out in - bit hard in a coupe! If you google up Alfa 75, you will get several magazine/website reviews that I found helpful.

Bought it in Sydney and drove it back, sat it on "a good speed" for quite a while and averaged 36 MPG from Sydney to Melbourne (7.7ltr/100kms to you young blokes). It was a delightful and beautifully balanced car to drive, and having done only 72k kms, it all works as it should. Only non operative item was oil pressure guage, and the boys at Maranello Pursang motors replaced the sender unit, so EVERYTHING works as it should.

The other reason I chose the TS is that I believe it is by far the "best" engine, for several reasons:

1.Genuine twin cam motor - not single cam per bank.

2.Advanced engineering for its day - variable inlet valve timing,twin spark,etc

3.High specific output - 74BHP/Litre, compared to 62BHP/Litre for 3 litre V6.

4. MOST importantly for me - it has a timing CHAIN, not bloody rubber bands! Ever heard of an F1 car with rubber bands? Much more reliable, and a better solution - not made to a price.

5. All alloy construction.

Interestingly, I considered a more modern Alfa, but the models that ran the TS motor in more recent times are in my opinion a backward step - iron block and rubber bands (saves cost), and the second spark plug is only as a scavenger on the exhaust stroke for pollution reasons - not to shorten the flame front. Also, mechanics tell me the variable valve timing is less reliable on the newer motors.

Furthermore, some of the modern cars don't perform any better (or even as well) as the TS 75 - why? Because they are heavier - have air bags, cup holders and assorted parephenalia that the marketing people tell them thay need - well I don't, a lighter car makes for a much more enjoyable and nimble drive.

In summary, I chose the TS 75 because I think it is greatly under rated, and even an excellent example can be had for $6-$8k - much cheaper than buying an average example for $2-$3 and then trying to get it up to scratch. As the last of the RWD Alfas, with the performance and grin factor it has, I think they are an outstanding buy - even thinking of buying another to put ïn stock"!

The 2 TS's in Adelaide are owned by the Ringwood family, and dad is an Italian car mechanic - they have 4 75's, and the 2 for sale are dads (rebuilt motor) and the sons (White). I believe the sons has been sold - not sure about dads charcoal one, but well worth a look if you are after a top condition car.

Happy hunting!

David

[pep105]

Interesting point raised in the last post as I owned an Alfa 75 Twinspark for 4 years and it was extremly reliable. The car that replaced that was an Alfa 147 which was more expensive to run and required far more maintence.

The Twinspark had 161000 kays when bought and the first 40000 kays were virtually trouble free apart from a water pump, rear discs and doughnuts. The engine was spot on, only oil changes every 5000km and always
ran 98 octane. 

The 147s variator which controls the intake cam phasing for the variable valve timing was on its way out at 40000km and the timing belt changed prior to that and we wont even talk about oil consumption. This was never an issue on the 75. The older 'nord' engines were tough and the Twinspark being the final iteration was great and would run well all the time. The VVTi technolgy used on Toyotas today is a direct copy of what Alfa were doing in 1988.

With the better balaced handling and all the other virtues over 2.5. The jurys out Twinspark it is.
Good Luck with the search mate

[enzo1891]

hey mick if interested i have a black alfa 75 v6 3.0 manuel with reg and rwc for $5500 can call me on 0412 152 816. vince

[DaveB]

IMHO

No decicion, the 2L TS is better, I've had both.  Later models are better.
No point in repeating everone elses points, TS is easiest to look after & better to drive. 2.5 worst.

3L is better only if worked & you want OMG acceleration.