Hi from Europe

[poohbah]

Its not always strangers in the car park either ...  my wife's efforts parking her car next to mine at home have been the subject of much vigorous discussion! She tells me it is a coincidence that the little marks are all on the side next to her drivers door.

On the suspension set up, I don't know the technical specifications VSixer, it was a factory option with the sport pack (I bought the car in 2012 and am the 3rd owner). But I have driven a 2.0 TS with stock suspension and I was shocked at how floaty it felt, and how much body roll it had around corners, compared to mine.


I think having the V6 has also spoiled me, to the point I'm not sure I could really enjoy any of the fours now. The 2.0 sounded perky enough, but really felt breathless lugging the weight of the car around.

So if I could have another few Alfas in the garage, they'd include the 156 GTA, an 81 GTV6, and perhaps a 164 QV. Though purely on looks, I'd love a 105 too!

[poohbah]

VSixer, I just did a little research, and can advise the the Sportpack suspension option has Eibach springs, which lower ride height by 25mm, with Bilstein dampers.

[TheVsixer]

Poohbah: It has to be difficult to solve this kind of situations My girlfriend doesn't have a driver license now so I'm curious how it will be then.

Suspension: I asked, because it looked much lower than the SP series suspension I thought that you have some aftermarket sport suspension. I had the GTA suspension with 18" wheel but I felt that the wheel are sitting on the road but the body still floats. After I try the XYZ suspension on friends Nissan Almera GT I decided to buy a set for my car and,  I can only recommend The handling is awesome now.

Yep, the 164 QV is another nice piece from Alfas history Btw what it takes to own more cars in Australia? Here in Slovakia, you have to pay insurance, which is charged by the engine capacity, for each car and also you have to visit the technical and emission inspection every 2 years. And it's hard to legalize some modifications :/

[poohbah]

It certainly isn't cheap to own a few cars here, though maybe not as expensive as Slovakia. I'm not sure if it is the same in all states, but you have to pay for injury insurance as part of
your registration, and it is also based on engine capacity. I think my Alfa costs about 500 euro a year to register, but on top of that you also pay accident insurance which is based on the value of your car, and your age, gender and " risk". My nephew who is 19 was going to have to pay 200Euro per month just for third party insurance on a 1.6  Suzuki. But for me, in my 40s, I only pay maybe 550 Euro per year  for full cover on my Alfa. So it gets cheaper, the older you get!

If you have an older classic car, in some states you can get club registration, which is cheaper but means you can only drive it for club events.

[TheVsixer]

Nice, then it is more expensive than in Slovakia. I'm 28 this year and my total costs for Alfa per year are 150€. Well, officially is it about 205€, but it depends who you know. There is always room for some discount. This covers both, injury and third party insurance.

I did a little research about the V6 prices in Australia. I was surprised how many CF3 V6 Alfas I found. Average price was about 4000-5000$. Here in Slovakia, my car has price somewhere around 1000€, CF3 around 3000€

And what bout the modifications? Are they rising the costs of insurance?

Sorry for asking to this kind of information, I'm just curious.

[poohbah]

Yep, plenty of V6s here in Oz, which may be partly because six cylinder cars have traditionally always been favoured here. Though that has changed in more recent times as buyers have downsized to more economical 4s, or upsized to SUVs.

"Modern" Alfas are dirt cheap here. That is due to heavy depreciation mainly because of the perception they are more prone to mechanical/electrical/rust problems than other makes.

As far as modifications go, they can have a massive impact on insurance costs - assuming they pass roadworthy inspection to begin with. Anything considered likely to make you a riskier insurance bet will drive up the price.

[johnperth78]

Hello,
your 156 is really great, the best colur. Did you think about Bilstein absorbers?
Best regards from Perth

[TheVsixer]

poohbah: For example here, the modification not affect the isurance costs. When I finish my project, I do not have to tell anyone about that, well officially i have to, but no one from police, insurance company or technical inspection know the difference between Alfas 2.5 and 3.0 engine. So I'll be able to pay insurance just for the 2.5. Also no one cares about parts like sport suspension or bigger brakes.
The other thing is tail section of the exhaust, or complete exhaust and bigger wheels. It is hard to get permission to fit the bigger wheels than the importer declares. The exhaust you are able to get to the papers when you have original certificate from the producer that declare compatibility with your car model. And even if you have these documents, you come to the police and only a very few people there knows what to do.
That is the reason why many people here does not have the legal modifications.

johnperth78: Hi, if this question was adressed to me: I have fitted the XYZ Supersport coilovers.

[poohbah]

You can also get away with "illegal" mods here by not telling anyone, but if you prang your car and the insurers see mods they aren't aware of, they will refuse to pay out your claim, which could be a big problem, especially if you have hit anyone else's car as well.

The police also keep a look out for obviously modded vehicles. If you do have one, they they will often stop you and go over it with a fine tooth comb. Which generally ends with a yellow sticker, which gives you a month or so to fix any defects, or a red sticker, which means you can't drive the car until its fixed and passes a roadworthy assessment.

[TheVsixer]

Of course, I can only do this with the 2.5 - 3.0 swap, because both engines look identical. Here the police officers take your licence plates and vehicle registration so you have to call tow truck to move your vehicle home, then fix the problems. In case of smaller problem he takes only the vehicle registration and you are able to drive to your home. Fine for both offences is about 60€. So it is something similar to the stickers you mentioned.

The problem here is the bureaucracy, sometime is pretty hard to get the papers back as soon as you fix the problems

So far, it didn't happen to me The only problem could be the xenon headlamps. Fortunately they are from the GTA so they are not like the dazzling HIDs

[poohbah]

Sounds like the constabulary are quite similar in their approach in both countries.

Question - aren't you required to advise the licensing authority of a change in engine number? I understand most people won't spot the difference by looking under the hood, but won't a non-matching engine number create problems with any insurance claims and also if you wish to sell the car later on?

[TheVsixer]

Last, i think 7 years, is the engine part that can be replaced so we don't have  engine number in vehicle registration or in insurance papers. Of course you can replace the engine only for the same type. And there is a room for a little cheating if the both engines look the same.

When you building a track car, just for driving on local race track, you have to register it some special way and pay some special insurance?

[poohbah]

Unfortunately I have no idea what the requirements are for track-only cars. I imagine it would depend on the regulations of the particular class of competition it would be used for, or if it is only for occasional use on track days (so not organised competition), the minimum safety requirement of the particular track.