April

seen them do it. It's the same old Volvo 740 over and over ;-P

v8a6

Ill bet the tobacco-chewing mullets arent signing too many leases either.

afretes

Ahh ... ok!

Turbonater

Which may explain why they fail to follow the reasoning about pricing and value for money.

You may not always get what you pay for but it has been my observation that you almost never get what you don't pay for, you just think you do.

This is an amazing thread provoked by a simple observation. The self impressed goofs on this board responded as moths to a flame, entirely predictably.

Amusing.

April

Ha ha! Saw a sign with prices for ciggs, and it was eye watering. I don't smoke, but yikes!

Turbonater

importance of dealers. I have owned two Alfas both bought new, a GTV6 in the early 80's and a 91 164L I still have.

A big contributor to Alfa departing the North American market in 1995 was ARDONA's blindness to the essentials of creating customer loyalty for its dealers . Mind you, they sold so few cars they probably had no money to do so. The last time Alfa had to depart North America in the mid 80's the factory pretty much abandoned their independent dealers (Alfa has never had a factory presence in North America in reality). This was probably due to FIAT failing to understand the importance of the US market, for probably the fifth time. It will be very tough for Alfa to return, more's the pity.

Contrast this with Audi who stuck by their dealers all through that ridiculous unintended acceleration fiasco and saved their brand. VW/Audi did a masterful job of saving all of their brands. Don't ever think you can rely on the aftermarket to supply all of your maintenance needs if the dealers didn't create and sustain the market first. Even the aftermarket relies on the volume initially created by successful dealerships.

Don't believe me? Buy a post FIAT Alfa Romeo and see what aftermarket support is out there. IN contrast, try buying a pre FIAT Alfa Romeo and the extensive aftermarket STILL rides on the coattails of the old Alfa independent dealer network. I rely on a highly skilled local Italian mechanic who deigns to take a break from fixing Ferraris and Lambos to service my Alfa because he loves the cars. However, the old pre FIAT Alfa dealer is still in business 20 years after the factory left and can still service the cars and find the parts if need be.

April

for either. Sounds like yours was another story.

The dealers were fading out when I got my car in the early 90s - and too far for me to visit. But the owner network is strong and I've had no problems getting parts same day or next day.

As you may recall, Audi was within a hair of pulling out of North America. The low point was selling 14,000 cars in 1991. Had they dropped even closer to 10,000, they would have pulled out. When I first worked at the dealer, it was a shoe-string operation that was very much a second class citizen, with VW carrying the dealer. You couldn't sell an Audi to save your soul. Totally unrecognizable now.

The A3 is my "work" car, an Alfa the fun the car:-)

Visti

I liked it better when you didnt come to this forum.

v8a6

100GUY

Anyone ever deal with Tod in parts?(guy with the spikey hair). The guy is a freaking encyclopedia. He dosen't even look up parts. You ask, he goes and get them(or not, but he knows what they have) and sets you up. He is specially good on older Audis. If you need anything I would refer you to ask for him personally. Nice guy.....helpful....and will go out of his way to make sure you have what you need.