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Viva La Lancia!!


Jazzy Jeff

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Jesus!!! That is one UGLY bastard!!!I'm iallowed to say that as I've fell from the ugly tree, hit each branch on the way, then my head caught fire, and someone tried to put it out with a shovel. So there.The new Fulvia is dreamy though...........

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I must stick up for the Thesis here - it is a very good-looking car in the flesh, massively more so than photos convey. It's styled along retro-1930s lines - no bad thing as I consider this the absolute high point of elegant car styling. Also built like a tank and supremely high quality inside and out, as they're virtually hand-made because the line moves so slowly. I'd buy one, anyway. Allegedly they are coming back, yes. Personally, will believe it when I see it - I know that Alfa dealers are none too keen to be saddled with a(nother) dead albatross, apart from which I think there is a 110% chance the new Delta is going to bomb spectacularly in the UK. Even the Bravo doesn't sell and that doesn't have the problem of a maker ranked slightly lower in the public consciousness than aforementioned syphilis.

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When in Rome... watch out for all the politicians and Important People being driven around in menacing looking dark blue & black Thesiseses with a blue light on the roof. I loved them, they look so right over there.

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I know that Alfa dealers are none too keen to be saddled with a(nother) dead albatross, apart from which I think there is a 110% chance the new Delta is going to bomb spectacularly in the UK. Even the Bravo doesn't sell and that doesn't have the problem of a maker ranked slightly lower in the public consciousness than aforementioned syphilis.

What other dead albatross' have there been?Why is the UK so anti Italian car? It's not as if other countries offerings' haven't had their problems at various times & with various models!
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What other dead albatross' have there been?Why is the UK so anti Italian car? It's not as if other countries offerings' haven't had their problems at various times & with various models!

How many do you want? Alfa 166 is just one example. The issue with Italian cars has always been abysmal after sales, crap parts delivery and a general shiteness about the whole Fiat-Alfa dealer network that works hand in hand with the infuriating nature of the cars. Most people who have owned a new Italian car have had aggro. That's why they bought a VW or a Toyota the next time round.You want a Fiat throttle cable from the factory when it's on holiday? Tough luck, you can wait until the lazy bastards are back at work. I worked for a Fiat dealer in the nineties and it was just unbelievable. After enduring ten minutes of having a woman yelling at me as to why she could not have her Fiat Coupe in working order for over 2 weeks, that was the last straw after 3 months dealing with exasperated owners of Italian crap. I walked out and never went back. Bollocks to references, anything Fiat related from that moment on was verboten.I needed a wheelbearing last week for a 1970 BMW 2002. I ordered it on a Tuesday morning from a main dealer and it was there the next day, from stock. That says it all.The Thesis looks like a Wolseley 16/60 viewed through the bottom of a beer glass after a potent LSD trip, absolutely vile. If Lancia designed a bicycle it would have an alcantara saddle and square wheels.
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I think the old Lancia Beta rust scandal did most for their reputation. Bear in mind in 1978 Lancia sales in the UK actually exceeded those of BMW.I wouldn't say that the UK is anti-Italian car per se - small Fiats have always sold reasonably well - but I think the issues are down to poor dealer service and design/build quality (EDIT: what the Rev' beat me to, above!). Up until recently the Italians haven't really given much thought to what consumers outside the homeland want out of a car, given the enormous market share they have had there.

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I'm an Italian car lover, but I'd probably never buy a new or nearly new one again. After successive problems over the last 2 decades with a Uno, Cinq Sporting and 3 Puntos, the dealers that I have come across have shown themselves to be an amateur bunch of snivelling wasters.I was seriously thinking about a Panda 100hp, having read all the glowing reviews, and went to the local dealership - they didn't have one in (fair enough) but expected me there and then to put down a deposit (at a non-discounted price) having gone to the trouble of showing me a brochure. No attempt to get one in, or even make a call to Fiat to see if there was another in the region. Bollocks to them :evil: I once went to the dealers to get a set of plugs - none in stock would you believe? Bunch of monkeys.They once put an S shaped brake hose on back to front on ex-Beloved's Punto. I was driving it when it severed, and the brakes failed ... they denied point blank it was their doing, despite the car having been in for warranty work to the front brakes the week before. I've got a mate who has an independent Fiat sales and repair business and he prepared a report for us. I threatened court and publicity, and suddenly they remembered, and came back with a cash offer .... But despite all this, they were all great cars to drive (when they were working)

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