PCP question.

Grumpy_chap

Are car interiors one of the oddities where the cheaper interior is actually harder wearing than the more expensive interior? Yes, the cheaper interior might not be as "nice" and might be more prone to squeaks, but it is still harder wearing.

forgotmyname

Unique Italian Sporty Look? Are you sure? Have you ever seen an Alfa Arna? :)

Spoiler it's a Nissan Cherry. :)

Mildly_Miffed

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080927#Comment_82080927

No, obviously not that recently…

The good ol' days, when Alfa made PROPER Alfas like…

…and didn't just rebadge generic other stuff like…

Goudy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080927#Comment_82080927

The Alfa Romeo Nissan Autoveicoli was unique for Alfa, yes it was hideous and terrible but it was pretty much a one off hideous car for Alfa at the time. (all the rest looked fantastic but were mainly terrible)

The idea was right as BL showed with the Acclaim but they got the deal the wrong way around by agreeing to build Japanese bodies in salty Southern Italy with disinterested, cheap labour. Then fitting Italian engines, gearboxes and electrics, though the Ti engine was a cracker if a little fussy on servicing.

Plenty of government owned or backed car manufacturers of the time turned out hideous and terrible car after hideous terrible car, like British Leyland. Don't forget you could still buy a Maxi, Allegro or Marina (or the "you aren't fooling anyone" Ital) in the early 1980's, so back then it didn't stick out like a sore thumb in the car world, just an oddity everyone knew wouldn't sell.

It's a shame as with time they could have developed it into a reasonably good, but still a pretty ugly car. But a few years after launch Fiat bought Alfa and pulled the plug on it.

Of course it's a low point in Afla's history, but it's wasn't the norm back then. Once Fiat owned Afla, there were plenty of badge engineering and platform sharing, the last of which is now normal for the car industry.

The likes of the ARNA was a front runner in collaboration, before companies swallowed others and badge engineered all their group cars.

facade

In The Olden Days I had a colleague with a late 70s GTV. That was a nice looking car from the outside, including from the rear (A lot of "classic" cars like the Spider were beautiful so long as you didn't look at them from further towards the rear than perpendicular to the door handles!).

Unfortunately on the inside, the rev counter was in a pod behind the steering wheel, but the speedo was on the passenger side in a separate pod mounted in the middle.

As I recall, he had it resprayed in 1982 (can't think why…) and was forever messing with the electrics.

On the rare occasion that everything came together it went very well though!