| Review: | 2 years 3 months (33,500 miles)
It's been a while since I last wrote some thoughts about the Alp. So I though it was worth doing. The car has never ceased to amuse me. It has a pretty boring life during the week, and doesn't really get to do many miles c. 12 a day - and those are all done in traffic. Most miles are done at the weekend and these tend to be long distance runs
The car still suprises me - and when I have driven other fast cars - the Alp never feels slow in comparison. And further more the suspension always feels really good - never harsh and never soft - regardless of the road conditions the car always feels routed to the road. In fact the more you trust the car the better it gets.
Also the car's electronics are very forgiving and makes the car feel safe even when you push a little too far. I have tried pushing it to the extreme with a 90 degree bend and full throttle in second - the result is the car cutting the power during the turn and then giving it large once the car is straight.
Off the line the traction control does interfer a little too soon - I have had a couple of nightmare traffic light incidents one with a stranger and one with Rich in his Evo. In the first I put too much welly down and the traction control intervened - the result I got wasted off the line - but by 3rd gear I was back in front. Still it was still embarassing. The second one with Rich was worse - I switched the traction control off and gave it large - after all the Evo has 320bhp and 0-60 in 4.2secs. The result ? About 2 mm off the tyres, some smoke and bugger all movement. I only started gaining on Rich in 5th !! As a rule I now don't really use 1st that much - set off slow and then boot it in 2nd.
I have had some good times in the car - mixing it with a Porsche Boxter and Boxter S, Corbra kit car, Porsche 911 Carrera 4, Mitsubishi Evo (no not Rich), BMW 330ci, BMW 735i - on the whole the Alp has compared well. | |
