>>Revisiting Two Classics - TR7 versus the Alfa Romeo 2000

Revisiting Two Classics
TR7 versus the Alfa Romeo 2000

As many a motoring journalist will tell you, beauty is often alleged to be in the eye of the beholder, or in this case the ignition key holder.

Taking a look at these two former rivals, from the safety and security of history we can now look back and see what we possibly failed to appreciate in one and positively eulogized in the other.

With regards to the two cars, opinion was a little different over 20 years ago.

The common consensus at the time was that the TR 7 was ugly and the Alfa Romeo Spider was elegant and rather beautiful. How opinions have changed in the ensuing years.

Sure looking back at the Spider, the Pinninfarina designed curves are all elegant and timeless but the sharply angular TR 7 scrubs up quite well over the years too.

If we take a look at the specifications we get a rough idea of what we're dealing with. With the TR 7 in 1981 you got a 2 Litre engine (1998cc actually) that developed 105bhp @ 5500rpm and it had a torque of 119lb/ft @ 3500rpm. The transmission had a five speed manual gear box. There was rack and pinion steering. The wheels were 13 x 5.5 alloys and the tyres were 185/70x13 with disc brakes on the front and drum brakes on the rear.

How dated is this car? Well it had a 0 to 60 of 9.6 seconds and a top speed of 112 miles an hour. Performance that probably doesn't even match a brand-new Ford focus nowadays. However back in the eighties this car had a certain amount of cool.

Turning our spy glass round to view the Spiders specs in the late seventies and early eighties Alfa Romeo presented us with the following.

An engine that was just under 2 Litre (1962cc in fact) and this in turn provided 150bhp @ 6000rpm (compare that with the 105bhp @ 5500rpm of the TR7), The Torque was 132lb/ft @ 3750rpm. The transmission had a five speed manual box, the wheels were 4.5x15 steel alloys and tyres were 165x15. The car had disc brakes all round and had a 0-60 of 9.1 seconds and top speed of 120mph.

Looked at this way and there really is no comparison.

The overall comparison on both cars is favourable to be honest and both cars have their legions of fans. For the TR7, one opinion given was that it was “nice and clean to look at, basically uncluttered. Just a straightforward easy to look at car.” Fans liked the wedge shape of the car believing that this may contribute positively to better road holding. Hmmm?

With regards to the Spider, fans always believed that ever since the car was featured in the Dustin Hoffman film The Graduate in 1967, the shape of the spider has always been considered sexy. The problem with values nowadays is that you can buy good a TR7 for less than half the price of a good spider.

Perhaps that makes common sense?

Scott James writes about a number of Auto issues such as Car Dealers in Manchester and Nevada Driver Education. A keen proponent of all aspects of free and independent services available, he advises clients to look at the financial implications of Auto Insurance matters available.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

By: Scott James

>>BMW versus Mercedes – Quality Car Shoot Out!

BMW versus Mercedes
Quality Car Shoot Out!

It has long been the considered opinion now among most analysts within the automobile industry and certainly among journalists who closely monitor the automobile industry. That of all of the car companies that go to make up the automobile manufacturing industry in Europe, the two German companies BMW and Mercedes Benz represent a large chunk of the quality end of the market.

With the latest offerings released by both BMW and Mercedes-Benz is quite easy to understand why they represent the quality end of the industry. Mercedes-Benz has their new CL Coupé which is rightly getting rave reviews and plaudits across the border whilst BMW of matching them neck and neck with their new three series convertible, the 335i convertible.

In many areas the performance of these two cars is quite similar but one area where they are vastly different is the own the road price. The BMW comes in at around the $78,000 mark whilst the Mercedes can be had for a mere $163,000 for one of the lower end specification models.

Yet if you look at the cars themselves the performance isn't actually represented accurately by the vastly different price tag. To sum up briefly with the Mercedes you get a 5.5 L engine that develops 383bhp, will get you from naught to 62 miles an hour in 5.4 seconds and has a top speed of 155 miles per hour.

Surprisingly, the BMW though having a prize tag that is roughly half that the Mercedes does not supply specifications that are vastly different. For the time being, with the BMW you get a 3 Litre engine that develops 302bhp, gets you from naught to 62 miles an hour in 5.8 seconds (only .4 of a second slower than the Mercedes) and has a top speed too of 155 miles per hour.

So as you can see what the Mercedes you get top-end specifications matched with a top-end specification price and certainly if you have the cash you won't be disappointed with the Mercedes CL. It won't let you down on the design stakes; it'll look good in front of both the home and the office. It will certainly impress the neighbours as well as your colleagues in the squash club. Your bank manager might not be quite so happy however but then if you can afford to drive this Mercedes, problems with your bank manager should be the last thing on your mind.

That having said, the BMW won't let you down in any of the above areas either and with a very similar performance to that of the Mercedes at a fraction of the price you could almost afford to buy one for both the home and the office and still have cash to spare to take the family for a very nice holiday.

There are certainly no prizes for guessing which of the above would make your bank manager very happy but at the end of the day if you can afford to drive either of the cars above, to be brutally blunt who gives a damn about the bank!

Scott James writes about a number of Auto issues such as Car Dealers in Manchester and California Driver Education. A keen proponent of all aspects of free and independent services available, he advises clients to look at the financial implications of Auto Insurance matters available.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

By: Scott James

>>Battle of the Mega Cars – Ferrari v Bugatti v Jaguar

Battle of the Mega Cars
Ferrari v Bugatti v Jaguar

I guess the 1980’s had to leave many a legacy of which, greed, avarice, dodgy haircuts, box jackets and designer stubble were but a few! Their was however another hidden legacy that carried right through to the 1990s and that was the development and manufacture off ridiculously expensive and massively overpowered very elite road cars.

I guess if you had the cash to splash around on any of the beasts that we're about to talk about then you didn't really have to worry about most of the day to day mundane issues that most of the rest of us have to fret about.

Here we are going to take a nostalgic look at the Ferrari F40, the Jaguar XJ220 pounds and last but not least the Bugatti EB1 10SS.

These were really well and truly the big beasts off their day and quite frankly had performance figures and specifications that would frighten you almost as much as the price tag.

I guess though, as is being said on many an earlier article if you had the cash to splash on any of these three vehicles then you wouldn’t really have to give a damn about many other problems anyway.

Let's take a look briefly at the various specifications of these beasts. The Ferrari F40 had 32 valve V8 2936cc engine that developed 478bhp @7000 rpm and had a maximum torque of 426lb/ft @4000 rpm. It had a five speed manual transmission driven from the rear wheels, rack and pinion brakes and a naught to 60 of 4.6 seconds and a speed that topped out at almost 3 times the legal speed limit at 202 miles an hour. The price tag was, wait for it a staggering $328,000. There were only ever 1315 of the F40 made between 1997 and 1992.

The Jaguar XJ220 on the other hand had a 24 valve V6 3498cc engine that developed 542bhp @6500 rpm and had a maximum torque of 473lb/ft @4500 rpm. It had a five speed all-synchro transaxle driven from the rear wheels. It had servo assisted ventilated disc brakes and a naught to 60 of over a staggering 3.6 seconds! The top speed was reputed to be 211.9 miles an hour and the price tag at the time would have set you back a cool $850,000! Was there any surprise that there were only ever 218 of these cars ever built between 1991 and 1992.

Lastly let's look at the Bugatti. The EB11 OSS had a 60 Valve V12 3500cc engine that developed 603bhp @8250rpm and had a maximum torque of 479lb/ft @ 4250rpm. The Bugatti had a six speed manual transmission that was driven from all four wheels. Like the HJ 228 had servo assisted ventilated disc brakes and claimed a naught to 60 of 3.1 seconds! The top speed of the Bugatti was again claimed to be 218 miles an hour. The prize tag was a mere $576,000. Again like the XJ220 production tally barely got into three figures with 123 cars being built between 1992 and 1995.

Truly it could have been said that if you had been a proud owner of any one of the above and actually took it out on the road to drive then you possibly had more money than sense. That having been said, again if you actually had the money to own one of these cars then you wouldn't have had to give a damn about what other people thought anyway!

Scott James writes about a number of Auto issues such as Car Dealers in Manchester and Oklahoma Driver Education. A keen proponent of all aspects of free and independent services available, he advises clients to look at the financial implications of Auto Insurance matters available.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

By: Scott James