ALFA Romeo Spider test drive since 2006.

In spider networks

Look around: silver Mercedes, black BMW, dark blue Audi, crowds of ten indefinite stripes of real experiences, real feelings give other machines. Such as this Alfa Romeo Spider. This is a passion, it is a thirst for life. This is a rebellion against everyday life.

 

Behind the cold, behind the stupid and declining spring. The coveted summer has come! It will bring the sun and heat, which in our area are depressingly few. We sincerely, to despair, hope that it will bring. We, the northern inhabitants, do not want to miss every hearing ray of light, every touch of hot wind! For many summer, it's time to enjoy the freshness of the tinted twilight by the freshness of the freshness, sticking with your skin to the skin of the seats. But is the most scarce time of the year worthy of such neglect?
 
After the prolonged grayness of the depressive winter, any irrational acts are obviously justified. Look around: silver Mercedes, black BMW, dark blue Audi, crowds of ten indefinite stripes?! Yes, let it have logic in these machines, it makes sense, but they have no emotions. Everything is too practical and therefore the same. Real experiences, real feelings give other cars. Such as this Alfa Romeo Spider. This is a passion, it is a thirst for life. This is a rebellion against everyday life.
 
Alfa is selfish and altruistic at the same time. She shows out the ego of her owner, not allowing him, with all the desire to hide from universal attention, even under the tarpaulin of the raised roof. And even more so in an open car. You will be studied, examine, look inside. And they will discuss. To whom exhibitionism is alien to, the purchase of a spider is strictly contraindicated. However, like any convertible. But the desire to stand out from the Opel-Folkswagen crowd will be realized as efficiently as possible! And Spider can be called a decoration of any landscape, any landscape. This car will delight any eye, not clouded by primitive envy. The internal freedom and the relaxation of the individual who chose such a aesthetic means of self -expression will certainly be appreciated. Such a machine adds bright colors to our faded world, makes it more friendly, full, tangible.
 
But Alfa appears to herself not only because it is all open and piercing red. She is very daring, unusual and undoubtedly attractive. This is a model of a typically Italian approach to the design of sports machines: expressive substetricians on the body (remember Fiat Coupe) and the oblique cut of the trunk (just like Fiat Barchetta). Immediately you can see a car with style and character.

  

I must say right away: there is no question of any helpless coquetry. Opponents should not be seduced by a two -liter nameplate on the trunk lid here is very angry two liters. With the failure of the bottom, the motor furiously pulls at high speeds, scoring the district with the sound of a screw fighter. Despite the open body with its not always sufficient twisting to twist, Spider turns with phenomenal ease, and he behaves remarkably on the arc of the trajectory, willingly reacting to any action by a steering wheel or accelerator. Not a hint of slack!
 
At the same time, the car frankly does not like bad roads. Not only that the suspension regularly transfers all the details of the relief to the body, but the case also breathes on irregularities, and the mirrors are shaking. Still, not everything is safe here with stiffness. However, it is difficult to require any outstanding indicators from a ten-year-old machine, technological progress has gone far ahead. There are other disadvantages. First of all, the fuzzy work of the gearbox lever is annoyed: to understand that the program has turned on, you will understand, but what?
 
There are troubles with a soft top. Firstly, it is deprived of an electric drive, and it is impossible to order it. It’s good that handling him does not require ingenuity and special efforts. Secondly, with a raised top, Spider loses his charm at once: a tarpaulin superstructure is frankly rude and primitive. Thirdly, the loose fit of the tent to the body in the rear casts in doubt the operation of the machine in the cold period.
 
However, what am I talking about? Passion for practicalism when evaluating such cars is unacceptable, since it does not leave them the right to exist. Meanwhile, just like such spiders-toders catch more hard than any business sedan packed under the eyeballs, entangled with their networks. Why? Because this is a challenge of everyday life and sophisticated pleasure. How great it is to feel summer, to be with the wind on an equal footing! Not just to breathe, but to feel the air of freedom. To break out of the circle and show this way out to others.

 
The car was provided by the Center-Spraz company, the official importer Alfa Romeo/Fiat/Lancia
During the test, the car is insured by LLC Nation Center.
 
Text: Leonid Klyuyev
Photo: Roman Ostanin
 
 
 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 80/2004]