Ross_K wrote: 28 Sep 2022, 22:37
Hi and welcome, fellow Alfa owner!
Thank you! I somehow find it natural for an Alfa owner to get a Citroen.
Hydro-Cits, at least.
Alfa was a passion thing for me, my 156 is a rare spec for Turkey. I intend to keep it for my daughter, 6 years old now. She'll have the keys after she proves she's worthy (i.e. she won't kill anybody, including herself driving the 156
).
There are a number of reasons I ended up with these cars but the most important one is, I prefer cars to "my specs". To me, most mainstream models are a compromise. The Passat, very popular in Turkey, is a great car. The problem is, it does everything well, but it's not there in any disciplines I'm looking at.
So I wanted "A 156, year 2003 (Mk1.5 for Turkey), Selespeed, Rosso Alfa (130B/B) color, tan interior, Sportwagon for the looks". For that car, I didn't need much of practicality, nor that "oh, was that a pothole? Now I know why those other cars dropped to a crawling speed [takes a sip from his coffee]" attitude. I wanted to tell if it's heads or tails just by driving over a coin on the road. So came 156 (though couldn't find a SW).
Then I needed something else when my daughter was born. Specs were: Safety (passive and active), comfort, practicality, especially for long roads I do with my family. No need for sporty pretensions. A Mk1 Phase 2 C5 with H3+ suspension was the perfect fit.
A couple years later, my wife had to move to a different city for work. I needed a car that would transport me 300km away every Friday and back on Sunday, regardless of weather and road conditions, through mountain passes on heavy snow, pothole-ridden backroads, preferably at constant speed, for a year. Even the auto-headlights are not necessary. Xantia with H2 suspension was the answer. I liked the car so much that it's my 4th year with the car.
So far, I'm happy with my decisions. Though the Alfa and Xantia need some repairs to put them on the road.
