An Italian wins Car Of The Year, amazing!

[willowstreetguzziguy]

Alfa Romeo Giulia was named Motor Trend car of the year! Amazing for an Italian company that came back from the dead.

“There is sorcery in this car,” road test editor Chris Walton says. “The Giulia fills the space vacated by BMW. Yet even at the apex of its reign, a 3 Series never rode this well or cornered with such poise and precision simultaneously.”

Amazing!!!      Can you imagine if they bought Moto Guzzi!!!!!!

[Aaron D.]

I really like the look of the car-but my goodness, the problems they seem to have on test..

[Markcarovilli]

Nice car but a little small or I am too big....

Mark

[Moto]

I sort of recall that a Guzzi won the cruiser of the year award from Cycle World around the late 1990's. This didn't solve the company's problems in the U.S. I hope Alfa/Fiat can do better.

Moto

P.S. I recently read a review somewhere of the Alfa Stelvio SUV that made me absolutely want to run out and buy one. Maybe the new Alfas really are great!

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

The Chevrolet Vega won Car of the Year in '71, so I don't find that award all that impressive. 

[Roebling3]

Good shot Charlie. And then they died. And few know where they can see one, no. I know a place in ME where a Vega was pushed off a manmade cliff. Rolling sideways over boulders and stopping rubber up left nothing to attract salvager.  R3~

[PJPR01]

Agreed!  Beautiful design...would like to take one for a ride.  Saw the Giulia and Stelvio side by side here
In Scottsdale.  Very stylish!

[PeteS]

The Chevrolet Vega won Car of the Year in '71, so I don't find that award all that impressive. 

In 1978 it was the Plymouth Horizon. We had one. It would literally fall apart as you drove down the road. Turn signal lenses fell off, mirrors and sun visors would fall in your lap. Alternator bracket would snap in two........

Pete

[Arizona Wayne]

The worst cars I've ever driven is a new `70 Ford Pinto and a Chevy Vega loaned to us when our `75 Toyota Corona wagon was being repaired after my wife got rear ended. 

[twowheeladdict]

The Chevrolet Vega won Car of the Year in '71, so I don't find that award all that impressive. 

Cosworth Vega was a fun car.  The fisher body didn't like the salt that is for sure.  My Dad got 100,000 miles out of his '72 base model commuter before the rust kept it from passing inspection.

I married into an '80 Monza 4 speed.  We kept that car 14 years and only sold it because we found ourselves with 3 vehicles while temporarily assigned to Red River and could only move two to our next location. 

When they put that little 8 in the Skyhawk, now that was a fun car!

[Chesterfield]

All I can say is that a payment of let`s say 1 Million Shekels, would surely be paid of quickly in revenue from increased sales due to being car of the year.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Cosworth Vega was a fun car.  The fisher body didn't like the salt that is for sure.  My Dad got 100,000 miles out of his '72 base model commuter before the rust kept it from passing inspection.

I married into an '80 Monza 4 speed.  We kept that car 14 years and only sold it because we found ourselves with 3 vehicles while temporarily assigned to Red River and could only move two to our next location. 

When they put that little 8 in the Skyhawk, now that was a fun car!

On the flip side, my '73 was already a rust bucket in '79, despite the original owner being meticulous in it's care. Head gasket blew at 50k, engine was done shortly afterwards.

[wymple]

GM could have easily fixed the early Vega problems with decent rustproofing and a sleeved block. The engine warping was solely the result of having a less than 50-50 mix in the antifreeze. A little customer education could have prevented that. GM, like so many others, would rather play the denial card, like Ford with the Pinto gas tanks. For all the trouble, my 72 was one of the most fun cars I've ever had. It was a real handler with a decent set of radials.

[Johncolleary]

My wife and I test drove the Stelvio and we were both very impressed.
I would buy one.

[Lcarlson]

In 1969 I bought my first brand new car, an Alfa Romeo Berlina 1750 sedan. It wasn’t very good looking, but man, did it drive! Hindsight is undoubtedly deceptive, but to this day it seems like it was the best handling car I ever owned. I’m sure that if I could drive it today as it came out of the showroom, I’d be hugely disappointed. Fortunately, I can’t.

[Idontwantapickle]

Not a big surprise given that they ranked it better overall in a head to head with 7 other cars:

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/alfa-romeo/giulia/2017/alfa-romeo-giulia-bmw-330i-audi-a4-mercedes-benz-c300-cadillac-ats-jaguar-xe-lexus-is-200t-volvo-s60-comparison/

Alfa makes a fine car even if a press award is meaningless. The above article lays out how the field compares pretty well. I do take it with a grain of salt and I'm gonna buy what I like anyway!

Hunter

[Gliderjohn]

In 1978 it was the Plymouth Horizon.

Believe it or not the Wichita PD used them for radar/traffic control cars. The one and only time I ever out ran a cop, was successful and that was on a GS400
GliderJohn

[PeteS]

Believe it or not the Wichita PD used them for radar/traffic control cars. The one and only time I ever out ran a cop, was successful and that was on a GS400
GliderJohn

The '78 and '79 came with a Volkswagen motor (Rabbit??). It ran pretty well but I doubt would top 100. They had to modify a few parts like the alternator mount (thin stamped steel) to get it to fit in the Horizon.
Its biggest attribute was it a great car in the snow. I think it had a 54-46 front-rear weight bias and was as capable as many 4WDs.

Pete

[John Ulrich]

All I can say is that a payment of let`s say 1 Million Shekels, would surely be paid of quickly in revenue from increased sales due to being car of the year.

Many here may be too young to remember when Motor Trend "sold" the Car of the Year title.   

[blackcat]

Many here may be too young to remember when Motor Trend "sold" the Car of the Year title.   

Renault Alliance/Encore was car of the year sometime in the 80's.  I purchased an Encore, mostly because I needed a car and the Mazda that I really wanted had a long waiting list.  The first week I owned the car, the starter went and it was all downhill from there. Hands down, it was the worst piece of shyte car I have ever owned.

[Dilliw]

Renault Alliance/Encore was car of the year sometime in the 80's.  I purchased an Encore, mostly because I needed a car and the Mazda that I really wanted had a long waiting list.  The first week I owned the car, the starter went and it was all downhill from there. Hands down, it was the worst piece of shyte car I have ever owned.

Did you write this?

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/Articles/2016/08/12/Motor-Trend-owes-me-an-apology

[rss29]

Many here may be too young to remember when Motor Trend "sold" the Car of the Year title.   

I stopped paying attention to the ‘Car of the Year’ award back in about 1990 when they awarded it to the Chevy Caprice. That made me realize the award was for sale as that car clearly wasn’t worthy of an enthusiast award.

[blackcat]

Did you write this?

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/Articles/2016/08/12/Motor-Trend-owes-me-an-apology

The writer was being polite. The last time I saw that car, which I mostly gave away to one of my employee's, it was in the slow lane on the NJ turnpike with both front fender's flapping from the rusted AMC workmanship. I never had a problem with the underpowered Renault engine, which was made in France but the American workmanship was simply awful, and it was the last USA car I have ever purchased.

"Car and Driver formally apologizes for naming the Renault Alliance to the 1983 10 Best Cars list. For the past 26 years, it�s been gnawing at our collective gut like a shame-induced ulcer. The car was trash. We should have known that back then, and it�s taken us too long to confess our grievous mistake. Let this frank admission be the start of our penance.�

[Two Checks]

Quote from: PeteS on Today at 07:29:56 AM

The '78 and '79 came with a Volkswagen motor (Rabbit??). It ran pretty well but I doubt would top 100. They had to modify a few parts like the alternator mount (thin stamped steel) to get it to fit in the Horizon.
Its biggest attribute was it a great car in the snow. I think it had a 54-46 front-rear weight bias and was as capable as many 4WDs.

Pete

The engine was a 1.7 l stroked version of the 1.5 l Rabbit engine that was shipped to Chrysler minus manifolds, carbs and timing components. The Chrysler built 2.2 came along in 81. I had both the 80 Omni with the 1.7 and an 81 Charger 2.2. Both very dependable with regular normal maintenance.

[guzziownr]

The COTY candidates are carefully chosen based on how many advertising dollars the company is willing to spend.  No Ferrari will ever win COTY as they never buy advertising pages.  Has Mercedes ever won?  They have made a big move down market in recent years with minivans and SUVs.

[Aaron D.]

Didn't the Citroen SM win one year, or was that Car & Driver?

[twowings]

Alfa Romeo FTW!



https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-is-how-the-alfa-romeo-tipo-33s-dominated-the-beauty-pageant-and-the-racetrack

[JohninVT]

No one has reviewed the Alfa and NOT had it break down.  They might not say it in their review, but it did.  Go find ten full length tests on the car and at least six will say it left them stranded. 

The Vega warped head/block issues weren’t solely because of anti freeze.  I had one in high school in the 80’s and replaced at least three.  Vegas were like Chevy Chevettes; 90% of them were already in junk yards by 1985 so even though they were unreliable heaps, parts were inexpensive and plentiful so they were perfect for poor, mechanically inclined high school kids. 

[twowheeladdict]

No one has reviewed the Alfa and NOT had it break down.  They might not say it in their review, but it did.  Go find ten full length tests on the car and at least six will say it left them stranded. 

The Vega warped head/block issues weren�t solely because of anti freeze.  I had one in high school in the 80�s and replaced at least three.  Vegas were like Chevy Chevettes; 90% of them were already in junk yards by 1985 so even though they were unreliable heaps, parts were inexpensive and plentiful so they were perfect for poor, mechanically inclined high school kids.

My Dad replaced his Vega with a Chevette for his commuter car.  I think they were the cheapest American cars when he bought them.  They appeared to provide good service as commuter cars.  I have owned some cars that history says weren't great, but I must have been fortunate or take good care of my vehicles.  I had a Vega, Chevy Monza, Hyundai Excel, Ford Aerostar and got great service out of all of them with just routine maintenance care. 

[John Ulrich]

My Dad replaced his Vega with a Chevette for his commuter car.  I think they were the cheapest American cars when he bought them.

I car pooled with friends in the 70's.  I had a 1963 Nova (10 years old) that was head and tails better then the new Vega and Pinto I pooled in.