Alfa Romeo Spider (1996 - 2005) : THE POSTGRADUATE

Friday June 27

Models Covered: Spider [16V TS Turismo, Lusso, V6 Lusso]

BY JONATHAN CROUCH

For a long time, the Alfa Spider was one of the most evocative names on British roads. The 1996 model featured offered a healthy dose of Latin charisma and some of the best engines youll come across anywhere, the Spider is never anything less than a blast. Naturally, youll have to make some sacrifices if you want to enjoy open top motoring and the Spider will require you to travel light. Its a car that adheres to the grand old traditions of a small weekend bag, your nearest and dearest and the open road.

Its a romantic ideal in a country where the open road is usually on the other side of a diesel-belching juggernaut, but its one weve been keen to buy into. From launch, the Spider was a steady seller for Alfa Romeo and there is no shortage of good quality used cars on the market.

The cabin is nicely done but does feel its age a little and doesnt have the hewn-from-granite feel of the German competition. Perhaps more seriously for an open-topped car, the heater cant really cope with the coldest winter days and you couldnt even specify heated seats to help out as none were offered. Perhaps this would be all right if you lived in Milan but those of us without the benefit of a Mediterranean climate need a little more looking after. The styling is unmistakably Alfa Romeo, from that trademark triangular grille, through those distinctive twin circular headlamps to the classic curves of the pretty rear.

That the Spider feels like an expensive car is thanks to careful touches like the headliner, designed to hide the entire roof mechanism from sight. And, of course, the obvious thought which has gone into creating that mechanism. You simply press a couple of switches to release and pop up the steel lid that covers the roof storage area, undo a couple of catches to fold the hood back and click the lid back into place over it.

The Spider starts at just over £4,300 on a 1996 N plate in Lusso trim, with a 155bhp 2000 V plated example currently retailing for around £7,400. The 3.0-litre 24v models are a little thinner on the ground, but a 2001 Y plated example starts at around £9,100. Insurance for all models is pretty punishing, the 2.

0-litre cars rated at Group 17 and the 3.0-litre model a punitive Group 20. To put that into perspective, a 240bhp VW Golf R32 is rated at Group 17 and a 325bhp BMW M-Coupe is Group 19. The cost may vary depending whether the vehicle has the manual or optional QTRONIC gearbox.

Watch out for cars that have been thrashed and badly repaired. Check for electrical problems and interior creaks and rattles. Make sure the hood operation is functioning properly on Spider models.

(approx based on a 1997 Spider 2.0 Twin spark, excl. VAT) A clutch assembly will be around £205, while a headlamp will set you back £225. A starter motor will be about £194 and an alternator approximately £120.

Brake pads front and rear are about £49 and £53, respectively.

On the road, sixty is just over eight seconds away en route to 130mph in the TwinSpark. If you want more, Milan's gloriously melodic 3.0-litre V6 engine is a unit good enough to make you forget that this is a road, not a race car. If theres a better-sounding engine than this, its difficult to think of it offhand. Theres 220bhp on tap and its enough to make this Spider feel a completely different animal from its 2.

0-litre TwinSpark stablemate. If you can find one of the later 3.2-litre V6 cars, these are better still. Prodigious pulling power is available in any of the six manual gears and in the mid-rev range, the car just surges towards the horizon.

The Spider may not boast contemporary niceties like a folding hard top or stability control electronics, but once youve fired the engine up and blatted the Alfa down the road, you may not care. Track down a well looked after example and youll have a car that only grows better with age.