| Sad to say, these days there are not many | | | | The cut-off tail, which comes from the fact that |
| Italian sports cars. There are the Ferrari and | | | | the wheelbase is quite long for a two-seater also |
| Lamborghini supercars, and Pagani exotic cars, but | | | | looks odd from some angles. Yet, when you look |
| no smaller sports cars. Fiat has tried in the past. | | | | at the car as a whole, you can see that Pininfarina |
| There was the 124 coupe, which had a Ferrari | | | | did a good job, but was stuck with the basic |
| engine, and the lovely little X-19. | | | | underbody of a sedan. |
| These days, Fiat still makes the Barchetta, which | | | | I found the performance was good without being |
| is rather dull really, but now along comes Alfa | | | | exceptional, the V-6 3.2 liter engine giving quite |
| Romeo with a sporty looking two-seater - the | | | | good acceleration when revved up. This model |
| Alfa Spider. | | | | had four-wheel drive, which was just as well, |
| I recently road tested one, and was rather | | | | otherwise it would have been getting wheelspin all |
| disappointed because I was expecting a sports | | | | over the place. |
| car to be delivered. The Spider looked different | | | | The transmission is biased so that more power is |
| from what I had expected. It looked so high and | | | | sent to the rear wheels, which gives good |
| chunky. Not sleek and low which is what you | | | | traction and handling. In fact, the car handles very |
| want for a sports car. | | | | well, and on slow, wet corners you can slide the |
| This is not just a question of the car looking | | | | tail a little. |
| flashy, but the lower the car the lower of the | | | | Even so this Alfa Spider is a bit of a puzzle. The |
| center of gravity which improves cornering and | | | | engineers were obviously limited in what they |
| braking. | | | | could do with the underbody to make a sporty |
| As high as a hatchback | | | | car, and the stylists just could not hide the height |
| When I was out driving the car, I kept being | | | | of the thing. My guess is that Pininfarina actually |
| surprised at how high I was and found that I was | | | | drew something lower and longer, and then it was |
| actually sitting just as high in a sedan or | | | | shortened and made taller to suit the underbody |
| hatchback of the same size. On top of that it has | | | | and driving position of the base model. |
| the fashionable high hood and lower fenders of | | | | A pity really, because the four-wheel drive model |
| many hatches and sedans these days, which are | | | | is quite fun to drive, apart from the dreadfully |
| a complete contrast to the high fenders and | | | | hard ride. But hardly an Italian Sports car. |
| lower hood of true sports cars. | | | | |