Leaderboard

Hi all! I joined a while back, just enjoyed watching what was on this forum. Much less hostile than certain other forums... Anyway, until about April I had a fairly standard GTV 3.0 V6 24V, in metallic silver, but with green calipers[emoji13], a Wizard exhaust[emoji15], and a few other bits and bobs. A great car, but still needed much doing to it, such as suspension refresh, bodywork issues etc etc. I had spent around £3000 in 6 months running up to March this year[emoji33] on things such as GTA clutch and flywheel, Quaife, Wizard exhaust etc etc. It was at the point where although I had spent so much already, buying an already better GTV may be slightly better financially. Now I know these cars are for the heart and not the head, however I needed to start saving for a house, and spending £3k every 6 months is just too much. Now I, like many, had been watching the Alfaholics GTV that had been on sale since around November 2013, dreaming and wishing, but not really seriously looking at buying it. It was around £8000 at this point. Considering all the Alfaholics bits on it it was still amazing value, but out of my price range. Anyway, getting back on track, by March it had dropped under £6000. Using man-maths I realised that this was by far the best value for money GTV when taking all parts and servicing into account. Best of all I could now afford it! So now a gentleman who lives about 10 miles away from me owns the silver beast, and the fully loaded Alfaholics Nuvola GTV is mine! Needless to say, it drives utterly differently to the previous car. In some aspects it's probably difficult to say what individual mods make which difference as there are many mods in many areas, but the most noticeable is the handling. It is so much more composed, much less body roll, and you can feel the wheels are in contact with the tarmac more often, rather than pitter-pattering over rough surfaces. The ride is firm, yet more comfortable, even though it has 17" teledials as opposed to the 16"s on ol' Silver. The brakes are also of note. I haven't been on track, but on fast road driving, they are utterly faultless. Fade free, powerful yet not sharp so smooth fast braking is an ease. Not to mention they look huge and fantastic![emoji7] The full Alfaholics exhaust also has a lovely, cultured tone, very far removed from the mind-blowing yet raucous Wizard. Still miss the Wizard sound sometimes though... The only minor thing that does need doing is a couple of bodywork dinks, and a staggering amount of stone chips on the nose. But it is rust free and solid, so this is purely cosmetic, and I bought it (mainly) for its mechanical attributes. Nevertheless, the Azzurro Nuvola paint is beautiful, and full Aero kit and teledials is just classic. Main mods are: Alfaholics bits: Full exhaust and sports cat Handling kit Big brake kit Recaro sports seats Pipercross drop in air filter Other mods: Q2 diff GTA lightweight clutch and flywheel Koni front dampers Ferodo DS2500 brake pads HID full headlight upgrade Alpine CDA-9855r stereo Upgraded speakers Probably more but I can't remember! Also fully loaded from factory, so Azzurro Nuvola paint, factory sunroof, and Blue-style interior. This really is a very special GTV, and hope to share my experience with you all! Many thanks for reading and having me on this forum, James.