1974 Alfa Romeo Spider Convertible White Restored Fun! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Listen to the 2019 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio's howling Ferrari V6

There's a lot that makes the 2019 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio special, from its name to its handling. But arguably its biggest claim to fame is the twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 under the hood that was derived from a Ferrari engine. It makes 505 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque, and all that grunt goes through an eight-speed automatic transmission on its way to the rear wheels. Being a Ferrari-related engine, it has a suitably impressive exhaust note. Pop it into "Dynamic" mode, and the exhaust opens up. It's plenty loud with higher revs, but quiets down on the highway, avoiding much drone. The note is unique, with a deeper tone than you might expect from the Prancing Horse brand. It also has rippling crackles that occur more naturally than some of its consistently popping competitors from Germany. Take a listen for yourself with the video above.

Alfa Romeo Giulia, Stelvio Quadrifoglio get louder and — literally — greener

Alfa Romeo made several small improvements to the Quadrifoglio variants of the Giulia and the Stelvio as part of its 110th birthday celebrations. The changes make both models safer, more stylish, and quite a bit louder. Outside, the design tweaks are largely limited to new-look LED rear lights with darker lenses and 21-inch alloy wheels for the Stelvio. The color palette grows with the addition of three new hues called 6C Villa d'Este Red, GT Junior Ocra, and Montreal Green, respectively. They're heritage-laced colors that dyed-in-the-wool Alfisti will immediately recognize; the green is a tribute to the V8-powered Montreal released in 1970, for example. Step aboard, and you'll notice there's a redesigned center console that stylists carved additional storage space into, a new steering wheel, plus additional upholstery choices. Sparco sport seats built around a carbon fiber shell are waiting on the list of options along with red and green seatbelts. The updated infotainment system we've already experienced in the standard Giulia has found its way to the Quadrifoglio, too. It's displayed on an 8.8-inch touchscreen and Alfa Romeo added a feature called Performance Pages that shows a wealth of drivetrain-related parameters like the turbo pressure, the amount of power generated in real-time, and a chronometer. If these digital features sound familiar, it's likely because some Dodge models — including the Challenger — are already available with the Performance Pages app. We like it there, and we'll certainly enjoy Alfa's spin on it. Bosch helped Alfa Romeo add a panoply of electronic driving aids to the Giulia and Stelvio. The list includes lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, active blind spot assist, traffic sign recognition, and traffic jam assist. The suite corresponds to level two on the SAE scale so it doesn't turn either model into an autonomous car. There are no mechanical changes to report, meaning power still comes from a 2.9-liter V6 that relies on a pair of beefy turbochargers to make 505 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. It spins the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, and pelts the Giulia from zero to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds before sending it to a 191-mph top speed. The same six powers the bigger, heavier Stelvio, but it channels its power to the four wheels. Enthusiasts who want to be heard before they're seen are in luck.

Argentinians find stash of never-registered, brand-new 30-year-old Italian cars

While much of the world is sheltering in place, several new, never-registered Italian and French cars exited a 27-year confinement in Argentina. They were left for dead in an abandoned dealership that sold Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Peugeot models in a city named Avellaneda near Buenos Aires, the country's capital. Details surrounding the dealership are murky. Argentina's Autoblog (no relation to us) reported it closed at some point during the 1990s after the owner and his son died in violent circumstances. Automotive archaeology tells your author it likely shut its doors in 1993, because that's the only year in which the first-generation Fiat Ducato launched in 1981 and the post-facelift Fiat Tipo, axed in 1995, overlapped. Both are clearly visible in the photos. What's certain is that someone finally inherited the property in 2020 and wanted the cars gone as quickly as possible in order to sell it. The anonymous owner asked Kaskote Calcos, a local body shop that also runs a used-car lot, to haul them away via Instagram. We're guessing the firm didn't need to be asked twice.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Axel By Kaskote (@kaskotecalcos) on Mar 24, 2020 at 1:57pm PDT Many of the cars hidden in the dealership were made by Fiat; the photos show several examples of the Tipo, an Uno, a Tempra, and the aforementioned Ducato. An Alfa Romeo 33 wagon and a Peugeot 405 were also stashed in the trove. Most were stored indoors so they weren't damaged by sunlight or humidity, and images of the cars taken after they were pressure-washed confirm they're in like-new condition inside and out. We're told some even started, though for the love of valves and pistons we hope they got a new timing belt before being fired up.  Kaskote Calcos hasn't revealed what it will do with the cars. None are particularly sought-after, they're economy cars that were mass-produced and mass-destroyed, and their current values reflect that. You can get a post-facelift Uno for the price of a few Peroni pints in Italy. The fact that they're new, never-registered examples will undoubtedly increase their appeal, even if registering them could require slashing through jungles of red tape. As a side note, finding a 405 beached in a Fiat dealership isn't as random as it might sound.