1987 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Scrapyard Gem: 2008 Alfa Romeo Spider 2.2 JTS

Alfa Romeo departed our shores after the final 164s and Spider Veloces were sold here as 1995 models, then returned for the 2015 model year with the 4C. Thanks to its position in the mighty Stellantis Empire, the current American-market Alfa Romeo lineup looks quite a bit like the Italian-market one, but we missed out on some interesting machinery during our Alfa-deprived 1996-2014 period. One of those cars was the 2006-2010 Spider, and I found a discarded example in an Italian/French specialty breaker's yard near Leeds, England during a recent trip. Sherburn Motor Spares is located in Sherburn-in-Elmet, on the former site of the factory where Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers were built during World War II. They specialize in Italian and French cars, which means the place overflows with vehicles we didn't get on our side of the Atlantic. I've written about a 1999 Alfa Romeo 166 and a 2009 Alfa Romeo Brera S that reside there, and now it's the turn of the Brera's convertible sibling. I couldn't resist buying this stunning "International Van of the Year 2008" emblem from a Citroen Dispatch at Sherburn Motor Spares; it now lives on the door of the breaker box in my garage. GBP3 well spent! "Spider" is a term originally applied to an arachnid-ish horse-drawn carriage and is applicable to any convertible-top automobile today, but Alfa Romeo didn't hesitate to use it as a model name in its own right when it came time to built a sporty convertible on a platform originally devised by Saab for use beneath GM and Fiat machinery. As it turned out, the only production cars using that platform ended up being Alfa Romeos. Giorgetto Giugiaro handled the design of the Brera coupe, while Pininfarina did both the styling and assembly of the Spider. As you'd expect, reviewers thought both cars looked great. Just over 12,000 2006-2010 Spiders were built. The U.K.-market Spider was available with front- or all-wheel-drive and a choice of three petrol and two diesel engines (yes, a diesel Alfa Spider!). This car has the base 2.2-liter JTS straight-four petrol engine, which was a direct-injected unit based on GM's Ecotec engine block. Output was 182 horsepower and 170 pound-feet. This one had donated some body parts by the time I arrived on a freezing Yorkshire morning, but it appears to have been in reasonably good condition upon arrival.

Alfa Romeo Giulia police cars will save lives

Oh look, it's another Italian performance vehicle turned into a police car. Evildoers beware, right? Not exactly. As much as we'd love to picture an Alfa Romeo Giulia chasing down bank robbers through the streets of Milan this newest addition to the Italy's national police fleet will be used for less thrilling purposes. Instead of chasing down speeders, two copies of new Giulia Quadrifoglio will transport organs and blood for emergency medical use, as well as serve ceremonial escort cars. The police version here adds the usual cop goodies like radios and lights, a portable defibrillator, LED flashlights in the doors, and one of those round signaling flags that Italians seem to love. There no mention of a cop motor or cop brakes, but that's probably not necessary. 'The Quadrifolgio tops the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia lineup with a 505 hp twin-turbo V6 capable of 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. When it eventually goes on sale in the US later this year or early next year, prices will range from around $40,000 for the base model to $70,000 in Quadrifoglio trim. Related Video: Featured Gallery Carabinieri Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio police car View 9 Photos Alfa Romeo Luxury Police/Emergency Performance Sedan police car alfa romeo giulia

2021 Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia get revamped trims and pricing

After a major interior and infotainment update last year, the 2021 Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia get a more mild update consisting of a smaller trim lineup and a couple of extra features for some trims. The update also includes small price increases across the board. Four new colors are available, too, including Ocra GT Junior, Verde Montreal, Rosso GTA and Rosso Villa d'Este. The first two of those are shown in the galleries. Available trims have dropped from seven to four, with a couple of them simply becoming option packages for the remaining trims. The base trim is now called Sprint, a callback to Alfas of the past. Standard equipment for this trim is unchanged, including standard 10-way power adjustable leather seats, 8.8-inch touchscreen infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, remote start, proximity key and automatic emergency braking. As such the price only increases by $50 to $40,745 for the Guilia and $42,745 for the Stelvio. All-wheel drive is a $2,000 option on all Giulias and the Stelvio Sprint. Higher trim Stelvios get all-wheel drive standard. 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio View 14 Photos The Ti and Ti Sport get the most additional standard equipment over last year's versions. They now get dual-pane sunroofs, navigation and HD radio. The Ti Sport also picks up a standard limited-slip rear differential. The Giulia and Stelvio Ti increases in price by $1,300 to $43,995 and $48,395 respectively. The Giulia Ti Sport price goes up by $1,500 to $47,195 while the Stelvio Ti Sport sees a $2,000 increase to $51,595. The Quadrifoglio trim, with its twin-turbocharged V6 is unchanged for 2021. It does get a $250 price increase with the Giulia starting at $76,345 and the Stelvio at $82,345. Related Video: