Clarkson on Late 90s Coupes

"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01)
11/09/2014 at 02:15 • Filed to: None

As many of you are looking at these cars (clean 240SX?) you should watch this. He nails it, but the conclusion is a car we can't get in US America. But that's OK, as many of you live someplace more sane.

DISCUSSION (8)

AMC/Renauledge > Steve in Manhattan
11/09/2014 at 03:32

I wish Alfa had held on in America past 1995. The GTV/Spider, 156, 166, and 147 would have been fantastic to be able to choose from. Especially since all of them came with that chromed V6 as an option, at least. So sad that they didn't. And that they waited 20 years to finally come back with something that's being produced in more than the dozens.

Steve in Manhattan > AMC/Renauledge
11/09/2014 at 03:38

Sad indeed - we might eventually get a decent selection of Alfas. But Americans have not gotten any smarter since the early 90s.

duurtlang > Steve in Manhattan
11/09/2014 at 04:06

As the owner of one of these cars (Peugeot 406 coupe), his dismissal is typically wrong. The car is utterly reliable and depreciation really isn't much of a factor. Fuel economy is fine. So where he's getting those insane running costs from is beyond me.

Steve in Manhattan > duurtlang
11/09/2014 at 04:21

He has to get to a conclusion, and it's Alfa - as it usually was for those late 90s gearheads. Here in US America we could not buy the Alfa nor the Peugeot, so we rely on Clarkson to judge the cars we can't even test drive. One day we'll have more choices ....

KirkyV > Steve in Manhattan
11/09/2014 at 18:03

I'd have the 406. To my eye, it's easily the best-looking of the three, and almost certainly the cheapest to own and run.

Steve in Manhattan > KirkyV
11/09/2014 at 18:08

And yet he complains about "running costs" ... I'd probably do the same, for one reason, we can't get them here. I like French cars, and we get nothing in US America.

KirkyV > Steve in Manhattan
11/09/2014 at 18:11

I really don't know where he's coming from with that. It doesn't gulp fuel, it's reliable, it doesn't cost that much to tax and insure, and as it's essentially an ordinary 406 underneath, parts are really cheap. And, these days - though, obviously, he couldn't have known at the time - you can pick up a decent example for less than £1000.

I already drive a nineties Peugeot, and plan to replace it with another - though not a 406 coupé; I'm more of a hot hatch sorta guy - so I might perhaps be considered somewhat biased.

Steve in Manhattan > KirkyV
11/09/2014 at 18:26

Sometimes it's your own experience or your friends' ... long ago I had a Jetta turbodiesel that lost its clutch at around 60K. Clutch was faulty when built - I can drive a stick - VW/dealer would do nothing for me. To this day I probably would not get a VW for that reason (except the autob0x Phaeton - love those). But VW clutches are known for being robust, so my perception has little basis in reality.