Re: Gentoo Takes Good Care Of Its SOPHISTICATED Users

On Mon, 03 Jun 2024 19:38:12 -0500, chrisv wrote:

Now I'm old and boring, and want something that only the Japanese can
make it seems - a car that just goes and goes with only fluid changes.
I still drive a RWD "sport sedan" but it is out-performed by the German
cars.  The BMW turbo inline-6 is a phenomenal engine.

I do my own maintenance and the schedule certainly is boring. Change the
oil and filter every 5000 miles.  iirc for the 2007 model you were
supposed to change the coolant at 100,000 but I don't see that anymore.

 

I've been the Italian sports car route. Stylish, quirky engineering, and
very high maintenance like Italian women.

 
I would never go there.  From what I've read, the Alfa Romeo Guila may
be the best sport sedan made, but of course not known for it's
reliability.

I still have some scars from a Giulietta Sprint. It wasn't my car and I
wasn't driving but they don't hold up very well when you roll them. I'd
also rebuilt the engine on one for a friend. They had wet cylinders so you
had to buy matched cylinders and pistons, not just a bore with oversized
pistons. The DOHC had a tensioner that could take a finger off if you
weren't careful. The same friend that rolled his later bought another to
restore. One reassembly he blew the cam timing. It was an interference
engine unfortunately. A thing of beauty, should have been a museum
exhibit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Twin_Cam_engine

Being a slow learner I bought a Fiat 124 Spider. Visiting hours were
between 4 and 6 on Wednesdays. After a very heated discussion we reached
an agreement where I got the '73 Mustang loaner I'd been driving while
they tried to sort out the Spider and they could shove the Fiat. I really
liked the Mustang. '73 was the last year before Ford shrunk it to the
Mustang II, which was a Pinto with lipstick.