SECOND-HAND SENSE: The mention of the Alfa Romeo name is enough to bring tears to the eyes of many people who have suffered the experience of owning one, itemising, as they can, all the niggly things that have gone wrong with their cars.
On the other hand, the Alfisti (the Alfa Romeo-owning devotees who are the motoring equivalent of Manchester United fanatics) tend to be blind to the faults of the brand and concentrate on the pleasure of owning a car that can give such driving satisfaction. And they do have a point.
Few manufacturers have ever been able to build cars with the kind of feedback and involvement you will always get with an Alfa Romeo.
One of the cars that best represent the true Alfa tradition (and don't forget that Enzo Ferrari was once an Alfa engineer) is the Spider, a car with a great name and a great reputation.
If you look at one of these cars from the 1960's you will instantly realise what it is that stirs such passion in those who own them. The more recent Spider models are wearing well too, with a very distinctive profile and great driving characteristics.
The most recent incarnation arrived in the mid 1990's when Alfa produced the GTV coupé and the Spider cabriolet. The GTV hard top version was billed as two-plus-two, but you would be hard pressed to fit any reasonable-sized person in the back in any degree of comfort. The Spider was a more honest prospect with capacity for two in comfort. The boots on both, however, had quite respectable space.
The original engines derived from the 155 and have that lovely and unmistakeable burbling note you can only get from an Alfa. They have a lovely spread of power and an ideal 2.0 litre capacity and are as rewarding at low speeds as they are at high speeds. The 150 horse-power capacity is easily delivered.
The Spider can have a sharpish ride feel but the suspension layout - with Mc Pherson struts at the front and an independent multi-link coil system at the rear - gives great handling and precision but would not be as refined on older models as some competitors today.
The cockpit is well designed, although a little cramped at times. You cannot adjust the height of the seat, for instance. However, it is a very attractive environment with nice touches like hooded dials and other Alfa touches such as a leather-trimmed wheel. The manual unfolding and arranging of the hood is not a very practical exercise for a lot of people and, again, the older models suffer by comparison with newer cars that bring a hood up and down in a jiffy. We don't have a EuroNCAP crash test result for the Spider but, at the very least, the car has two airbags. The car also has a surprisingly short recall record with small numbers of cars recalled for problems with rear brake hoses, seat belts, windscreen wipers and brake master cylinders.
The usual advice is more strongly given in the case of an Alfa. Try to get one which has been very carefully maintained and get it checked out thoroughly before you buy - do not let the beautiful Alfa looks seduce you into instantly parting with your money.
A 1999 version with alloys, metallic paint, CD player, electric windows and other equipment and with only 43,000 miles on the clock is on offer at €15,500. A 2001 version with similar equipment and 22,000 miles on the clock is on offer at €19,995.
FOR: Great driving qualities and styling.
AGAINST: Watch out for reliability problems. Not great on fuel consumption.