The US Consumer Reports (think Choice magazine but with one million times the budget) has just named its top 10 cars for 2017. To make the list a car has to beat the competition in serious road tests, predicted reliability, owner satisfaction and safety. “A car that bests the competition by these measures is truly extraordinary,” says CR and we agree.
The winners are: the Toyota Yaris iA (developed by Mazda, launched by Scion, and now marketed as a Toyota), Chev Cruze, Toyota Prius, Mazda MX-5, Kia Optima, Chev Impala, Subaru Forester, Toyota Highlander, Audi Q7, Honda Ridgeline Ute (there’s one you didn’t know about) and Ford BA ute (just kidding). Surprisingly there are no Alfas, obviously due to anti-Italian bias under the new US administration.
Consumer Reports says don’t even look at these next cars, because they have really crook reliability: Audi Q7 2015, BMW X3 2007-08, BMW X3 2011, BMW 3 series 2008-11, Jeep Cherokee 2014-15, Jeep Grand Cherokee 2011, Jeep Grand Cherokee 2013-14, Jeep Grand Cherokee 2016, Merc GL class 2014-15, VW Tiguan 2011 and 2013, the Volvo XC90 2016 and the brand we have warned you about: the Telsa S 2014 and Telsa X 2016.
On top of that, you shouldn’t be buying a car with a Takata airbag, since Ford last week said it was recalling more than 800,000 vehicles with the potentially deadly bags. (Instead of saving your life when they go off, the bags shower you with burning shrapnel.) After admitting more than 42 million cars were affected, Takata this week pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to pay a $US1 billion fine.
Brands including Honda, Ford, Toyota, BMW, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Nissan, FCA, Volkswagen, Audi, Ferrari, General Motors, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz, and Takata knew about the exploding airbags towards the end of the 1990s. Plaintiffs in a class action against Takata claimed in a Miami court this week car company documents showed they were “aware of the risks inherent in filling a metal canister with ammonium nitrate and placing it in a steering wheel or dashboard”. One document said “the passenger protection device was transformed into a killing weapon”.
Talking of law suits, Brisbane’s Peter Matthews, the convener of Alfa Owners Against Media Bias, has taken me to task about last week’s column.
“I think you should do a write-up on this car as they do not deserve the reputation that they sometimes experience — electronics work perfectly and no oil leaks,” he says. “However, most people who buy one think they can treat it like a Japanese car or a Holden and as we both know — you need to keep them well maintained and also spend the capital to replace lots of parts to keep them in top order.” Yes, exactly.
Pete is the owner of a beautiful Alfa 75 Potenziata 3.0l V6 which, at $13,000 “is a very cheap way to get into a race bred and well fettled machine”. He just sold his concourse white 1974 2000 Kamm Tail Spider Veloce for an Australian record of $56,000.
And now to show there is no fake news or media bias in this column, this week’s auction reports will barely mention any other Italian cars than Alfas.
At the Paris auctions held at last month’s Retromobile, RM Sotheby’s star lot was a lovely 1934 Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3, campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari during the 1934 and 1935 seasons and driven by Nuvolari and Varzi. You could have got it for north of $5.4 million. Of course, a 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyder with only 32,692km sold for $2.7m.
Artcurial doubled the estimate to knock down a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA for $590,000. The second owner had the car for 40 years. In 1976, a year after buying it he put a small ding on the front left wing. He was so upset he put it in the garage for 39 years. A 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ coupe went a little under high estimate at $1.4m. I expected more as prices for the ones left of the 112 made have been doing very nicely. With a 1570cc twin cam engine and other components shared with the Alfa Giulia, the TZ was a real sports racing car, with a tubular spaceframe chassis (hence the T, the Z comes from the Zagato body), 650kg all-aluminium bodywork, disc brakes and independent suspension and a top speed of 216km/h.
This is the shortened version of the original article. Read the rest at The Australian.
