I’ve graduated the school of mid-engine! At least temporarily, may do a post-doc someday.

The 4C was sold last summer, and due to various life and work reasons I wasn’t able to replace it until now. Suffice to say, the journey towards this point was not an easy one and it has been my single biggest commitment to a car, ever.

The “new” car is a 2002 575M, Argento (silver) Nürburgring paint and Grigio Scuro (dark grey) interior.

As you can see, inaugural gas bill was Yuge.

First impressions are that it’s in much better condition and much better built than my previous Ferrari, a 1998 355 F1 Berlinetta. Part of it is undoubtedly the more modern design and construction (a full front-to-rear tube frame without any detachable subframe), but I also think this car has been treated better. It doesn’t seem to need any cosmetic work at this time. The interior, chassis and suspension are tight and feel like a very new car.

Haven’t driven it much due to work, but for such a big engine, the throttle is VERY touchy at the top of the pedal travel. Parking nose-first I immediately bumped into boxes and water bottles in the garage—this car is best parked rear-in due to the loooooong front end.

It’s also very hard to keep it slow, which you all probably expected. The noise and the torque are very thick and rich. No high pitched scream but it’s definitely musical in a very different way. It sounds more like a Lamborghini than its own successors like the 599 and 812.

I haven’t had my car for four whole months now. I’m honestly not sure what this will sound like, but hopefully the change is significant given that the entire centre silencer will be removed. Later 575s also got a similar change as stock, but early cars like mine are very quiet even with the Tubi end mufflers.

Lots of videos on 550 exhausts but not a lot on 575s. I suspect that I will be a useful data point soon.

Canada Day, Hong Kong handover anniversary, also my official 575 homecoming day. Everything is finally done for now. Fresh major service, exhaust done, several minor issues fixed and most importantly, registered and street legal after months of sporadic testing. Been at the shop for a whole 4 months.

Strange thing happened, though, bank account seems to be missing a couple of zeroes. Computer glitches are scary!

Boiling wiper fluid for attention:

I've finally gone on some timid drives with the 575--given my experience with the 4C at the more extreme end of sports cars, forgive me for concluding that this big girl is entirely within my expectations.

It's an absolute boat with the suspension in normal mode, which is how I suspect many journalists came to criticise the car's handling in comparison to the 550. I should recall that even the F355 rode very soft by modern standards, but it had the benefit of weighing 900 pounds less.

In Sport mode, the ride and handling behaviour is quite good--you never forget about the fact that the thing weighs nearly two tons (or, as I like to put it, only 200 lbs. less than the Jaaaaaag). But it's willing and ready to crush the corner like a V12 GT car should. The limits feel well beyond what I'm willing to do and the fat 295 rear tires provide appropriate reassurance at all times. The F355’s sport mode did just about nothing to the shocks.

Brake feel is spongy, but since I’m not going for lap times, I’ve been quite easy on them and will withhold further feedback until I’ve had more experience.

Driving position is good—not as perfect as the 4C but much better than the F355. The biggest ergonomic issue is the brake pedal. For some reason Ferrari felt that the lack of a third pedal was a footwell eyesore, so on their F1 cars they enlarged the brake pedal, to the point that it comes too close to the throttle.

What is still intimidating is the horsepower. I've never owned a car this fast, and it just shrinks all the straights that I've ever driven in the past. Whereas in previous cars I could wind it out three gears for the sound, this thing has you at troublesome speeds far too soon. But at least the richly layered orchestra of the V12 provides a compelling soundtrack for you as it cooks your wiper fluid.

On a recent drive we came upon the grisly body recovery of a kid who flew off the mountainside in a BMW. There were now three sets of flowers on that hairpin—three sobering reminders to stay well within your limits, and the limits of a public road. Unless I find myself on a track someday, you will never hear me compare handling with respect to understeer, oversteer or coming even close to grip limits.

Be safe and be well, Oppo! Just upped the donation and also started my new job today. I've never had to acclimate to a Mac before; it's intimidating!

Belated X’mas occurred this morning—wish I was less busy so that I could enjoy the moment more instead of rushing back into work meetings.

First impressions coming later. Car’s got no plates which makes it a cop magnet. Temp permit is stuck in transit due to the snowstorms.

Happy hump day!

So my date exhibited some fairly expected reactions to the 575:

“So this is a…what is this again?”

“When can we go back to my car? It’s more comfy.”

“Why did they put the window switch there??"

"Where is the door handle?"

But surprisingly, the very first thing she noticed when opening the door to get in, was the gaudy prancing horse taking up the entire aftermarket floor mat. They just look way too extra for the car, but unfortunately the originals are nowhere to be found.

It’s still bigger than my past sports cars and it’s easier to get in and out.

Update: Added pic of the floor mat. The horse isn’t as bad as I had claimed earlier. I’ll survive.

End of another era.

Been swamped with various things going on in life, so hope all is well on Oppo!

Down at the Garage: Since the car needs work to get it to Amerismog (MOT in Empirespeak) I decided to begin the 5-year major service in parallel.

I seem to have a bad habit of buying old cars due for big ticket items, but the upshot is that it is done to my satisfaction.

I miss the arresting looks of the F355, but not the maintenance. Engine-in service FTW!

End of another era…

Bring A Trailer - 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Coupe

As is widely known now, some car manufacturers want to make their plastic touch interfaces feel nice without upgrading to more expensive materials like leather or real metal.

One solution is to apply a velvety coating so that there is some tactile softness and friction, somewhat like suede or real velvet.

From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, Ferrari decided to put this stuff all over their interiors. As it is well known now, these surfaces do not age well and turn into goo. Ferrari still uses this finish today, but on far fewer parts.

My former 1998 Ferrari 355 F1's climate control panel was no exception, and an opportunity to flex my very limited DIY resolve. Here is the original panel, with the surface finish decayed into sticky oils mixed with the black plastic dye. The entire applique has also begun to detach from the back plate and bubble upwards.

Using a hobby knife, I cut around the outer edge until the rest of the black layer could peel off. Clearly, some colouring masks remain underneath.

A closer look reveals the company that printed the mask and the surface coating--Serigrafia Pertoldi of Udine, a large Italian printing and graphics company that still supplies European car manufacturers.

Soap and water removes the rest of the graphics, revealing the translucent backlight panel. Once this dries out it's ready for the new non-sticky applique.

The new applique is laid on and the knobs are replaced. The font is a little off, but this was an early version and now you can buy one with the correct original font.

Mounted to the interior. The rest of the sticky plastics were redone by the shop.

This did not go entirely smoothly, however. In removing the "STOP" button (basically an "OFF" button), I broke its green backlight which had rested on two thin conductors soldered to the circuit board below:

This was beyond my abilities, so I took it to some random phone/TV repair shop who happily ordered a replacement bulb and soldered it back on for me. The shipping cost more than the bulb, but more importantly, the dude was fascinated by the car and the opportunity to do something for it.

The LC is as forward-looking as the SC was. I dig both. But we had a Previa so that also is a soft spot of mine.

How on Earth did ours cost $27k in 1992 when the 1991 model started at $16k?

Our "other" pad is much radder than the one we currently inhabit. Alas, Covid quarantine policy keeps us from going back.

The floor level isn't exactly high by local standards but the view is not too shabby.

@RiceRocketeer is that the original wheel size in the pic? Tires look big.

Congrats and take some pics of your own!

@WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4 I’m just going to quietly try to forget that these are my town folk…

The best Burnout game IMO. The announcer’s cringey puns were the best.

@RallyDarkstrike yeah I mean we survived with a 138 hp Previa that weighed 4000 lbs. No big deal!

@RallyDarkstrike and to think that the more powerful North American engine wasn’t even available for the 500L Living.

@tophercrowder That's the 500X, a smaller car!

In late 2013, the Mrs made a very oddball choice of this 2014 Fiat 500L to be our first family car. We would end up returning it prematurely due to some weird and un-fixable ESC issues, but until then it was a good little runabout and at just $23k out the door, quite a value at the time considering its smaller and less equipped competition.

Turning back the clocks to 2013, this car was impressively kitted out for its price:

• 6.5" uConnect BT with reverse cam, BT Audio and Nav
• Upgraded Beats speakers
• Rear parking sensors
• Deviated red seat cushions (rare in US models)
• Rear seat fold-down arm rest with cup holder (yes, this was in an option package and yes, cup holder, singular)
• Optional two-tone steering wheel
• Optional wheel design
• Auto-dimming rear view mirror
• No blind spot monitoring, but there is a standard convex section on each wing mirror to cover it decently (I think Ford also has this feature on some models)
• Nearly as much rear seat and cargo space as a Honda CR-V
• Privacy glass tint
• Chrome door handles and tailgate kick plate
• 2-zone automatic climate control
• Standard cargo cover
• Two-tone black roof

Our car's mid-grade "Easy" trim came with accents and colour pairings that lent the car a much more upscale vibe than it really deserved.

North American models only offered one engine--the 1.4L MultiAir turbo also used in the North American Abarth 500. Pedal to the metal, the torque is adequate, but the turbo lag does take effort to get around.

All 500Ls were built in Fiat’s Serbian Kragujevac plant—the former site of Zastava’s Yugo factory until it was damaged in the war and restored and modernised for Fiat. We didn’t really have any build quality issues—it felt as well-built as any Italian car could hope to be.

That said, no Italian car is done justice without its ergonomic and feature oddities, so here goes. Many of them can also be found in the following photos.

• The most obvious one can be seen from outside; the extra "A-pillars" to move the windshield far forward and give an airy cabin while preserving sightlines
• Oddly complicated rear seat folding mechanism to maximise cargo space
• Extra closing storage compartment above the glovebox, plus an open storage shelf between them
• Extra convex "conversation mirror" giving the front row a full view of the rear seats
• Awkward DCT auto-creep programming that left many American drivers burning their clutches. This was feebly marketed as the "Euro Twin Clutch" which is basically Fiat's in-house C635 dual dry clutch unit. It was finally banished with a new torque converter AT in 2015.
• The steering wheel is an odd "squircle" shape but has great button controls
• Parking brake is a funny "squircle" thing that is difficult to grab and even worse to pull and release
• The front cup holders are hilariously low and somewhat blocked by the shifter
• Squircle door handles
• Two-level rear parcel shelf
• Strange door lock programming makes it possible to lock yourself out
• Lane-change blinker blinks 5 times, not 3
• One-touch power windows are insanely frustrating due to having no physical detente for the "all the way" command
• Fun, interesting door panel cushion insert visually breaks up the hard black plastic door card
• "Fake felt" dashboard material has just enough give to not be dismissed as hard plastic
• Incredibly comfortable seat cushions, almost like memory foam. Never felt anything like it in any other car
• Tall cabin height with what felt like a foot of headroom
• The wind noise was incredible; turn up that Beats audio! It was frustratingly bass-heavy.

I most fondly remember the incredibly airy cabin and sightlines, the cheery vibe and the agricultural roar of pushing that little engine. And countless happy and awful memories of schlepping a newborn baby around.

@WhoIsTheLeader Price, interior space, feature count and general packaging. I'm mostly alone in this but I liked the goofball styling too. Interior did "cheap but cheerful" quite well.