I’m not from the UP but Detroiters call everything in that direction “up north” anyways.

Well now its at 108k but I put on 97k of them, so close enough either way.
Firstly lets get to the pretty shots from taking it to the dirt roads where I grew up. Figured since I was "up north" might as well pretend to be a rally driver for the milestone.



Onto the maintenance / repairs.

There was a first model year issue with the rear brakes. Solution was to change the rear rotors and figured why not do all of the pads at 40k miles. Just did all of the rotors and pads again at 100k miles.

Belt tensioner is fluid filed and it broke at 90k miles, simple fix.

Visor mirror cover broke off around 20k miles, had it replaced under warranty. Asked my GF to not close like I did (close the mirror cover by closing the whole thing). She forgot once and it broke off around 90k miles. Its fine, not going to fix it.
*pic for reference

Notable wear items are:




I could have probably got the screen and top replaced under warranty if I drove less, but Im way past the miles where thats an option. Paint is kind of annoying, but thats Mazda paint for you. Window pillar rust is just weird since its only the one side. First gear is rarely hard to get into, but its making me wonder if I should change the fluid. Or be paranoid and put money aside for a replacement. The gearbox has been an issue for some cars.

BUT, I'm still very happy with the car and am looking forward to another winter of sliding the thing around.

@MUSASHI66's post about the perfect size truck got me thinking about the 90s Silverado. That was good truck.

Roughly measuring up the lengths then looking at the hood heights get you a 10 inch difference! This makes me midly upset and I'm going to day dream about gmt400s now.

This is a friendly reminder that oversteer is great and you should go slide your car.

@Genesis_Haysenhox Having faith in the internet at all is the more shocking thing here.

I wanted to pile on to this rant and say these trucks are too damn big.

Specifically all the new GM tall boys. They are the only vehicles to actively put the light right in my eyes 100% of the time. GM themselves have even said the lights are too high :
"We pulled Phil Kucera, a GMC design manager, aside to ask him about the change
“It tends to be a better spot where it’s not glaring in other people’s eyes, right, the lower you get,” Kucera says."
Reffering to the new EVs having lower lights and you can see the change.

I'd put money on nobody thinking about it after they raised the hood height and it fits the law ... until some exec was leaving the tech center in a corvette and got blasted.

Last truck size graphic for reference.

But not without its faults obviously.

I stalled it right away in rush hour LA traffic. 2nd gear was always kind of a pain to get into and starting it was a kerfuffle.
It was great fun on PCH though and really wasn’t all the difficult to drive. My first time driving something classic and really my take always are obvious. Not something I’d want to commute in, but it’s still a car and it certainly can do it.

Considering it’s age the top was pretty easy to operate, though I will say the seating position was awkward. Had the steering wheel between my legs, thing makes you man spread. But since it’s an old Alfa, getting a few shout outs and nods from random people certainly helped to feeling cool behind the wheel.

If you want an old Alfa experience without buying one, there’s one in LA I’d recommend.

@Milky When you want to go electric but your neighbor Rand sure as shit aint gonna think youre a liberal.

@hillrat it fits

Whomst here hasnt had a left over bolt or two after a project?

Unrelated, friendly reminder to not buy my 120,000 mile ND when I eventually get done with it.

@Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist Shit that looks nice. Enjoy it!

@Huzer You're welcome.
Just put a piece of black tape over the odometer.

@MasterMario I missed at one point "get rid of guns" was said.
Glad we can at least agree something should be done.

@MasterMario That read like an onion article.

No one here is saying ban guns, but literally anything would be nice.

@MasterMario FWIW the "crime drop" in the 90s was all over the western world and there are many explanations for it. All I see when I look at those graphs is the disparity between the two.

@OPPOsaurus-WRX Counterpoint - they just unveiled new Niva vans.
https://www.carscoops.com/2023/01/lada-shows-upgraded-lcvs-based-on-the-ancient-niva/

@Old-Busted-Hotness Its on a GT4RS chassis, but doesnt have an interior or "move". So I'm with @phenotyp, seems half hearted.

@Arch-Duke-Maxyenko Dang. They always referenced him in the development for the latest fun cars, seems like he gave himself a cool legacy.

@FourMalibus So rich kids will do well and poor kids can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Great system we got.

@FourMalibus "fewer resource" is quite the undersell, schools are absolutely failing. Detroit schools on average ranked 1/10 and there are a couple of good ones. Saying kids wouldnt get a better education at cranbrook becasue they dont want to learn is pretty insulting imo.