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Alfa Romeo 33 16V Permanent 4 by Angus Ross

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The Permanent 4 is an awsome machine - Alfa Romeo only imported about 40 of these cars into Australia. It came with a Recaro interior and Momo steering wheel and 14 inch wheels (smaller than the standard 16 valve).
The front sits extremely low to the ground (too low - I have ripped air conditioning hoses off before!) and the rear of the car sits higher than a standard 16 valve.
I have found that the whole car feels like a much more solid package than the standard 16 valve and the upgrades Alfa did for the car's interior really *lift* the whole car over the standard model.

The best points about this car are when the engine is in the powerband (4500-7000 rpm) and it's ability to be launched out of corners very rapidly. Gearbox is very user friendly. Willingness to rev is superb!!

I do however have a number of complaints about the vehicle:

  1. Car is quite sluggish below 3000rpm (seems to bog down - standard 16 valve does not)
  2. I agree with usual comments about the brakes on the cars - they are just not up to scratch and emergency breaking manouvres can be a bit scary.
  3. The turning circle is absolutely shocking.
  4. The instrument binnacle is constantly shaking due to it being a separate component to the dash. A friend of mine refers to the noise it makes as *like a rustling chips packet* - whatever, it is very annoying.

Copyright © 1997 Angus Ross

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