I have a 94 855 with 205,000 miles and an 87 spider veloce with about 82k mi. This is like comparing apples and donuts. I have not had to do much to either car, though in fairness, the 855 I bought new, and the Alfa with about 69k miles, so I don't have much history with it. I find myself rarely driving the alfa because whenever I go anywhere, it is usually with a purpose- skiing, kayaking, grocery shopping, virtually none of these can I do with the alfa. I have been trying to sell the alfa for 2 years. It is mint, a beautiful color, never stored outside and I cannot even get a call from any of the adds I placed (was asking 5k, then 4500)

The Volvo wagon, even with all those miles, would go for easily 6 grand around here (New England) I would not even compare the two on the saftey issue. Lord help you if you front end the alfa. Also, be very careful what year alfa you get. Stay with the later Bosch injection and engine managment systems unless you are into cruel and unsual punishment. Do not buy the Spica system unless you have an uncle in Italy and a nearby relative that is an alfa cetified tech! Happy deciding.

by the way, the cars drive as differently as they look. alfa= go cart from the sixties, volvo= euro feel from the nineties. I like the way my wagon handles. Put good tires and shocks on it and it'll corner very well. The alfa is loads of fun and gets lots of looks, but is pretty well useless in my opinion.

I currently own both a '97 850R and an '88 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. These are completely different cars and I am having trouble understanding your wanting to compare them. A much more apt comparison would be between an Alfa 164 or Milano and the 850. But here goes anyway.

Appearance - Spider is the handsdown winner with its classic pininfarina body. It turns heads everytime I take it out. I have never even heard a comment about my R.

Performance - The Spider is a seat of the pants driver's car. It is like driving a go kart. The engine revs beautifully and the 5 speed manual is a blast to shift. The R is a very fast sedan but is much more isolated from the road. No where near as fun to drive on a twisty road but much better in rush hour traffic.

Utility - I can just fit my golf clubs in the spider trunk. If I want to take my wife with me we can squeeze her set behind the seats. With the R I can take a whole foursome to the course with their clubs.

Operating expense - I have around 60k miles on both. Not counting oil changes I have spent about $400 for service on the Alfa and around $1000 for the Volvo with a $300 timimg belt coming due soon. I also just found out that my whole A/C system is shot in the Volvo and it will cost about $2k to fix. I haven't even tried to use the A/C in my Spider in the last four years. Basically the Alfa is a lot lower tech than the Volvo and when it does break is cheaper to repair but is still a very well designed car. Just read any book on the history of motor racing and you will get an idea of Alfa Romeo's engineering capabilities.

Depreciation expense - the 850s have not held their valuations very well. My four year old is now worth less than half of what I paid for it. Every mile I drive it drops the value another 15 cents. The Spider has also reached the 50% valuation mark after 13 years. Now it is holding pretty flat. Valuation is not so much based on mileage as condition. Older Spiders from the late sixties and early seventies are actually appreciating.

Safety - No Airbags probably a plus, no ABS probably a minus depending on the driver, Crush zones - the Alfa is a pretty sturdy car and I have heard of side impacts at 30 mph that don't damage the interior door panels - I am sure the Volvo is better but I bet it isn't that much better.

Conclusion - So why do I own both? The Spider is my fun car and the Volvo is my everyday car. If I lived in Hawaii I would probably just drive the Alfa but here in Illinois it is just not practical.

Drew

1994 850 Turbo...93K miles...only money spent on gas, tires, timing belt at 70K miles, fluids...never owned an Alfa Romeo so I have no point of comparison regarding your post.

Tim