it's such a poor relation in comparison
It's like Clutch Monkey's 323 Astina. Compared to two porsches, a Triumph and an Original Mini Cooper.
<cough> www.charginmahlazer.tumblr.com </cough>
Cool choice. I've been looking at italian cars as well the last few weeks (I am car shopping at the moment). Namely the MiTo and the Fiat 500. Unfortunately they have zero resale value meaning that I can't get them. I'm buying one on a renting (sort of leasing without the service, tyres etc included) and the low resale value makes for some huge monthly prices.
Example: Fiat 500 1.4: €282 every month. Mini One D: €226. While the Mini is a good €5000 more expensive! But the resale value is huge. Same issue with the MiTo.
[/rant]
Too bad the Delta isn't really selling... The current generation Fiat platforms are great.
Andreas Preuninger, Manager of Porsche High Performance Cars: "Grandmas can use paddles. They aren't challenging."
Lack of charisma can be fatal.
Visca Catalunya!
After all the countless rants about modern Lancia and its ineffective management by Fiat, you go out and buy the first Lancia you see?
Pfff....You are not exactly the man of principle, Albert.
And then you try to excuse yourself by calling it "appliance"?
Not cool at all, my friend. Open up your heart and welcome the wonderful experience of owning an Italian car. The car is absolutely fabulous, I'm jealous for one. Top notch choice, congrats!
Oh, and about the rear screen wiper. Be a man and buy a replacement blade rubber instead of playing a victim of horrible Fiat Auto.
Lancia has been on a resurgence lately, at least until the financial and economic crisis broke out. There have been many changes, both big and small, underwent by the small brand from Torino, but the Delta is the first brand new product for them since the introduction of the Musa mini MPV in 2004. I've personally never thought that calling it the Delta was a sensible idea, because everyone associates the name with flame spitting Integrales. And as we'll see this cares shares nothing them.
But let's start on the outside. This new car from Lancia is a bit of a segment buster, being bigger than the average C-segment hatchback but not quite as large as traditional mid size liftbacks. It shares its platform with the Fiat Bravo, but benefits from a 100mm longer wheelbase. That means there's plenty of space inside and in the boot. Rear headroom is compromised by the high seating position and the panoramic sunroof and can be a problem for people over 1.85m. In the front space is ample though, and the cabin has a very airy feel. The driving position sits between a normal hatchback and an MPV. You sit quite high up, even in the lowest seating position and some controls can be a bit of a stretch. It errs more on the comfy side than on the sporty one. The fit and finish is correct, but in that aspect Lancia still have a long way to go to stay with the leaders. Nothing too colossal, but there are plenty of little foibles. Some of the controls can be a bit fussy, but ergonomically it's correct too. A big fault though, is the fact that you can't engage high beam if the headlamps are in auto mode, which can be a bit annoying at night. You can only put the high beams on if you've manually turned your headlamps on
Under the bonnet this car has the 1368cc turbocharged four cylinder engine shared between several cars from the Fiat Group. It is undoubtedly one of the best assets of the car. It develops 150bhp, there's little to no lag and it pulls strongly until the redline arrives at 6000rpm. In gear acceleration is correct even in sixth from 90km/h. If anything the turbo whistle is a bit at odds with the character of the car. It also is very sensitive to the way you drive. If treated carefully you could do up to 800km on the 58 litre tank, but as soon as you start driving like an Italian would fuel consumption can go up to 15l/100km or more. The gearbox is a smooth shifting 6 speed manual with a light clutch which is very manageable at moderate speeds. Rush it, and it all starts to go a bit wrong, especially with the clutch which has a too long travel for my tastes. One of the things that annoy me the most is the hill-holder device which basically prevents the car from rolling back in a hill. It doesn't work, it makes launching the car more difficult and jerky and frankly if you can't start your car on a hill you shouldn't be driving a manual car.
Once on the move the car feels most at ease on the motorways and roads with fast and open corners. There, thanks to the long wheelbase, it has excellent straight line stability even at high speeds. The ride is comfortable as well as the seats and it's very quiet, except for a bit of wind noise around the mirrors, so it's a fine mile eater. As soon as things get twisty however, the Delta's deficiencies are clearly exposed. The steering is basically dead and the good ride means that body control is not as good as it should. Push it hard and it feels reluctant and cumbersome at the limit with plenty of understeer to boot. It's not a car that give you confidence to explore the limits and it never feels at ease there. Brakes are excellent though, and there's plenty of grip from 225/45 tires.
In the end it's not a car in which to enjoy the fine art of driving. It's a car that takes you to places rather than being you who drives it there. It's a nice useful car from an almost dead manufacturer, but Lancia still has to work hard and still has a long way to properly achieve premium status.
Lack of charisma can be fatal.
Visca Catalunya!
"I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams
We had to buy a practical, relatively inexpensive, big(ish) car. It was Golf or this basically. So I pushed for a Lancia. After all I was always talking about italian this and italian that, so I thought well let's put the money where the mouth is. And so we had the big Lancia.
I was never expecting it to be a serious driver's car. I knew what I was into. So taking that into account, yes it's a good car, if not perfect. I'm happy with it and it has very neat touches. The detailing for instance is exquisite, especially on the outside. And the engine is a litte 1400cc gem.
But it's not the car I'll take when I want to enjoy everything that great about cars. I agree appliance it's too harsh of a term, I mean this is no silly Toyota or anything, but as a Lancia I don't know it's missing something perhaps.
Don't get me wrong it is a good car. It does what it is supposed to do. But when I get into the Jag or the Mini, those cars stir my blood. This doesn't somewhat. It's probably my fault though, I'm not used to such cars, after all the last non-drivers car that I drove was a 1998 Mk I Megane Scenic, and that was very long ago.
Give me time, maybe I'll come to love it.
Lack of charisma can be fatal.
Visca Catalunya!
Lack of charisma can be fatal.
Visca Catalunya!
Repeat after me - I drive Lancia. I drive Lancia. I own Lancia. I own Lancia.
Sounds fantastic, doesn't it?
There are too few Italian car owners here and when finally someone gets one and calls it appliance - well, THAT stirred my blood. Hence my bittersweet comment.
So, welcome to the club and more importantly - now you are fully entitled to comment about the Italian matters. Because you got one.
Btw, the model should have been called Gamma IMO, suits car's personality so much better than larger-than-life Delta brand...
Just came to know...congrats man!
About the quality...our Croma has some smaller issues on the assembly of the interior, like the driver's visor (as on the Stilo...), and other minor things.
The ride is excellent, the car is comfortable, the fuel consumption is good and the storage is massive. It wasn't exactly cheap (35K fully loaded iirc), but when I tried the X3 2.0i of a friend, well...
That Bimmer had a very poor interior, the steering wheel was loosing the superficial treatement, the car was noise and vibrations were perceivable (on a petrol car). Irrc he payed it 40k, with a few options and and LPG system (which is taking away basically all the boot's volume).
I know the X3 isn't the best way to enter the BMW world, still the Croma, which isn't perfect, won hands down in my book.
Enjoy the Italian Lady, and don't complain!
I'm sure you'll like it a lot.
KFL Racing Enterprises - Kicking your ass since 2008
*cough* http://theitalianjunkyard.blogspot.com/ *cough*
You were talking about straight line stability. not the lift off oversteer thing that a Mini causes to flip. In the past motor magazines (and TV programmes) used to test the sensibility to lateral winds by having the car run past enormous fans with the steering locked. Pity they don't do that anymore, as it would for instance also show that the "stable" BMW will be blown mightily further off course than the Lancia. (but of course the BMW has 4 cm less wheelbase..)
"I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams
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