I can well remember in my younger days how I fell madly in love with a 1980 Alfetta GTV, and how much I ached to own it. Then I drove it and discovered that thanks to some slightly odd ergonomics, I wasn’t going to be able to live with it unless I could find a way of making my arms twice as long as my legs. Thankfully, Alfa managed to address many of these issues over the years, and by the 1990s, an Alfa was a comfortable car that you could live with quite easily as a daily driver. Barn Finder Roger spotted this lovely little Alfa for us, so thank you so much for that Roger. This is a 1995 GTV V6 TB, and it is located in White Plains, New York. The turbocharged Alfa is listed for sale here on Craigslist, with an asking price of $13,499.

Beauty is always going to be a purely subjective thing, and while some people will look at a car and be truly taken by its styling, for other people, the same car will elicit no response. I personally think that Alfa has produced more than its share of beautiful cars, and while the Pininfarina designed GTV might not appeal to some people, I actually quite like it. The car is finished in a color called Blu Atollo Metallic, and while the majority of the car looks to be quite good, the clear-coat is peeling on the trunk lid very badly. There are also a number of little scrapes and chips around the car, but none of these look to be too bad. The word that often pops into people’s heads when they think of an Alfa is “rust.” Looking around this car, it does appear to be quite solid and promising. To me, the condition of the trunk lid is a real shame, because the rest of the car does look quite good. Still, fixing that shouldn’t be a tough or expensive proposition.

It’s when we delve into the GTV that my illusions become shattered. At first glance, it looks to be quite promising, and even the upholstery on those heavily bolstered seats looks good. Then my eyes get drawn to the aftermarket gauge in the dash, the lashings of artificial carbon-fiber on the console, and I become disheartened. This really isn’t a good look, and it detracts from what is an otherwise nice interior that is in quite good condition.

The V6 TB engine was developed by Alfa Romeo to allow the GTV to circumvent Italian tax laws. Those laws imposed higher sales taxes on cars with engine capacities higher than 2.0-liters. By taking their existing 3.0-liter V6 engine and reducing the capacity to 1,997cc, this moved the car into the lower tax bracket. A turbocharger was then used to compensate for the lost engine capacity, and this allowed that V6 TB engine to produce 198hp. This power is sent to the front wheels via a 5-speed manual transmission. Performance for the Alfa was mighty impressive, with the car capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in 6.9 seconds, and on to a top speed of 153mph. It is this engine and transmission combination that is fitted to this Alfa, while it also features power steering and anti-lock brakes. The owner says that the car runs and drives very well and that it has only covered 135,000 kilometers (84,000 miles).

I like this Alfa Romeo, and if it is sound of both body and drive-train, it would be a great little car to own. The internet is a wonderful thing because when I was doing a bit of research on the V6 TB engine, I chanced upon what I believe to be the same car, which was for sale in 2014. The color is the same, the wheels are the same, and it has the carbon on the console, so it is almost certainly this car. What I can tell you from that listing is that up until that point, this car appears to have been extremely well maintained. Since that time it has only covered a few thousand miles, so if this level of maintenance has continued, this has the potential to be a pretty reasonable car.