Alfa or Miata?

In reply to alfadriver (Forum Supporter) :

Haha, sorry I wasn't too clear. I was interested in the weak points of a higher mileage Alfa. Here in central Florida you can find both Miatas and Alfas with little or no rust. Beach side cars rust from the top down and northern cars that have migrated south have the usual bottom side problems. If you find a Florida car that stayed away from the ocean you're usually in good shape on the rust front. 

I owned a '74 X1/9 for a few years, and honestly I wouldn't do that again unless it was a ground up built car with a painless harness and a Honda K20. 

I love Italian cars, but I don't have the time for the issues. I was wondering if the later Alfas make for a less "involved" ownership experience.

In reply to mblommel :

Well, in the 25 years we've owned our GTV, once we got through the PO's issues (trans) and then rebuilt the engine for it's purpose, we've had no issues with it.  It took some effort to get it to this point- we let an expert tune the crap out of it- but it's been super reliable, even with SPICA.

At this point, the big worry about Italian cars is the previous owner.  If they let if over heat, and then did a crappy job swapping the head gasket- that can be a chronic problem.  Spend the money correcting previous problems, and you will be all set.