1983 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Green Cloverleaf Review - Italy's Forgotten Golf GTI Rival 

Brilliant. Fabulous on its day, perhaps Alfa were just ahead of their time with this fully biodegradable vehicle :)

I knew you’d say Russian steel ! They weren’t made from Russian steel at all . They were built with the same steel from Taranto Italy as from the Giulia at Arese in the north . The problem was that they were allowed to sit around without corrosion protection for long periods of time and especially when all the workers went on strike . The factory workers were new and not experienced and the build quality was not up to the same standard as in Milan . Have a look at Roadster Life’s video on the Alfasud , Matteo does a very good and accurate history of the Sud

I bought a Sud brand new in 1982, the most enjoyable car I've ever owned.

This makes me cry. I love Alfa’s. I’ve had 7 or 8

That brings back memories. 32 years ago I had an Alfa 1500 Sprint Cloverleaf. I used it in what was probably one of the very first track days at the Goodwood race track before any refurbishment was done. It was a timed event with 4 cars allowed on track at any one time and being set off at 15-second intervals. The track surface was terrible as I guess it was the original surface from the 1960s, but I managed to get 3rd fastest time of the day. First place went to a Tickford Capri turbo, second went to an ex-Formula Junior driver and his BMW 528, then me. It was such fun as the little Alfa was so quick around those corners and was an absolute delight to drive. In the final session of the day, I took my wife around with me who was heavily pregnant with our first daughter who is now nearly 31 years old. Happy days...

The nicest car I drove ever. I used one in white from 1984 to 1990. It was amazing a direct clutch, a short steering, break disks on all wheels and the front wheels breaking disks where closed to the gearing and differential away from the wheels making It better to taking high speed turns.

Thanks for taking me back to my youth! I owned a Sud and Sud Sprint back in the day. they were both such delightful cars to drive, with a wonderful soundtrack (helped by removing the rather restrictive air box and fitting K & N filters.) Not the quickest cars in their day, but with responsive handling and reasonably good feedback from the steering you could get from A to B at a good pace and ALWAYS arrive at you destination with a grin on your face. I also think that the Sud Sprint is one of the prettiest cars ever produced...

I had the first Alfasud ti in Ireland. 1186cc, 68 bhp and the greatest fun car I ever owned. That was in 1976 and was the start of 12 more Alfas over the years. I loved them all but the Sud was the one I loved most. It was the original hot hatch, before the Golf gti came along. Memories of a drive in the middle of the night, at a highly illegal speed, with the rev counter at maximum, and the superb boxer engine screaming. Happy days!

That sound is absolutely amazing. Love it.

Oh man that takes me back. Had one when i was 17. Blue 1.3 with a tan vinyl sliding roof. Bought it for 70 quid and my mates laughed at the state of it and rightly so. They werent laughing tho when it would regularly leave them for dust on the local b roads in their mk2 Escorts and Fiestas etc. It did literally disintegrate over the next few months tho and the Mot bill was off the scale so off it went. Great fun car tho with a great engine. Still loving the content on the channel mate👍

The Sud Sprint was my favourite with it's mini GTV looks.

Ah man, I bought a black cloverleaf sud almost brand new from a garage after a test drive in 1984...loved it to drive, alas after less than two weeks returned the car to the garage as electrical gremlins meant it wasn’t reliable but way more importantly for me the panel gaps and interior were shoddy as hell...I just couldn’t live with it despite it being one of my first hot cars after my likeable yet dull Renault 5 GTS...direct swap for a black xr3 that frankly didn’t drive as well and only kept a matter of months too...then got my fave eighties hot hatch car a Renault 5 Gordini Turbo which I adored (never handled as well as that sud mind!). Great vid as ever Jay man!!!

OH BLOODY HELL YES PLEASE. Thank you so much for this, that is a lovely car. I do remember them, I liked them at the time and it still looks lovely ...... also the rust at the edge of the bonnet that's fair enough. Joy joy and JOY , also a big thanks to the good folk who got in touch with you so we could enjoy it.

I had a red one, same year, same model. I also had a pair of Sprints, a 1.5 and a 1.7. The Haynes manual says in the opening blurb that the Sud is considered to be the best handling front wheel drive car ever built. Mine never failed to put a smile on my face. If you ever get the chance to drive one with a stainless exhaust through a tunnel with the windows down, be sure to listen for the glorious rasp as you downshift from 3rd to 2nd.

Bought one new in '83 and loved it. Also with these hard-to-get TRX tyres, even then, but the same wheel design was also available as a conventional 14". I sold it as a non-runner in the '00s to a colleague who insisted he adopt it. After he fixed it I drove it again - like a time machine! The beam rear axle does have a Watts linkage to keep it in check. Re the hen's teeth: I still have a set of NOS front wings and a set of TI QV front seats that are surplus to my requirements [hinthint].

Awesome cars! I had an Alfasud Sprint Veloce 1.5 when I was student in NZ. I love the sound of those engines

My dad had one. Best car I ever drove. The steering was so precise it was almost telepathic

'Fraid you oversimplified the suspension. The front is McPherson strut as you say but it's a bit odd in that the hub carrier is bolted to the rear of the strut, so it's longer then the norm. The rear is what gave the Sud its handling. Yes it does have a beam axle but its location is laterally by a long Panhard rod and longitudinally by two Watts linkages with unequal rods. The Watts linkages twist the beam in roll, so there's no separate anti-roll bar, and at the same time move the outer wheel backwards and the inner one forwards due to the unequal lengths of the linkage rods, giving rear-end steering. The geometry also gives anti-dive under braking. [Edit] There's another funny that I still can't remember - it's a long time since I analysed what was going on.

Proper driving ...the sound of those double webbers,the smell of oil and petrol,having to get the gear change just right,throwing it into corners,no power steering and 50 feeling like 90,...Cuore Sportivo mate.Great video.

That thing sounds glorious! Alfa always knew how to get an excellent sound out of a small engine.

My big sister had one of these in '84/85......And I had the pleasure of driving it from Edinburgh to York and back on several occasions! Best Hatchback I ever drove, until I bought a 2.0ltr 145cloverleaf in the late '90's........The 'Sud actually preceded the Golf by 6months!

All the YES! In-board brakes, the raspiest exhaust I’ve ever heard, and synthwave intro, top vid James!

The Alfas and Lancias of the early 80s were wonderful drivers' cars. I never owned the Alfa, but my Lancia Beta 2.0 coupe was so much fun to shuffle round country lanes with very predictable handling, although it did have the infamous "Italian driving position", so you need short legs and arms like an orangutan.

What a car, great review as always and loved Damian's appearance for the beenage.

I just want one once again. It was always much better than it's reputation, and better on the road than nearly anything at it's time. I still haven't driven anything that makes me smile in the same way. It isn't the fastest, but it always spoke to me like "faster faster, I can make that corner in higher speed".

I had a 1983 1.5L Superhatch as my first car in South Africa in 1996, I got her with a busted Cam Belt and bent valves...took her to a specialist Alfa mechanic in Johannesburg and he transplanted an engine he had from an Alfa 1.5L Group B Touring Car that had been rear ended, that little thing could kill most cars with bigger engines, my best mate had a 1.8 Golf 1 CTi and he couldn`t keep up on the highway...LOVED that little car!

In my early twenties Owned 2 Alfa suds a 1.2 ti and then bought a brand new red 1.5 ti for £4600 ( my first new car) Fantastic cars apart from the rust. Only had one door mirror but had rubber cappings in the holes on passenger side. Remember going to a safari park and monkeys pinching the rubber caps. The exhaust note was exquisite. Thanks for bringing back so many great memories .

My father owned 3 of these ! We loved them all very much as teenagers. Dad would always clean out the system as we approached home and give it a blast...

I had a friend who had an alfasud back in the early 80's in south africa - I think it had a 1.3 boxer engine, and I often used to go for rides in the car with him. I remember how smooth and raspy that engine was, and how well the car handled.

I have an 83 Alfasud Sprint Green Cloverleaf. Have owned mine since I was 17.... I bought it in 1993. There are a couple of videos of mine on my channel. I have a set of the TRX shod wheels for show as that's what mine left the factory with, but mine is now on the 14" version of the speedline wheels and have been for the last 20 years.

The Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti was THE hothatch when I was young.

My uncle was a mechanic and worked on some lovely old buses over the years. One of the cars he had in was one of these in jet black. He went off to get parts for a cortina, so I took the Alfa for a spin around the farm. I was 10. Well you'd have to, wouldn't you?? 😂

Loved it back in 1983 I was a fresh faced 20 year old with a desire for a little bit of Italy! I could not afford new but was given free a 1977 Alfa GTV 2.0 from my favourite cousin. My quote for TPF only no theft on this free car was just under £2k!!! My weekly wage was about £80 net as a newly qualified Electrician. My uncle got the car and I never even drove it. Still look at 70/80 Italian cars but now I can afford the insurance I can't afford the cars, well that's life!

Back in the day as a young man I had an 87 Sprint Veloce Green C/L with full Zender Body Kit, the best car I've ever owned!

I bought an Alfasud TI Green Cloverleaf in 1997 when I was 23 years old. I didn't even know what it was when I bought it, but I still remember driving it home...I didn't know an engine could sound like that!!! Fantastic. I sold it after four years to buy a 16v Lancia Integrale...which was terrifying. Wish I'd kept my little Sud!

What a wonderful way to start my day many thanks mate, never had an Alfasud but when I drove my mates home he was too drank I was amazed at how well it was going round corners n his was If I remember right 1.1, I did owned a MK1 Golf n a Peugeot 205 n out of the 2 its the 205 I loved the most, also the Gold MK1 was the best Golf I drove had a steering that was talking to u all the time but handling for me my 205 was the best little hatchback I ever had, what I remember from the only time i drove the sud It was just so much fun maybe I should a bought one

When I was 12 in 1983, a couple who lived in the next street bought a pair of new Sud Quads (one black, one green) and it instantly became my aspirational dream car. It was so distinctive even then, when the Golf GTI was the hot hatch to have. I love the Italian styling and ‘light aircraft’ exhaust note. And I still want one !

Huge respect for the owner for keeping this on the road, and in such great condition. And huge respect for you JayEmm for sharing this car with the world. You’ve hit your niche and we’re all glad for it.

I really enjoyed this, loved the Sud. I've just got myself a 1986 Spider 2L with the twin ohc engine and twin Webers that pops and burbles just the same. So typical of the time and sadly becoming rarer!

Thanks so much for covering this. I had almost forgotten the car. I traded a BMW 2002 for an Alfasud in the 1970's and swapped it for a second Sud (1500 cc model) around 1980. Both rusted faster than any car I have owned. Although they were not fast they were very chuckable and you could maintain good speed through corners. They were a lot of fun - and the appearance, if not the bodywork, has aged quite well.

I'm italian, i remember tons of Alfasud here in the 80's when i was a kid. Great project, not so well executed... still loved by generations of Italians.

Had one of these the same as you have here, Loved it went round corners like on rails.And, That lovely exhaust rasp!!

Amazing, i have always wanted to experience one of these, just watching it move around on the road with the 80's music pulls my heart strings no end, thank you Jay you are a legend!

Great to see one on the move. Memories of my own ‘81 1.3 Ti. So sad when I bought at 3 years old, the inner wings had already rusted through.......... but that wonderful boxer engine and great handling!

When those space chords & synth stopped and the engine sound came on, that's when the real music started.

I had a 1984 Green Cloverleaf Sprint in Black almost 30 years ago. It loved it truly and it was fantastic to drive; even quite fast on the odd occasion when all four cylinders were firing...

Man did you just bring back some memories,that music scene at the beginning was classic 👍🏼

Thanks for the video, James. Brilliant, you get it! The Sud, the car by which others were judged for the combination of ride and handling for well over a decade. I still have my 74 Sud time capsule, and it’s still going strongly, touch wood. Definitely not many of those about.

Amazing video.. I used to have a 1979 Alfasud 1.3 5 speed manual in the late 90s during college... It is such an amazing car... Horrid body rust but an absolute delight to drive... So much so to relive that memory I got myself a 08 vw polo gti 9n3

I used a 1974 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spyder as a daily drive for a number of years about a decade or so ago. On paper it was not a quick or fast car but somehow, without speeding excessively, I always got to my destination just a bit faster than in other cars. And the soundtrack of that lovely, lovely motor... I swear, if I weren't married I wouldn't be able to tell you if the radio worked. I never turned it on unless the wife and I were on a long drive.

This video is missing the one thing Alfas score strongest in... PASSION and EMOTION! I had one the same, but black, as my first car at 17. I soon knew the size of every bolt on it, but I loved it.

Sud was my first car bought with my first savings. I've had two. I've had some great cars, but I miss them so bad.

1990 and the 1995 i owned a sud 1.5 SC and then the 1.5 Ti cloverleaf. Adore them to this day. Personally, I prefer the SC to drive as it is just as fast but had a better gear ratio which meant 60mph was achieved in 2nd gear. Later had an Alfa 75 3.0 V6 cloverleaf, rear wheel drive beast that ate BMW 325i for breakfast. Glad you enjoyed it.

Crikey now I know what it really sounds like. Aged 12, heard it every morning, cold start from a neighbour. Thank you

What an awesome car. Keep up the good work.

I had a 79 SUD Ti, upgraded motor to 105 spec, loved the hell out of it, even put electric windows and seats from a 33. Gave many a Gti and opel Gsi a good run for it😎. This car taught me mechanics, spent as much time under it as in it😅. Miss this car......

That was a little trip down memory lane for me. Yes, these cars were fun to drive, Flimsy plastic, rust, and a little quirky.

Thank you James for doing this review as this was my first ever car back in 1987 - I was 17 and the car was red with sprayed gold wheels , I bought the car second hand from my boss and I really thought I was the bees knees ..... .

I can’t say this is my favourite car you’ve reviewed... but it is one of my favourite of your reviews! Very entertaining! And I’m only part way through!

I had a Gold Cloverleaf 1.5 back in the late 80's. That was the 4 door version. What a car.. And the strange thing was it never rusted. Wish I still had it.

I owned an Alfa sud back in 1985, it was a 1981 one owner car. Bought it from brighouse auctions for £1000. At the time , owning a 4 year old car at the age of 18 was unusual, I was very happy with my purchase until I opened the bonnet and noticed the inner wings were completely rotten. Another shock was when I tried to do a handbrake turn, and discovered the handbrake operated the front brakes. I had to change a front brake calliper at one point during ownership, it was a complete nightmare, the brakes were inboard, and it should have been an engine out job , luckily I worked as a tool room fitter and designed and made my own tool to sort the job . Despite all the negatives, I loved that car, it was fun to drive and had loads of character, it could perform as well as the xr3i my mate had paid 3 times more for. Good memories.

Very late to this video, but bloody hell - I used to own that very car. Three very happy years in the mid '90s - so many good memories, so many stories. And that sound... took me straight back to my Cotswold back-road commute. Thanks for this video, James, top content. Made my day.

I have a much loved Alfasud 1.5ti (single dual throat Weber) that I purchased new in 1980. Absolutely no rust and in excellent original condition. Some say that the popular Russian steel story is not so and is what we Australians call a "furphy". The rust problem had a lot to do with unprotected body shells being left out in the elements for extended periods due to ongoing lengthy industrial action at the factory. As a result cars were being made with already rusty body shells. Whatever the case, Alfa greatly improved their rust proofing from about 1978 on. From watching British car programmes, I am constantly amazed by the extent of the rust problem that cars have there. I guess its due to the rainy weather and the application of salt on the roads during winter.

Great video my dad had a black gold clover leaf one when he was selling them in the 1980 S . It was great fun 👍

Man, that noise is just damn beautiful! It's a pretty car too.

Brilliant video thanks. My Sud is currently undergoing a rebuild. It's been off the road for about 20 years....can't wait to drive it again!

My brother in law had a sud coupe and my dad the 2.0 gtv both great cars and reliable! Alfa need to bring out a new Sud.

Passed my driving test in the spring 1991 and my brother gave me his Alfa Spud with 6 months MOT &Tax and told to have fun as it would not pass its next MOT due to rust(shock I know). I loved that car and had a truely amazing summer that year.

A story to tell, I was reading an article about the Sud many years ago . A Lotus & Alfa dealer lent out a Sud for the weekend on a demo & when it came back it had four bold tyres & they thought that's had a hard weekend! being such a car dealership when the next months Autosport magazine came through the door, guess what car was photographed the sud! for winning a slick 50 race meeting! then it made sense why the tyres were all bold! puts a smile on my face still today

My most favourite car ever, I sold mine in the early 80's and still miss it :(

Can’t help but like the little Alfasud. Great video James👌👍

100k Subs shouldn’t be far off now bro. Love your reviews. Keep up the good work. 👍🏼

My friends dad had one of these in black back in the early 80s.Always heard it before i saw it coming up the street sounded fab.My dad on the other hand had a red mark 1 fiesta XR2.Good times...👍👍

Love the music 🎶 Overlay with Motor sound... perfect 👌

That sounds absolutely glorius!

Bought a Sud Sprint Veloce 1.5 (same engine as Ti) brand new in 1981. Absolutely brilliant to drive - put a smile on my face every time I got behind the wheel - but ownership was so frustrating. Endless gremlins with the steering and gearbox which the dealer consistently failed to fix so I sold it after only 10 months to preserve my sanity. Still have fond memories of the engine characteristics and the handling. So sad this little gem was often so badly built it is so rare nowadays.

I had a Sud 1200 ti in the late 70s. It convinced me that a Fwd didn't have to handle like a snowplough. I have compared every Fwd I have had since against it but none have ever matched its eagerness to change direction and ability drift like a Rwd. Wish they didn't decompose into the Alpha particles so quickly.

My father had one of these - silver, just the same as the one you are driving. It was an '83 and he bought it around '84. It was the first car I ever drove, and learned on. Great on the New Zealand roads - it loved revving up around 7k+, and braked well.

Alfasud was my first car back in '88, not a cloverleaf though, it literally fell apart around me.

I had one of these. Beautiful handling car with an exhaust note that made people move out of the way as I approached them. Kept the paint work polished to within an inch of its life but alas it was rotting underneath so fast the floor plan developed holes all over 😂

I enjoyed this, it reminded me of the first car I ever fell in love with and that was a AlfaSud Sprint, a few years later in my early 20's when I bought my first ever car, was a Alfa GTV6 82 model and I often think about buying one back today....

I went from a Hillman Imp to an Alfasud Ti Green Cloverleaf - in silver just like this car. I miss it so much.

Great to see this video. I had one of these in the 80’s still one of my favourite cars. Just loved the sound of it! ❤

I really love these and the noise they make.I will get a go in one at some point. Great video

I remember these cars in the eighties. In those days I was a teenager and if you had a mk2 escort you were the man. These still seemed desirable in an exotic sense. Love the sound of a NA carb car.

Had 2 of these, the last of which was a red 1.5Ti. Like many, many Sud owners I wish I still had it. Fun, fun, fun!

The Alfa entropy. The steel was so thin and so low carbon that any moisture corrodes like a xenomorphs blood. I love the cars of this period with the twin headlamp look. Oh so very very cool.

Now this is an interesting car.

I'm an alfista at heart and have owned two Alfas in my time. The first was an Alfasud Sprint Veloce which I bought in 1985. I think it was a 1982 model in Alfa red with the 1.5 litre flat four engine and two downdraught Weber twin carbs. It was a lovely car to drive, light and responsive with a lovely crackle from the exhaust as you took your foot off the accelerator pedal. I tried a friend's VW Scirocco at the time and found it much less fun to drive. Sadly, the tin worm got to the body work and it ended up looking very tatty. In the end I crashed it in southern Spain and since repairing it would have cost more than the car was worth, my insurance company wrote it off and I abandoned it in a scrapyard near Jaén. A sad end for such a lovely car. I also bought a new 156 in 1998 but that's another story. Incidentally, I always understood that the rust problem was because the Italian government banned the import of steel to protect its domestic steel industry and used recycled steel for non-structural parts such as body panels.

My dad has one in the garage, it hasn’t been driven in over 20 years.. I’ve made it my mission this year to get her back in the road, can’t wait!!

Awesome video, James. Funnily enough, I just found one of these in a barn-find collection, and in that video (yet to air) I said this was my least favourite to take for a spin. Maybe I should have watched this first :)

great review james!

Navigated a pink AlfaSud around the south of the UK road rallying in the late 80's. Very forgiving handling, Jon (driver) could go way too fast into a blind corner and lift off and it would just tuck in. Hand-braked really well too; could rotate in a road not much wider than its own length, which was very handy when I got it wrong. Good memories.

For a time in 87 I had a alfasud sprint cloverleaf same colour as this and my wife had a red alfasud sprint (1300cc I think) same time. They were a hoot on a shoestring - the engine had a lovely sound as you've shown in great piece. Gearbox though was long, and gearlever rattled. Great photography too btw in I'm guessing Suffolk/Norfolk.

Love the Alfa and love The Car Guys giving it beans moment. Excellent

Hi James lucky to have exactly the same car as a courtesy car in 1985, great fun as a 19 year old. My mum also had an Alfa 33 , all great fun as new cars. Lots of tourque steer. I then bought a black Alfa sprint special in the early 90,s but the rust was horrific! Love the video. Best wishes mark

that magic 100k subs is coming very soon James. Keep up the fantastic work mate.

Had one of these! The number plate was ROT 828S - and boy, it lived up to that - ROTting away after a year. It was fantastic while it lasted though 😎

Takes me back! I had a black TiX Cloverleaf- brilliant car - sold it to a guy who put it through a wall a week later. Had a black 1750 33 Sportwagon after that - and a 145 twinspark cloverleaf All good fun cars

That sound, that sound, that sound. My god. Pure Heaven to the ears!.