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Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: The $23,500 Renault Alpine A310?
Alpine Showcases IPod-Like Multimedia Systems For GM, BMW, Mercedes
Project Car Hell, Debacle Edition: Matra Murena or Alpine A310?
Aftermarket Manufacturers Go Sync, Next-Gen Also On The Way
Brazilians Plan Interlagos Revival, Looking For Investors
Alpine's 2008 Aftermarket Audio Catalog Surprisingly Filled With Goods
Renault's Reviving Alpine Brand
Let the Alpine Play: The A110
Mod Vid: Alpine's Sinister Six Radical Custom

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iantm
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
The PRV is good for two things - providing a good source of donor Volvo's needing V8's swapped in, and being used as a boat anchor.

That being said, I lived with a later model prv - the b280f in a 1988 Volvo 780 bertone. The engine ate itself and melted - awesome, truly awesome. I gave up on that car immediately, knowing that it was only the beginning of PCH and my $10/hr earnings wouldn't be able to support a PCH car as my daily driver.

Though, I believe that the Eagle Premier had a "good" variant of the PRV and that everything else went bad. Then again, it could be a matter of perspective.

It all boils down to Volvo people hate the PRV because it's crap. Francophiles love it because they are masochists.
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MushyHeirloom
04/19/09

@iantm: I would've kept the Volvo and fed it turbo-redblock power.
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cgarison
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
Honestly, The Buick 4.1 Liter (carb) and venerable 3.8 SFI / 3800 Series II were probably the best V6 motors ever made. Some may also include the Chevy 350 less two Cylinders which was sold as the Vortec 4.3 Liter. Anyway. the PRV cannot touch the Buick motors for strength. (I have driven several 3800 Series III motors and have not been impressed with the latest version.)

And if you wanted a fuel sipper, the 3100 in a W body chassis was good for 33 MPG highway in the late 90's through 2003. GM dropped one hell of a motor that could have been marketed well over the last 4 years.
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MushyHeirloom
04/19/09

@cgarison: And left what? The 3.4? Puh-leaze. Should've stuck with the three-one.
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If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face
04/19/09

@Baron Plushroom von Falconpunchen: Yeah, the 3400 was crap. The 3.1 was pretty uninspired, but in a demented way I always liked that you could get an American V6 for Japanese 4-banger money (and 4-banger power). It was reliable, anyway.

I thought the 3.8 was a great motor. The Series II was was arguably the best big family car motor on the market in the '90s. It was obviously overdue for a replacement, but the the pushrod "High Value" series that replaced it is trash. It's one thing to keep a well-regarded motor around for decades in spite of old technology (GM tried to ditch the 3800 as early as the late 90s, but they were overwhelmed with customer complaints), but it's just insulting to replace that outdated design with a "new," equally outdated, worse design.
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
04/19/09

@FromaBuick6: The best late 80's motor has to be the SAAB turbo four. Decent power, economical, reliable, compact.
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Elhigh
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
PRV=PCH. It's like saying 1=one.
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Mad_Science
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
Poppet Valve!
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Double_Wishbone
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
"The PRV never established a great reputation for reliability"? Are you kidding?

You can't kill a PRV - many PRV-powered cars are over 200.000 miles and still running strong. You just have to take care of them!

Great versatility, too! Just put two turbochargers and you're over 400 hp already:

(Venturi 400 GT)
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MushyHeirloom
04/18/09

@Double_Wishbone: You can get almost anything there if you "take care of" it. Of course, "take care of" can mean anything from "ten-thousand-mile oil changes" (Toyota/Honda) to "attack once with a soldering iron, then ignore forever" (red-block) to "routinely rebuild" (anything Italian).
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A strolling player
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
Ah, yes. The weakest part of DeLorean's swan song is still a part of DeLorean's swan song and is therefore still in Back to the Future and is therefore still awesome.
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tяs
04/18/09

@Gutpunch McRodbender, a strolling player's understudy: In BTTF, they actually dubbed a Porsche flat-six in for the engine sounds. The PRV was an ugly sounding engine, period.
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A strolling player
04/18/09

@tяs: Sound is not important, what powered the car to 88 mph is! The big diesel energy drink truck in Role Models had a noticeably gasoline sound, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a totally badass truck.
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MushyHeirloom
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
Also: The V8 design of this thing is why the 244 had such a cavernous engine bay. Say "thank you", V8olvo enthusiasts!
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MushyHeirloom
04/18/09

@Baron Plushroom von Falconpunchen: "244"? There's my bias showing through. All the 200-series cars. And, for that matter, the 700/900s, too.
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.357
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
My favorite car powered by this engine? The Lancia Thema.

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.357
04/18/09

@Lord Pferdestärke the 357th: Here's some pictures of the awe inspiring Thema.

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A strolling player
04/18/09

@Lord Pferdestärke the 357th: That interior is fucking awesome. Although, let's be honest, that car is best when powered thusly:

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Tier 5 Jalop, the King
04/18/09

@Lord Pferdestärke the 357th: Ah yes, the sh*t brown interior is from Ferrari V8 powered 8.32 version, nose heavy FWD fiasco of a car.

Not to destroy your dream, but having owned a Lancia Prisma I do understand why you can get Lancias basically free, they are just nightmares. But when they are running ok for some strange reason (and after you have changed all suspension components), you can enjoy relatively nice handling. As these were designed together with Alfa 164, Fiat Croma & Saab 9000 a lot of parts are the same (e.g. doors interchangeable with Saab IIRC).
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.357
04/18/09

@Gutpunch McRodbender, a strolling player's understudy: Agreed.

@Manic King of Corinthia: They are nightmares, but for some strange reason, I like them.
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MushyHeirloom
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
Remember, folks, there's a goddamn good reason that the red-block was featured a year before this thing.

I hope that link works. I'm trying to save the digital trees.
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
Complicated history, but not such a great engine. Producing power or torque, or achieving substantial economy was never really its forte. Ever thought of profiling the Ford Cologne V-4?
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
04/18/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: PRV V6
It's been a long time since I've read about this engine -since I owned my '84 & '78 244s several years ago- but I seem to remember the problem with these was oil starvation to the top end, and that this was corrected later on...

In any case, I6 > V6, every time.
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Deartháir II
04/18/09

@SLANTTZILLA?: Agreed, a straight-six is always the engine of the gods. A slant-six on the other hand, well, that's just crap. ;)

There are so many advantages to a straight six, it makes my heart hurty that they've ever stopped making them. I can understand it, I mean they reach certain limitations where the advantages of a naturally-balanced engine are outweighed by the fact that the crankshaft is now too long and will require a mid-engine bearing to keep it from splitting. But if I recall correctly (and it's been a while), the same natural balance can be translated to a similar 60° V12. Hint hint, automakers.
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tonyola
04/18/09

@Pope Deartháir III the Awesometh: There were also issues of weight and length with the inline sixes. That long block is pretty heavy if it's cast iron, and it's hard to put a straight six sideways in a front-wheel-drive car. As far as balance, a 60-degree V6 does fairly well. It's the 90-degree jobs like the GM 3.8, the PRV, and the Citroen SM engines that were inherently rough. It took a LOT of work for GM to get the 3.8/3800 to run smoothly.
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Armand
04/18/09

@tonyola: You're right, it is difficult to fit a straight six in a transverse front-drive layout. That's one of many reasons front-wheel-drive sucks.
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discontinuuity has left the Jalop until further notice
04/18/09

@tonyola: I think Ford/Volvo/Land Rover managed a transverse inline six for the Freelander and a few Volvo models.
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Murilee Martin
04/18/09

@Armand: I'm a big fan of right-wheel drive!
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MushyHeirloom
04/18/09

@Murilee Martin: So am I. Just took the Volvo out. Mmm.
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Charles_Barrett - Now with Variable-Valve Timing
04/19/09

@Pope Deartháir III the Awesometh:

Agreed. My '97 E320 was that model's last year of the I6. 1998 and newer got the V6. I love my 7+ quart oil sump...
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MushyHeirloom
02/02/09

In reply to Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: The $23,500 Renault Alpine A310?
Nice Price. It looks like the lovechild of a '90s 300ZX and a Gremlin, and the PRV wasn't that bad for its time. The DeLorean's only real flaw was its weight!
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MushyHeirloom
02/02/09

@Fluffy, Pushbroom: I feel that this is generally more desirable than the R5 we had the other day, that you wouldn't have to be insane to add miles to it, and that it's bat-shit crazy in the first place. Parts availability be damned this time around.
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Novaload
02/02/09

In reply to Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: The $23,500 Renault Alpine A310?
For all the bitchin' and moaning, it's running away with "Nice Price!" which means those of us who said Yes! to this French eccentricity just smiled, voted, and moved on.
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bzr
02/02/09

In reply to Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: The $23,500 Renault Alpine A310?
It's French, it's fast, you'll look good broken down on the side of the road, it's rare as hell, it's relatively cheap, you'll confuse the hell out of everybody, it looks like something out of an 80s computer game, and weird French mechanics will be your best friend. And all that can be yours for the price of a 4cyl Camry. Nice Price.
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Six Flags Over Tomsk
02/02/09

In reply to Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: The $23,500 Renault Alpine A310?
For what you'd spend on removing that abortion of a bodykit, you could probably buy and import (under that DOT 25 years and older exemption) a museum-quality stocker from Europe. Pass the pipe.
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