Matt Farah finally discovers how capable and fun-to-drive the Montreal is – and how great it sounds.
When it comes to awesome cars, you can’t drive them all. There’s always going to be a few that, for one reason or another, you can’t experience firsthand. Whether it’s because you can’t afford one, don’t live near a certain brand of dealership, or someone sold your dream car before you could make them an offer, you miss out.
That’s how it was for Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire with the Alfa Romeo Montreal. He’s driven classics, exotics, and everything in between, but he lived 36 years until he drove an Alfa Romeo Montreal. He finally gets his hands on one in the video above.
Was the Gandini-styled coupe worth the wait? It’s safe to say, “Hell yes.” Farah finds the ZF five-speed manual gearbox delightfully direct and notchy. Despite its age and dated underpinnings, the Montreal does a fine job of handling the twists and turns of Southern California roads, although Farah does have to plan the placement of his hands on the wood-rimmed wheel before he enters curves because the Montreal doesn’t have power steering. That doesn’t deter him from wanting to drive faster and faster, something he normally doesn’t feel like doing in older cars. After a long pedal travel, the brakes are more than capable of lowering the reading he swings the Jaeger-LeCoultre speedometer needle to.
All of those highlights are secondary to the Montreal’s 2.6-liter V8, though. It may have an astronomically high 4,800-rpm cruising speed (and the terrible fuel economy that comes with it), but it more than makes up for that with its sound. Farah likens it to the B7 Audi RS4’s sonic signature or what you’d hear coming out of a classic Shelby GT350 Mustang.
We’ve been fortunate to drive a wide variety of cars here at Teamspeed. Consider the Montreal officially on our must-drive list starting now.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
