Two (faultless) months had passed and I was really starting to enjoy the civilised way in which X371GCF got me up and down M1 or across the city with equal aplomb: sit back, relax in its big leather armchairs and nail the throttle when the rare opportunity presents itself.

I really hoped this was the Alfa to break the taboo; banish my past Alfa motoring woes for good. And the prospects looked good ΂- 16,000 evomiles were already on the clock, many of them extremely testing ones, including the recent near-non-stop, high-speed dash chasing a Zonda from Milan to Goodwood (issue 35).

As evo's publisher, my journeys tend to be somewhat more modest ΂- so thankfully I wasn't far from home when disaster struck.

I was returning from a very wet Sunday watching the Caterhams race at Brands Hatch when just five miles from home the revs dropped and all power drained from under my right foot. Very bad words were shouted.

The engine icon warning light beamed brightly at me, and instinctively I popped up the bonnet and checked the oil level, fearing the worst. Thankfully the level was fine, so I decided to drive home. The 166 limped the last five miles at around 10mph ΂- a strange sensation as I had my foot to the floor just to achieve this mighty speed.

So that was that for a couple of weeks ΂- no more 166. I begged daily in the hope of a courtesy car from Perrys of Amersham, and in the end they crumbled with the onslaught of calls and gave me a 1.2-litre Punto for the second week. That'll teach me.

The 166 is 'drive by wire' and an element of the throttle system known as the potentiometer was the bit that had broken. It had to be ordered direct from Italy, and when it did finally arrive I was informed the whole dashboard had to be removed to fit it.

I can't believe my run of Alfa bad luck. It's a shame, because I desperately wanted to have a problem-free relationship with this one. The 166 is back now, and for the last two weeks all's been well. Only problem is, I'm now having to learn to drive with my fingers crossed.