Alfa 159 as a daily commuter?

[daemon]

LGriffiths88 said:

Is it actually confirmed that the Alfa has a vauxhall engine or is it the other way around? What other cars are out there then? Open my eyes as all I can think of is a focus and mondeo.

Whilst it is not "a vauxhall engine", the vauxhall engine is very closely based on that engine, due to the close ties Vauxhall previously had with FIAT.

My point was, that "that" engine - irrespective of who developed it in the first place - is known for dual mass flywheel failure at around 80K miles, and DPF problems, plus it is known to have other issues too. Those reasons alone would be a question mark for me, given at your price point you're likely to be looking at something with perhaps 40-60K miles,.

Edited by daemon on Wednesday 26th February 10:58

[daemon]

LGriffiths88 said:

so a 1.9 won't be able to achieve on average 49mpg?

My 147 1.9JTD averaged 43mpg.

The 159 is known as being a very heavy car, so expect slightly less.

[daemon]

Symbolica said:

LGriffiths88 said:

Is it actually confirmed that the Alfa has a vauxhall engine or is it the other way around?

It's not really either. It's a Fiat Group engine, used in both cars (plus a lot more in various guises):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JTD_engine

Exactly.

Thats the extract i quoted back on page 2, but conveniently ignored by some.

Its not a great engine and known for problems in the much more prevalent vauxhall range.

[daemon]

underphil said:

walsh said:

Also, for what its worth, If the gearbox is the same, the astra's decided it didnt want to live anymore at around 80k.

Quite spectacually I should add, spend about 10 mins picking bits up on the road.

it's basically the same - later models of the 159 have some modifications over the Vauxhall units but they still get a lot of problems

+1

[daemon]

So summarising,

If you really feel its an itch you have to scratch then go for it. There are a lot of merits to the car, not least how fantastic they look.

However, bear in mind the following :-

They arent terribly economical - which is going to be a factor if you've an 80 mile a day commute. Around 43mpg seems typical - the best of the rest will be 55-60mpg.
They have known reliability issues with that engine, and you may face some large bills.
If you pile big miles onto it, it will depreciate heavily.

None of the above stopped me buying :-

a 3 year old 156 v6 veloce from a main dealer (ouch!)
a new 147 1.9 JTD Ti from a main dealer (somebody had to!)
an older 156 1.8 Veloce at one point.

Entirely up to yourself really.

Edited by daemon on Wednesday 26th February 11:07

[LGriffiths88]

The extra £20 a week in fuel could work out better for what I'm paying out a month on car right now.

Surely the cruise control would help with the mpg?

[daemon]

LGriffiths88 said:

The extra £20 a week in fuel could work out better for what I'm paying out a month on car right now.

Surely the cruise control would help with the mpg?

Might do. Not sure. It would depend on your driving style.

I get 65mpg out of my Golf 1.6 TDI. Not sure i could better that if i had cruise control.

I would do your calcs based on 43MPG. If you invest and get better than that then its a bonus.

Edited by daemon on Wednesday 26th February 13:47

Edited by daemon on Wednesday 26th February 13:48

[LGriffiths88]

anyone got a good way to calculate running costs?

anything on the guiletta? again nice car and available for around 7k

Edited by LGriffiths88 on Wednesday 26th February 18:39

[C. Grimsley]

I spoke to Dave today (both of them) and they know you well alfahorn, a very Alfa man so to speak as we can tell from your posts.

Here's the real Dave French



Carl

[Alfahorn]

C. Grimsley said:

I spoke to Dave today (both of them) and they know you well alfahorn, a very Alfa man so to speak as we can tell from your posts.

Here's the real Dave French



Carl

That's all the verification required to confirm I might just know what I'm talking about.

When you next pop in please say hello for me.

[Alfahorn]

LGriffiths88 said:

The extra £20 a week in fuel could work out better for what I'm paying out a month on car right now.

Surely the cruise control would help with the mpg?

I generally haven't found the the cruise control a benefit to fuel economy, then again I rarely use it as my 28 mile commute is on country roads going through villages etc. etc.

[jamieboy]

daemon said:

The 159 is known as being a very heavy car

...which is a shame. The first cars were heavier, but from '08 onwards they ( the 1.9d anyway ) were pretty much in the middle of their contemporaries for weight - heavier than some, lighter than others. So although it only applied to the early cars, the "heavy" tag stuck with the 159 long after it stopped being true.

[greggy50]

Have you considered a Mondeo ST TDCI 2.2 still a good looking car (not as good as the alfa) but drives better and probably better on fuel as well than the 2.4 whilst being near enough as quick.

Also quite cheap now as well
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-mondeo-st-tdci-/181...

If can stretch to top end of budget I would go for the 2.2d Mazda 6 185 myself it is a very good engine and they are pretty quick for a diesel and to me look quite smart as well. Also handle nicely well specified and good on fuel very good all rounder!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2010-60-REG-MAZDA-Mazda6...

Also lot of tuning potential as well

£500 sees you up to 222hp
£1500 sees you up to 246hp and near enough 400lb torque!

[Alfahorn]

LGriffiths88 said:

anyone got a good way to calculate running costs?

anything on the guiletta? again nice car and available for around 7k

Edited by LGriffiths88 on Wednesday 26th February 18:39

Is there any specific you would like to know about the Giulietta? I have a 2.0 JTDM which is 2 years old and done 40,000 miles.

[LGriffiths88]

Alfahorn said:

Is there any specific you would like to know about the Giulietta? I have a 2.0 JTDM which is 2 years old and done 40,000 miles.

are they worth looking at? good to drive? cheap to run?

[LGriffiths88]

greggy50 said:

Have you considered a Mondeo ST TDCI 2.2 still a good looking car (not as good as the alfa) but drives better and probably better on fuel as well than the 2.4 whilst being near enough as quick.

Also quite cheap now as well
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-mondeo-st-tdci-/181...

If can stretch to top end of budget I would go for the 2.2d Mazda 6 185 myself it is a very good engine and they are pretty quick for a diesel and to me look quite smart as well. Also handle nicely well specified and good on fuel very good all rounder!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2010-60-REG-MAZDA-Mazda6...

Also lot of tuning potential as well

£500 sees you up to 222hp
£1500 sees you up to 246hp and near enough 400lb torque!

the mrs already has a mondeo, no need for 2 on the drive.

do like the mazda6! and wow in white looks really good! not many 180bhp models about on autotrader. really nice styling too

Edited by LGriffiths88 on Wednesday 26th February 21:52

[Alfahorn]

LGriffiths88 said:

Alfahorn said:

Is there any specific you would like to know about the Giulietta? I have a 2.0 JTDM which is 2 years old and done 40,000 miles.

are they worth looking at? good to drive? cheap to run?

Well, I'm very, very happy with it. However, it doesn't have that Alfa feel of my previous cars. Is this the price of progress? I don't know. I think the 159 steers better, this is probably don't to the EPAS system which can be found on Mitos & Giuliettas which has an artificial feel. Don't get me wrong, I must reiterate I enjoy it very much but there's something missing from Alfas of yore.

Cheap to run. Well, mines and auto and averages between 40 and 43 most of the time. My mate has the manual and he averages 46 mpg, he has a 45 mile commute. The service intervals are 21,000 miles, this feels a little too long to me and subsequently I've decided to adopt a strategy of getting an oil & filter change every 10,500 miles.

What to look out for; tyre wear has been an issue on Alfa for sometime. I've had hunter alignment carried on my car and my Bridgestone fronts have now covered 18,000 miles and have 2mm left. The drivers seat has been known to squeak on some cars, however I've not had this issue. There have been issues with speakers rattling and gearknobs splitting. They can suffer a bit with road noise. There was issue on very early cars where the filler cap would stick, however on later models this appears to not be an issue.

Overall; very good car, comfortable and well equipped. Mine has proven to be very reliable. The dealer has been first class in all my interactions with them.

[crostonian]

Well I'm in the trade, I do 30K miles a year sourcing 4x4s, Mercs, BMWS, Audis and general prestige stuff and what do I have as my daily hack? A 56 plate 159 1.9 Sportwagon, now with 175k miles up its chuff, yes it makes strange noises, it chuggs and it rattles from time to time but its reliable, quick enough on the motorway, very comfortable and still looks good to my eyes. From my experience I wouldn't say they are any less reliable than a 320d, Audi TDi or Merc 200/220 CDi and certainly more reliable than Ford/Jags with the the 2.0/2.2 TDCi lump. When they do go wrong the parts prices aren't too bad either compared with the Germans, economy isn't great though, in the low 40s.

[B.J.W]

I ran a 1.9 JTDM as a daily for a year. Regular 140 mile commute (round trip)

It was remapped and averaged 55 mpg on a (mainly motorway) run.

Never missed a beat - the only fault? - it kept telling me the tape deck was faulty - there was no tape deck on board.

Lovely motor in my opinion

[greggy50]

LGriffiths88 said:

the mrs already has a mondeo, no need for 2 on the drive.

do like the mazda6! and wow in white looks really good! not many 180bhp models about on autotrader. really nice styling too

Edited by LGriffiths88 on Wednesday 26th February 21:52

Fair enough

The Mazda 6 is well worth a look where I was on graduate placement quite a few staff had them as company cars and as such they were thrashed around a lot none of them had any issues at all to my knowledge. I drove a couple on pretty high miles for the year and still felt pretty fresh.