RE: Shed of the Week: Alfa 164 Twin Spark
Discussion
My dad had one of these in the early 90's. The car lunched it's engine in the first 1000 miles (manufacturing fault apparently). The 2.0 twinspark was a nice engine but the car suffered from persistent electrical niggles.
I'm tempted but I suspect the nostalgia is better than the reality. I'll stick with my 90s bmw 5 series...
I'm tempted but I suspect the nostalgia is better than the reality. I'll stick with my 90s bmw 5 series...
Great buy for £250. If drives fine the problem won't be the 250 but the next 'x' years buying all sorts of other alfa's once your hooked!
The TS is a good engine, i had one of the first 12v 3.0V6's, to this day still to this day my favorite engine/gearbox. Felt like a big golf GTI handling wise but got a bit ragged over 8/10ths, but that was plenty fast enough for normal use. Not really an issue in a 20+ year old car now though..
The TS is a good engine, i had one of the first 12v 3.0V6's, to this day still to this day my favorite engine/gearbox. Felt like a big golf GTI handling wise but got a bit ragged over 8/10ths, but that was plenty fast enough for normal use. Not really an issue in a 20+ year old car now though..
carinaman said:
dukebox9reg said:
Is it me when you squint it looks like a pug 405?
No squinting required, though you can squint a bit more and possibly see a 605 too. Pininfarina isn't it. He did all three of them.Limpet said:
Fantastic shed, but I almost guarantee that you cannot run a £250 Alfa for a year without spending at least the purchase price again . It will still be a cheap car, but it will always need something sorting, and the parts prices can be eye watering for those used to Fords, Vauxhalls and the like.
I speak from experience with a 156 V6 bought for 4 months ago £300 (with sensible-ish miles, a full Alfa dealer and specialist history, and £,000's worth of invoices). It now comfortably owes us more than twice the original investment. A cambelt kit and water pump were £250 just for the parts, for example. I've never paid more than £100 for these parts on any other car. Wheel bearings @ £30 a side, clutch kit @ £80 (thank you eBay). It's a car with that wonderful Busso V6 engine that (at the moment) runs well and cost less than a week in a caravan park on the Dorset coast - still an absolute bargain. But it's not a £300 car any more, or even close to.
If you go into this with your eyes open, it could be fantastic, but it won't be a drive and forget job. Old Alfas just aren't like that.
This man speaketh the truth.I speak from experience with a 156 V6 bought for 4 months ago £300 (with sensible-ish miles, a full Alfa dealer and specialist history, and £,000's worth of invoices). It now comfortably owes us more than twice the original investment. A cambelt kit and water pump were £250 just for the parts, for example. I've never paid more than £100 for these parts on any other car. Wheel bearings @ £30 a side, clutch kit @ £80 (thank you eBay). It's a car with that wonderful Busso V6 engine that (at the moment) runs well and cost less than a week in a caravan park on the Dorset coast - still an absolute bargain. But it's not a £300 car any more, or even close to.
If you go into this with your eyes open, it could be fantastic, but it won't be a drive and forget job. Old Alfas just aren't like that.
Edited by Limpet on Friday 26th July 12:07
My 156 wasn't shed money when i bought it, but its value would definitely be there now (130,000 miles). It probably throws a bill up for a few hundred pounds, on average, every 4-6 months.
The trouble is i love this car (Veloce kit, Tan leather seats, slim wooden steering wheel, sweet TS engine) and because it has never thrown a single huge bill at me i just keep fixing it which means i always feel like it owes me something!
As people have said the TS is pretty god on fuel, i get around 36mpg with mixed spirited driving. But it more then makes up for it my using a litre of oil every 7-800 miles. Not helped by the fact i have a small oil leak of course!
They are lovely cars though and alfa's really get under your skin! Next step is one with a v6!
Had Jimmy Nail's old 164 3ltre back in the day ( grease spot on headlining over drivers seat for authenticity). Great car, quick and fun. reliable? Well the warranty paid for the new autobox (3000revs required before it would reverse) and trailing arms but other than that it ran up to 60K fine. The Jag we replaced it with was a lot better however.......
Interesting choice this week, Shed, but memory says these were a disappointing drive..
We had one as a sort of pool car at a former place I worked. It'd been one of the Directors' cars and then made pool status when it had aged a bit.
My default memory of it is under-steer at every corner. Followed by some more under steer if there was a hint of any wet about. I can usually adjust my driving style to the vagaries of whatever loaner or hire car I'm in this week but the Alfa defeated me. Once I'd run out of steering lock twice in the 164 before I'd run out of corner to get round I always bagsied the other pool option.
Is my memory correct on this? No doubt an Alfista can (and will) correct me if I'm wrong. Might explain the v cheap price if my memory is right, mind you..
We had one as a sort of pool car at a former place I worked. It'd been one of the Directors' cars and then made pool status when it had aged a bit.
My default memory of it is under-steer at every corner. Followed by some more under steer if there was a hint of any wet about. I can usually adjust my driving style to the vagaries of whatever loaner or hire car I'm in this week but the Alfa defeated me. Once I'd run out of steering lock twice in the 164 before I'd run out of corner to get round I always bagsied the other pool option.
Is my memory correct on this? No doubt an Alfista can (and will) correct me if I'm wrong. Might explain the v cheap price if my memory is right, mind you..
handling is superb for the TS, until the bushes wear out in the front and rear arms - I replaced mine with Powerflex and the fun continued.
Not front heavy like the V6s, just very neutral.
Miss mine, that I traded in due to lack of AC fitted, for 166 Super 3.0 V6 - which was nose heavy and very cheap plastic everywhere.
Not front heavy like the V6s, just very neutral.
Miss mine, that I traded in due to lack of AC fitted, for 166 Super 3.0 V6 - which was nose heavy and very cheap plastic everywhere.
The lighter 2L engine means it's not nose heavy and handles, as someone else has said, like a wider Golf GTI of the same period. I had one and found no problems with understeer, I can't believe you would be driving a car at any normal speeds with full lock on. Sounds like the pool car was broken in some way.
My finest moment in mine was leaving a new Bentley for dead on a tightly curving sliproad in Holland, he quickly caught me up on the motorway though.
My finest moment in mine was leaving a new Bentley for dead on a tightly curving sliproad in Holland, he quickly caught me up on the motorway though.
Strawman said:
The lighter 2L engine means it's not nose heavy and handles, as someone else has said, like a wider Golf GTI of the same period. I had one and found no problems with understeer, I can't believe you would be driving a car at any normal speeds with full lock on. Sounds like the pool car was broken in some way.
The V6 has a huge turning circle making getting into what would be considered normal parking spaces awkward. I don't know if driving on the road could leave a driver running out of lock.
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