RE: Alfa Romeo Brera JTDM: Spotted
Discussion
Yipper said:
Alfa must be the most overrated car brand in the world. Clarkson has a lot to answer for. They are never quite pretty, reliable or fast enough to truly excite. The Brera being a prime example.
The marque has struggled in recent years, but as the owner of a 115 series Giulia GTV, I can safely say it is an amazing car. In the mid 60's in its prime it was very forward looking, from the disc brakes and 5 speed gear box to the twin cam alloy four cylinder engine. Mine is slightly fettled (by Alfaholics nr Bristol, do look at their website, their specials are truly that!) I have had a couple of untroubled Alpine trips with amongst other cars a Cayman S. Sure my little GTV is 'underpowered', but on flat/ downhill twisty sections it absolutely danced along, sometimes leaving the Cayman behind. It is cars like the Giulia that gave Alfa their well deserved reputation as being beautiful, lightweight performers. GJR68 said:
I drove a 2.2 for two years so am probably emotionally scarred by the experience.. Awful low speed hesitation requiring a third party remap because Alfa refused to accept the problem, timing chain issues due to blocked oil jets, 4 pot performance with V6 economy. Engine sensors failing.
Emotionally scarred because of a slight hesitation and average MPG, with some common modern car timing chain issues?..(sorry does sound all very melodramatic) Go over to the recent BMW thread where BMW are charging £1500 to fix the lights in someones car door handles.The 2.2 doesn't read below stated BHP though, ah yes I do remember a light hesistation it was quite mild however (I had a 2.2 Brera as well) - quite similar to the hesitation you find on a MK3 MX5 1.8. I think the timing chain thing was quite limited from memory, however something BMW's also struggle with. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bmw+timing+chain
Like I said, no worse than it's competition. What engine sensors? Mine did 65k without any failures, although it did need the oil pressure or temperature sensor to be replaced at around 40k
Not their best petrol that was evident however, it was based on a GM block from memory with an Alfa head, none of the pazazz of older units but sounded nice past 4k in the same way that a 2.7 boxster is gutless but sounds nice past a certain RPM. MPG was poor/average. The newer 1750/2.9 Twin Turbo's are more like it!
I actually drive a GT with one of those troublesome JTS units, however being the 2004 year onwards it has been faultless (as was my 2002 2.0 JTS that was sold at 74k with again no issues in my ownership, but Alfa did have to tweak the lambda connectors in year 1) apart from 1 coil pack failing on my GT and is nearly on 90k. Picks up nicely as well, with plenty of torque ...not had it on a test bed to check it's BHP however.
Sorry that the 2.2 caused you that much worry though! Who knows what to buy these days, as all brands seem to have issues including the German's. I haven't heard too many stories about Honda or Suzuki though.
However you like me seem to like Alfa's (nice GTV), don't get me wrong I didn't find the Brera to be their best car but it had it's positives and for me was a reliable if slightly flawed car.
Edited by V6Alfisti on Sunday 25th December 19:43
This thread sent me straight to the classifieds only to find this stunner
http://tnydu.biz/DOt2Vm
Yummy
http://tnydu.biz/DOt2Vm
Yummy
Robert-nszl1 said:
Researching these a little, I have to say I'm tempted, but a question to the aficionados, did Prodrive do a version of the Spider or was it just the Brera (S)? Also has anyone experienced the fwd v6 car and if so how does it compare to the 4wd?
They never did a Prodrive Spider, it is probably still possible to buy all the bits to build one but I don't think it would be cheap.adamcot said:
I used to own one of these. Mine was a 2007 210hp variant. Simply the best car I've ever owned. It wasn't particularly cheap to run, but the feel good factor was strong. It made you feel great. The car was a massive talking point - I'm pretty sure it even got me a job. I sold mine last year with 134,000 miles on it, still with many years of life left in it. I would have another in a heart beat, this time with a V6.
That seems to sum up what you thought of the dieseasel! 
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