RE: Shed of the Week | Alfa Romeo 166
Discussion
Rafeabrook said:
Counting up the number of Busso owners claiming their cars don't/didn't burn oil.
It's Italian.
Some will, some won't.
I've had two Busso cars. One did. One didn't.
The 3.0 12v in my 164 needed a pint every 100 miles, but as I was doing 27 MPG the local specialist advised me to just keep topping up (or more accurately if I got bad fuel economy I should cry as the cheapest option would be a recon engine replacement).It's Italian.
Some will, some won't.
I've had two Busso cars. One did. One didn't.
Vee12V said:
I actually prefer the pre-facelift, looks wise.
I know what you mean, the original was more distinctive, the front reminded me of something out of the film The Abyss.But, this is rather nice, not super showy or flash, just stylish in an understated way, prefer it looks wise to that tarty white Ferrari from yesterday, I have a thing for some mundane Italian stuff though, even the low powered stuff always seemed to have some verve.
Nice.
Always liked the 166 and thought it looked much nicer than the 156, mainly due to Alfa not replicating the ridiculous "ooh look, we've put the rear door handle in a crazy place to make it look like a coupe" stupidity of the 156. It didn't make it look like a coupe - it just made it look like they'd forgotten about the rear door handle and had to hurriedly shove it somewhere handy the day before production started.
Obviously I won't be buying this as it doesn't have enough cylinders, but it's still a very nice thing and I would definitely admire it if I encountered it on the road. Most likely as I overtook it...
Always liked the 166 and thought it looked much nicer than the 156, mainly due to Alfa not replicating the ridiculous "ooh look, we've put the rear door handle in a crazy place to make it look like a coupe" stupidity of the 156. It didn't make it look like a coupe - it just made it look like they'd forgotten about the rear door handle and had to hurriedly shove it somewhere handy the day before production started.
Obviously I won't be buying this as it doesn't have enough cylinders, but it's still a very nice thing and I would definitely admire it if I encountered it on the road. Most likely as I overtook it...
I have a 3.2 one of these. Actually I have one and 3/4 of the 3.2s. I bought a really nice 54 plate shell with zero rust or damage .. that had no engine or gearbox. I then bought a low mileage catastrophic rust bucket of a 3.2 for the price of its engine and ECU. Some hard graft in the garage, and I have a good un, as well as a parts shell.
The good one has an SMF, LSD and de cat manifolds. KW V1 coil overs. Pretty much all the suspension has been refurbed and it is on Ti wheels (like the one in OP). It’s got a Wizard back box as well.
You can drive it in a sedate fashion, and it is just rather nice and comfy. Or you can wind the engine up to 7k and have a lot of fun. The noise from a Busso has been described as “what you’d hear if you chucked a lion down a really long lift shaft” and it’s not far wrong with this car.
The electrics have been perfect - everything works, nothing has failed.
The good one has an SMF, LSD and de cat manifolds. KW V1 coil overs. Pretty much all the suspension has been refurbed and it is on Ti wheels (like the one in OP). It’s got a Wizard back box as well.
You can drive it in a sedate fashion, and it is just rather nice and comfy. Or you can wind the engine up to 7k and have a lot of fun. The noise from a Busso has been described as “what you’d hear if you chucked a lion down a really long lift shaft” and it’s not far wrong with this car.
The electrics have been perfect - everything works, nothing has failed.
bqf said:
I had a 3,0 pre-facelift one of these. It was lovely, did 10k miles in it without a single problem, then sold it for more than i paid for it.
very tempted to have this, on the basis it's just a lovely thing.
It was sold for £800, there was little interest in the barge thread.very tempted to have this, on the basis it's just a lovely thing.
I think these are proper svelte saloons.
Prefer the Gen 1 shape - it has aged much better, and IMO is a style icon.
Had two of these - a 99 'T' reg 2.0 TS manual in Alfa Red and black cloth. Was a zingy engine that loved to rev and sounded quite nice. Drove all over with that car and it never missed a beat. Lacquer peel was getting the better of the paintwork though. Only cost me £600.
The second was a 2000 'W' plate Volcane Black (dark purple in certain shades of light) 3.0 V6 Busso Auto. With gorgeous ivory sports leather. Sometimes the gearbox would not change up or down and just hold it in third gear. When running properly was a magnificent car, handled well and the noise from the Busso was on point. Interior plastics were wearing badly though, especially where the paint started to peel off them (common issue I believe). And it did drink a bit of oil.
Some weird quirks with these cars - took me ages to find the boot release, only to accidentally learn it was in the glove box - why?!
Also, I had to actually refer to the handbook to find out where the windscreen washer reservoir was - turned out it has a plastic panel which you unscrew and lift off to access the filler reservoir!
Apart from some of the older classics and the 164 Cloverleaf / 8C, I think this is the best looking modern day Alfa.
Well worth the £800 that someone luckily purchased this example for.
Prefer the Gen 1 shape - it has aged much better, and IMO is a style icon.
Had two of these - a 99 'T' reg 2.0 TS manual in Alfa Red and black cloth. Was a zingy engine that loved to rev and sounded quite nice. Drove all over with that car and it never missed a beat. Lacquer peel was getting the better of the paintwork though. Only cost me £600.
The second was a 2000 'W' plate Volcane Black (dark purple in certain shades of light) 3.0 V6 Busso Auto. With gorgeous ivory sports leather. Sometimes the gearbox would not change up or down and just hold it in third gear. When running properly was a magnificent car, handled well and the noise from the Busso was on point. Interior plastics were wearing badly though, especially where the paint started to peel off them (common issue I believe). And it did drink a bit of oil.
Some weird quirks with these cars - took me ages to find the boot release, only to accidentally learn it was in the glove box - why?!
Also, I had to actually refer to the handbook to find out where the windscreen washer reservoir was - turned out it has a plastic panel which you unscrew and lift off to access the filler reservoir!
Apart from some of the older classics and the 164 Cloverleaf / 8C, I think this is the best looking modern day Alfa.
Well worth the £800 that someone luckily purchased this example for.
Great shed!! I ran a 166 Twin Spark Lusso as a company car for 2 3/4 years from Sept 2000. I did 90k+ miles in it in that time and of all the 9 or 10 or so Alfa's I have owned it was by far the most reliable. The only real issue I had was in the first year when one of the then innovative Xenon headlamps failed and it took Alfa UK 6 weeks to get a replacement from Italy! It was one of my most enjoyable Alfa's, although it somehow did not have quite the same character and soul as my 1988 164 V6 Lusso, bought in 1992 and a truly great car that I kept for 14 years and 180,000 miles. I still miss that 164 to this day!! I replaced the 166 with a V6 3.2 GT Coupe, a car that was ruined by its inability to tame 260bhp through the front wheels, and my beloved 164 outlasted both the 166 and the GT Coupe. As others have mentioned I also found most UK Alfa dealers to be utterly hopeless! Before the 166 I ran a 156 twin spark as a company car, and when the crankshaft lunched its main bearings at 6 months and 8,000 miles old the dealer basically shrugged their shoulders and wrung their hands, it was a battle to get the engine replaced under warranty. After the GT Coupe I 'graduated' to a Maserati Quattroporte, however that is a whole other story for a different day......and when will an early QP Mk5 turn up as 'Shed Of The Week' I wonder........
Colin-t4n2y said:
Great shed!! I ran a 166 Twin Spark Lusso as a company car for 2 3/4 years from Sept 2000. I did 90k+ miles in it in that time and of all the 9 or 10 or so Alfa's I have owned it was by far the most reliable. The only real issue I had was in the first year when one of the then innovative Xenon headlamps failed and it took Alfa UK 6 weeks to get a replacement from Italy! It was one of my most enjoyable Alfa's, although it somehow did not have quite the same character and soul as my 1988 164 V6 Lusso, bought in 1992 and a truly great car that I kept for 14 years and 180,000 miles. I still miss that 164 to this day!! I replaced the 166 with a V6 3.2 GT Coupe, a car that was ruined by its inability to tame 260bhp through the front wheels, and my beloved 164 outlasted both the 166 and the GT Coupe. As others have mentioned I also found most UK Alfa dealers to be utterly hopeless! Before the 166 I ran a 156 twin spark as a company car, and when the crankshaft lunched its main bearings at 6 months and 8,000 miles old the dealer basically shrugged their shoulders and wrung their hands, it was a battle to get the engine replaced under warranty. After the GT Coupe I 'graduated' to a Maserati Quattroporte, however that is a whole other story for a different day......and when will an early QP Mk5 turn up as 'Shed Of The Week' I wonder........
Maserati QP MK5 would more likely be under the title "BRAVE pill" ;-) Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff