Alfa Romeo 147. Should I?
Discussion
The car in question is up for sale at my local dealer (a franchised Alfa Romeo dealer), sticker price £2495, although I have seen it at £1995 on autotrader.
It's a 5 door 1.6 TS in dark metallic green (lovely colour), 52-plate, 46k. I've always hankered after an Alfa but this almost seems too cheap to me. Could it be a lemon? I have never bought a car from this dealer but they have looked after my Subaru for the last 2 years and I have been very pleased with their service.
My wife has a Fiat 500 that we have owned from new and that she loves. However, we bought it on finance and the balloon payment (about £4000) is due in February. It has been a superb car, cheap to run and reliable but we now have a 3 month old daughter, so it would make more sense to get something slightly bigger with 5 doors. We were going to wait until February but the Fiat is coming up to 3 years old and is due its 3rd service and MOT for which I have been quoted £529, which seems a bit steep when we are only going to keep it for another 3 months. An 80k service and MOT on my Subaru was less than that including a couple of extra jobs!
The dealer also has a Fiat franchise, so may give us a decent PX on the 500. Alfas don't have a great rep for reliability and I notice that they had this car when I took my Subaru in for its service at the end of August. Having said that, the Fiat 500 is beautifully built and I have owned other Fiats in the past. You don't get German build quality (a few squeaks and rattles) but they have been reliable and never given me any major problems!
My wife doesn't like big cars and our ideal replacement would probably be a Fiat Panda 100HP, although these are way over budget. My maximum budget for a replacement is £2500. I think she might like the Alfa, as it feels a bit more special than a Golf/Focus/Astra but should I consider the Alfa or play safe with one of the latter?
It's a 5 door 1.6 TS in dark metallic green (lovely colour), 52-plate, 46k. I've always hankered after an Alfa but this almost seems too cheap to me. Could it be a lemon? I have never bought a car from this dealer but they have looked after my Subaru for the last 2 years and I have been very pleased with their service.
My wife has a Fiat 500 that we have owned from new and that she loves. However, we bought it on finance and the balloon payment (about £4000) is due in February. It has been a superb car, cheap to run and reliable but we now have a 3 month old daughter, so it would make more sense to get something slightly bigger with 5 doors. We were going to wait until February but the Fiat is coming up to 3 years old and is due its 3rd service and MOT for which I have been quoted £529, which seems a bit steep when we are only going to keep it for another 3 months. An 80k service and MOT on my Subaru was less than that including a couple of extra jobs!
The dealer also has a Fiat franchise, so may give us a decent PX on the 500. Alfas don't have a great rep for reliability and I notice that they had this car when I took my Subaru in for its service at the end of August. Having said that, the Fiat 500 is beautifully built and I have owned other Fiats in the past. You don't get German build quality (a few squeaks and rattles) but they have been reliable and never given me any major problems!
My wife doesn't like big cars and our ideal replacement would probably be a Fiat Panda 100HP, although these are way over budget. My maximum budget for a replacement is £2500. I think she might like the Alfa, as it feels a bit more special than a Golf/Focus/Astra but should I consider the Alfa or play safe with one of the latter?
It is a 10 year old hatchback with the company's (then) smallest engine and a badge that puts a lot of people off due to reliability; that's why it's cheap. Personally I love the 146 (although never driven one) and I'd imagine the engine is just fine for the size of car. If it's got good history they I'd say somewhere around £2k is probably about right, although I would think you could get a little bit more off with a bit of negotiation.
Price sounds about right, especially if it's got some kind of dealer warranty/back up. You need to check when the cambelt was last done - ideally it wants doing every 36,000 miles or three years even though the handbook on a car that age will still say 72,000. Other than that they are decent little cars. Not quite as much space as a Golf but much prettier inside and out.
Alfas of that age are cheap, I would say unreasonably so. Your price wouldn't put me off.
They're reasonable cars. There's no balance belt on the 1.6 so it is arguably the most reliable Twinspark, which is already solid apart from two things I'll mention. It's underpowered for a 156 where the 1.8 is adequate, but should be OK in the smaller car.
You have to factor in 3 year cambelt changes for £500ish - do not skimp on this - and check the oil level weekly. Suspension is another cost.
The mileage is very low for its age so I would be looking for the usual low mileage issues.
I don't know where in the North West you are but it might be worth a specialist looking it over; I can name at least two, one in Lytham and one in St. Helens.
They're reasonable cars. There's no balance belt on the 1.6 so it is arguably the most reliable Twinspark, which is already solid apart from two things I'll mention. It's underpowered for a 156 where the 1.8 is adequate, but should be OK in the smaller car.
You have to factor in 3 year cambelt changes for £500ish - do not skimp on this - and check the oil level weekly. Suspension is another cost.
The mileage is very low for its age so I would be looking for the usual low mileage issues.
I don't know where in the North West you are but it might be worth a specialist looking it over; I can name at least two, one in Lytham and one in St. Helens.
All round very pleasant little cars. Price wise it sounds just about right. Regardless of the nice mileage I'd imagine a ten y.o 147 petrol only just books at four figures. Mechanically the 1.6 T.Spark is sweet and of course doesn't suffer any of the issues you get from the complex diesels. As there's only 120hp or so available it's quite satisfying to use the car to its absolute limit, so there is some fun to be had!
Dark green sounds a bit ominous though, remember you're going to have to move it on at some point! If at all possible; I'd recommend having the car up on ramps before you commit to it and have the suspension arms inspected. They do tend to chew through them and they're not especially cheap.
Dark green sounds a bit ominous though, remember you're going to have to move it on at some point! If at all possible; I'd recommend having the car up on ramps before you commit to it and have the suspension arms inspected. They do tend to chew through them and they're not especially cheap.
I think the fact that a franchised Alfa dealer is retailing it says a lot, I would think most 52 plate hatchbacks would just be traded off my big dealers, if they are willing to retail it says good things to me.
I think Alfas get a very unfair rap on the build front but Im a tad bias as my 120k 99 GTV 2.0ts has been faultless so far, as said previously though dont gamble with the cambelt.
I think Alfas get a very unfair rap on the build front but Im a tad bias as my 120k 99 GTV 2.0ts has been faultless so far, as said previously though dont gamble with the cambelt.
ajb85 said:
All round very pleasant little cars. Price wise it sounds just about right. Regardless of the nice mileage I'd imagine a ten y.o 147 petrol only just books at four figures. Mechanically the 1.6 T.Spark is sweet and of course doesn't suffer any of the issues you get from the complex diesels. As there's only 120hp or so available it's quite satisfying to use the car to its absolute limit, so there is some fun to be had!
Dark green sounds a bit ominous though, remember you're going to have to move it on at some point! If at all possible; I'd recommend having the car up on ramps before you commit to it and have the suspension arms inspected. They do tend to chew through them and they're not especially cheap.
I love the colour! Boreal green metallic. It's a bit like Rover's BRG or the metallic green that was quite popular on older Polos and Golfs. Red doesn't look great IMHO on 147s apart from GTAs, silver or grey is just boring and I wouldn't have black again, as it rarely looks clean and shows up even the tiniest scratches. One fly in the ointment that I have found out though is Band J road tax (£250 per year) which is a lot for a 1.6 hatch (my Impreza is only £270 per year and it was only £245 per year when I got it 2 years ago)! They're not that economical either are they? Probably better than the Impreza and worth the extra for owning an Alfa rather than a boring Golf/Astra/Focus?Dark green sounds a bit ominous though, remember you're going to have to move it on at some point! If at all possible; I'd recommend having the car up on ramps before you commit to it and have the suspension arms inspected. They do tend to chew through them and they're not especially cheap.
white_goodman said:
I love the colour! Boreal green metallic. It's a bit like Rover's BRG or the metallic green that was quite popular on older Polos and Golfs. Red doesn't look great IMHO on 147s apart from GTAs, silver or grey is just boring and I wouldn't have black again, as it rarely looks clean and shows up even the tiniest scratches. One fly in the ointment that I have found out though is Band J road tax (£250 per year) which is a lot for a 1.6 hatch (my Impreza is only £270 per year and it was only £245 per year when I got it 2 years ago)! They're not that economical either are they? Probably better than the Impreza and worth the extra for owning an Alfa rather than a boring Golf/Astra/Focus?
Pre emissions related tax cars are circa £220 per year so not the end of the world I think. They are one of those cars that a Full service history is a must, if they have been looked after properly there will be no major headaches.
They are a great place to be, both from a passenger and a driver point of view.
They are a great place to be, both from a passenger and a driver point of view.
markmullen said:
I've run a 147 diesel for a year or so, done 45,000 miles in it, great little car.
That'll be the same car my mate Andy traded in for his 944. Had it for 5 years (give or take) without anything major going wrong.Wife's had a 53-reg 3 door 1.5 TS since nearly new. Reliability has been pretty good : expenses are cambelt (service item) and failure of clutch slave cylinder requiring gearbox out so might as well have new clutch.
The gearing is very low, about 20mph per 1000 revs in top gear, which makes it unsuitable if you are going to do a lot of motorway miles : its wearing and never get mpg over 40. Otherwise mpg around low 30s tootling around.
Personally I've never been impressed by the ride comfort despite highest-profile tyres on steels.
Sorry to use a cliche but in summary its an Alfa : its great if you are going to throw it around, rev it, generally abuse it and not expect great mpg. If you are looking for something to commute up & down the mway, I'd look elsewhere.
The gearing is very low, about 20mph per 1000 revs in top gear, which makes it unsuitable if you are going to do a lot of motorway miles : its wearing and never get mpg over 40. Otherwise mpg around low 30s tootling around.
Personally I've never been impressed by the ride comfort despite highest-profile tyres on steels.
Sorry to use a cliche but in summary its an Alfa : its great if you are going to throw it around, rev it, generally abuse it and not expect great mpg. If you are looking for something to commute up & down the mway, I'd look elsewhere.
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