Lurker out of the shadow, Story of an Alfa, Disco and Yaris
Discussion
Hi everyone, I have been a long time lurker on this site, often looking at the articles,the classifieds and arguments in the forums, with the conclusion....I want a bit of that.......
I live in a sightly odd household with my folks, where the cars are pretty much pooled and the most appropriate car is taken for what ever Job needed, We have a Alfa GT 1.9 JTD a TD5 Disco and my mighty 1l Yaris. Each of which has its own story to tell.
My Yaris was bought years ago, I needed something cheap, reliable and fuel efficient. It does all 3 perfectly. It has done 170,000 mile and apart from from regular servicing and tyres has only cost me a new clutch and front seat. She is old and tired but has taken me and a few friends on some fantastic adventures all over the country, so the lack of power and lack of sportiness is forgiven
Next is the Disco or Oga as my mum calls it. only a few months new to us, but get taken across muddy fields all the time on our small holding. Previous to the Disco we had a 1989 V8 Defender, which we all love to pieces, but was no longer economical to run and needed restoration (which the new owner is currently undertaking), however it is nice to drive a car off road which does not leak and has a decent working heater. Although I do miss that V8 rumble but not the £65 week fuel bill.
The Alfa is our most recent addition and is fantastic, in a few months it has already given us joy and pain.
My Dad recently started a new job, driving around 600 miles a week and decided a new car was needed as the S40 he had was starting to cost him money (new ABS and Yaw sensor module was needed costing ££££££££). so we hit the car supermarkets wanting to sit in as many cars as possible, to see which car he wanted to spend 12 hours a week in. It had to comfortable, a bit of poke, and do high 40's to the gallon. My dad will not admit it but he is a closet pertol head, he lusts after many many cars (and bike) but will no commit to any of them (He had a MK 2 8V golf GTI which he loved). I had visions of us coming back with a diesel Mondeo, but no, he saw the light and I got him to sit in a lovely blue Alfa GT, he instantly loved it and dismissed everything else they had.....winner
The search started for the right one for him, we ended up at the local Alfa dealer. We found a Diesel (there is always a compromise), the body work is mint, no signs of any water leakage, started perfectly from cold drove beautifully, had only done 6k miles a year with one owner and it had been serviced by either a main dealer or a specialist, we thought it was about as much of a safe bet as it is possible to get with an Alfa....the price was spot on and we took out a warranty. The test drives were great, the longest lasting 45 mins including a blast on the M1, no issues or problems...... The day comes we pick it up......after 8 minutes of ownership Alfaitus sets in, engine warning light..... restricted performance..... two grown men not happy. We take it straight back to the dealers, who to their credit did not try and fob us off but took it straight in to look at the oily bits. We get it back the next day after they change some sensors.... you guessed it engine management light goes off again, straight back to the dealer. By this time we have drunk half our body weight in their rather nice free coffee and eaten the other half of our body weight in tasty free biscuits, however bad news comes, they want to keep it in for a while to sort it. We head of in a Mito courtesy car (pretty tidy handling little car) and wait.. a two weeks of angry phone calls and the Alfa is back and preforming beautifully. My god are we glad we did not pick up the bill £1400 in total, new turbo, new cat and a load of other odds and sods. It seems Alfas do not like the easy life and need a regular thrashing, apparently a lot of the internals were caked in carbon deposits which were flying into various sensors when the engine was warm and the heavy right foot came out.
All fixed and is a wonderful car, not the fastest or best handling, but it puts a huge smile on our faces when we drive it. To me that is the sign of a good car. IMO one of the most beautiful designs of recent times. Now me and my dad fight over it, sadly he wins and he paid for it.
The day the Alfa became ours
As for me, when time and money allow I has a list of cars I want to own (as my name suggests) a V12 XJS as everyone should own acare with buttresses. A VR6 Corrado, Alfa GTV, mid 80's 635 BMW.... the list goes on...oh for that lottery win.
Anyway, Hello from me and have a good day
I live in a sightly odd household with my folks, where the cars are pretty much pooled and the most appropriate car is taken for what ever Job needed, We have a Alfa GT 1.9 JTD a TD5 Disco and my mighty 1l Yaris. Each of which has its own story to tell.
My Yaris was bought years ago, I needed something cheap, reliable and fuel efficient. It does all 3 perfectly. It has done 170,000 mile and apart from from regular servicing and tyres has only cost me a new clutch and front seat. She is old and tired but has taken me and a few friends on some fantastic adventures all over the country, so the lack of power and lack of sportiness is forgiven
Next is the Disco or Oga as my mum calls it. only a few months new to us, but get taken across muddy fields all the time on our small holding. Previous to the Disco we had a 1989 V8 Defender, which we all love to pieces, but was no longer economical to run and needed restoration (which the new owner is currently undertaking), however it is nice to drive a car off road which does not leak and has a decent working heater. Although I do miss that V8 rumble but not the £65 week fuel bill.
The Alfa is our most recent addition and is fantastic, in a few months it has already given us joy and pain.
My Dad recently started a new job, driving around 600 miles a week and decided a new car was needed as the S40 he had was starting to cost him money (new ABS and Yaw sensor module was needed costing ££££££££). so we hit the car supermarkets wanting to sit in as many cars as possible, to see which car he wanted to spend 12 hours a week in. It had to comfortable, a bit of poke, and do high 40's to the gallon. My dad will not admit it but he is a closet pertol head, he lusts after many many cars (and bike) but will no commit to any of them (He had a MK 2 8V golf GTI which he loved). I had visions of us coming back with a diesel Mondeo, but no, he saw the light and I got him to sit in a lovely blue Alfa GT, he instantly loved it and dismissed everything else they had.....winner
The search started for the right one for him, we ended up at the local Alfa dealer. We found a Diesel (there is always a compromise), the body work is mint, no signs of any water leakage, started perfectly from cold drove beautifully, had only done 6k miles a year with one owner and it had been serviced by either a main dealer or a specialist, we thought it was about as much of a safe bet as it is possible to get with an Alfa....the price was spot on and we took out a warranty. The test drives were great, the longest lasting 45 mins including a blast on the M1, no issues or problems...... The day comes we pick it up......after 8 minutes of ownership Alfaitus sets in, engine warning light..... restricted performance..... two grown men not happy. We take it straight back to the dealers, who to their credit did not try and fob us off but took it straight in to look at the oily bits. We get it back the next day after they change some sensors.... you guessed it engine management light goes off again, straight back to the dealer. By this time we have drunk half our body weight in their rather nice free coffee and eaten the other half of our body weight in tasty free biscuits, however bad news comes, they want to keep it in for a while to sort it. We head of in a Mito courtesy car (pretty tidy handling little car) and wait.. a two weeks of angry phone calls and the Alfa is back and preforming beautifully. My god are we glad we did not pick up the bill £1400 in total, new turbo, new cat and a load of other odds and sods. It seems Alfas do not like the easy life and need a regular thrashing, apparently a lot of the internals were caked in carbon deposits which were flying into various sensors when the engine was warm and the heavy right foot came out.
All fixed and is a wonderful car, not the fastest or best handling, but it puts a huge smile on our faces when we drive it. To me that is the sign of a good car. IMO one of the most beautiful designs of recent times. Now me and my dad fight over it, sadly he wins and he paid for it.
The day the Alfa became ours
As for me, when time and money allow I has a list of cars I want to own (as my name suggests) a V12 XJS as everyone should own acare with buttresses. A VR6 Corrado, Alfa GTV, mid 80's 635 BMW.... the list goes on...oh for that lottery win.
Anyway, Hello from me and have a good day
XJSsometimeSoon said:
It seems Alfas do not like the easy life and need a regular thrashing, apparently a lot of the internals were caked in carbon deposits which were flying into various sensors when the engine was warm and the heavy right foot came out.
This is the case with most modern diesels. A lot of people buy them to be frugal and those people are also gentle with their right foot, which colgs them up badly!Anyway, welcome to PH... and cool story bro!
Welcome Mr Rees, welcome.
The 'mighty yaris' deserves a further mention. As a many-time passenger I can vouch for it's awesomenessness. Bloody indestructible - I won't be at all surprised if it breaks the 250k mark without incurring significant expense. What a car...
Oh and don't forget we've got to find somewhere this weekend to test the HDC in the Disco.... Should be fun!
The 'mighty yaris' deserves a further mention. As a many-time passenger I can vouch for it's awesomenessness. Bloody indestructible - I won't be at all surprised if it breaks the 250k mark without incurring significant expense. What a car...
Oh and don't forget we've got to find somewhere this weekend to test the HDC in the Disco.... Should be fun!
Good write up there!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff