Alfa or Subaru??
Discussion
Hi guys,
I'm new to the forums and thought I'd try them out.
After owning a couple of hot hatches one being a facelift mk2 focus st3 running close to 300bhp and before that a civic type r I decided to go for a car I've always wanted a bought a MK5 Golf GTI. After 5 months of ownership and enjoyment, (must say for only 197bhp was a great fun car especially on country roads) my circumstances have changed and I'm having to sell.
With a budget of £3-£3.5k I'm looking for a car that is both fun to drive and can fit 2 child seats and two adults in relative comfort for weekends and be useable for a daily commute to work on mainly a roads and country lanes.
I've been looking online and two cars that keep catching my eye for that budget is the Alfa 159 jtdm and the bug eye Subaru Impreza wrx. Two different cars in both style and driving style but both seem to meet what I'm looking for. Just after advice and opinion on both and what others thoughts could be for that budget.
Thanks in advance for any advice
I'm new to the forums and thought I'd try them out.
After owning a couple of hot hatches one being a facelift mk2 focus st3 running close to 300bhp and before that a civic type r I decided to go for a car I've always wanted a bought a MK5 Golf GTI. After 5 months of ownership and enjoyment, (must say for only 197bhp was a great fun car especially on country roads) my circumstances have changed and I'm having to sell.
With a budget of £3-£3.5k I'm looking for a car that is both fun to drive and can fit 2 child seats and two adults in relative comfort for weekends and be useable for a daily commute to work on mainly a roads and country lanes.
I've been looking online and two cars that keep catching my eye for that budget is the Alfa 159 jtdm and the bug eye Subaru Impreza wrx. Two different cars in both style and driving style but both seem to meet what I'm looking for. Just after advice and opinion on both and what others thoughts could be for that budget.
Thanks in advance for any advice
Well I had an Alfa 159 with the 16v 1.9jtdm engine (Ti spec). Lovely car, the boot is surprisingly large and while the back seats aren't overly sizeable for adults (though I did manage to squeeze three in there once) I would imagine they're not too bad for sprogs. The heated leather seats are one of the nicer bum cuddlers I've experienced (the red stitched Alfa logo on the Ti's front seats are a nice touch and quite adjustable).
The downsides are that the front wishbone joints are made of chocolate, in the two and half years that I had mine I replaced the front left twice (I suspect it had to do with the amount of sunken drains combined with narrow roads in my area, very little in the way of pot holes though). Aside from the wishbones the main weaknesses are the water pump (if not already replaced with the metal variety, usually replaced when the timing belt is done, did mine for peace of mind), clutch (and DMF, £500) and the gearbox bearings (£850-ish, they effectively rebuilt the gearbox... I kinda blanked out the cost a bit), I did/had to do all three. While the bearings in the gearbox aren't necessarily a must replace the sound got on my nerves.
Pads and discs are frankly a pittance, as are wheel bearings (and very easy once you get the calipers off) if you'd ever need to replace them. Glow plugs? always NGK avoid Bosch like the plague as I ended off having to replace the damned things two months later. Clean the EGR valve every six months or so to maintain throttle response (an easy, if dirty, job).
A nice good looking car and the longest I've ever owned a diesel, got a steady forty-ish out of it and not a bad way of permanently ending diesel ownership though (oh and zero DPF issues and headlight bulbs are easy to replace, I ended off fitting Osram Nightbreakers to both the 159 and my Rover and it made a hell of a difference... better than the bi-xenons on the XK that I replaced the 159 with frankly).
The downsides are that the front wishbone joints are made of chocolate, in the two and half years that I had mine I replaced the front left twice (I suspect it had to do with the amount of sunken drains combined with narrow roads in my area, very little in the way of pot holes though). Aside from the wishbones the main weaknesses are the water pump (if not already replaced with the metal variety, usually replaced when the timing belt is done, did mine for peace of mind), clutch (and DMF, £500) and the gearbox bearings (£850-ish, they effectively rebuilt the gearbox... I kinda blanked out the cost a bit), I did/had to do all three. While the bearings in the gearbox aren't necessarily a must replace the sound got on my nerves.
Pads and discs are frankly a pittance, as are wheel bearings (and very easy once you get the calipers off) if you'd ever need to replace them. Glow plugs? always NGK avoid Bosch like the plague as I ended off having to replace the damned things two months later. Clean the EGR valve every six months or so to maintain throttle response (an easy, if dirty, job).
A nice good looking car and the longest I've ever owned a diesel, got a steady forty-ish out of it and not a bad way of permanently ending diesel ownership though (oh and zero DPF issues and headlight bulbs are easy to replace, I ended off fitting Osram Nightbreakers to both the 159 and my Rover and it made a hell of a difference... better than the bi-xenons on the XK that I replaced the 159 with frankly).
Ive seen online people saying about cam belt and water pump issues, seems fairly common. I've found 159 sportwagon 1.9jtdm Lusso online for £3200 07 plate on 87700 miles in red. It's not too far away from me so might go and check that one out. Advert says it's had the cam belt done at 65k in 2014
That's about the time it should be done so it should be good for another 50K to 60K miles assuming they changed the water pump as well (the change on the 1.9jtdm engine is less about the belt and more about the pump). Being the Lusso the ride should be more compliant than the Ti I had as well (the Ti has 18" alloys with low profile on and harder sport suspension, it did handle well mind... if rather bumpy).
Edited by alpha channel on Sunday 17th September 20:19
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