Alfa's - Are They Really As Bad As People Say?

[Pooh]

pits said:

owned one of the very first in the uk 155 2ltr Twinspark supers(widebody) rosso red( or pink as they are these days) 16 black speedlines, with the proper spoiler not that horrid silverstones spoiler. the one that would come up to the rear windscreen....Fantastic car, truely was the only problem we ever encountered with it was the electric windows, they did what they wanted when they wanted, its raining doing 80 on the motorway, lets go down and jam, followed by a session of up and down for 2 minutes....sad to see it go actually, got replaced with a bmw 328i which was crap, then a ford galaxy which was also crap.

I had a 96 widebody 2.5V6 155, dark metallic plum with SZ type alloys, it was great to drive and very reliable, probably the best car I have ever had.

[Chris71]

As another potential owner it's always good to get a bit of reassurance.

However, despite not having any direct Alfa experience yet, I comfort myself with this simple thought: The two most reliable cars I've owned have been a TVR and a kit car. The worst were a BMW saloon and a Rover hatchback.

[Nuova500]

OK, we currently have a Brera on loan whilst the 500 is have some paint attended too.
Whilst it's not outstanding in any one area, and to be honest it drive no better than a new Mondeo, there is something that I just can't put my finger on, but...


I LOVE IT

Edited by Nuova500 on Saturday 19th July 22:17

[pits]

i really want a 155 but, part of my brain goes, your spending under 1k on an 10 year old alfa. it was a horrible realisation when i decided as much as i love the 155 it would never be a viable option.
ours was probably the best car we owned, even gave the garage door what for

[RichB]

Nuova500 said:

Are Alfa's really as unreliable as people make out as one car that we like is the 147 JTDM.

Iv'e had four, the answer is no they are not.

[velocemitch]

RichB said:

Nuova500 said:

Are Alfa's really as unreliable as people make out as one car that we like is the 147 JTDM.

Iv'e had four, the answer is no they are not.

Well there you go... I've had four too and the answer is yes they are

[RichB]

velocemitch said:

RichB said:

Nuova500 said:

Are Alfa's really as unreliable as people make out as one car that we like is the 147 JTDM.

Iv'e had four, the answer is no they are not.

Well there you go... I've had four too and the answer is yes they are

Blimey, would have thought you'd have learnt your lesson then.

[Wombat Rick]

velocemitch said:

RichB said:

Nuova500 said:

Are Alfa's really as unreliable as people make out as one car that we like is the 147 JTDM.

Iv'e had four, the answer is no they are not.

Well there you go... I've had four too and the answer is yes they are

Oh no they're not.
Is it Panto season already?

(Mitch, I think your answer might be muddled)
;)

[Triumph Coupe]

I had a 156 which I loved. I'd have another one if my company would let me but they won't because of what happened to the last one.

Full new rear suspension after 7K miles. Engine management problems throughout it's life which would prevent the revs going above 2k RPM and suddenly slow the car to a crawl. My grille fell off and bounced over the car when I was driving my boss to a meeting and at 56K miles my engine blew.

The great thing was that owning an Alfa (apart from their great looks and driving pleasure) is you get to drive many other Alfas when yours is in the shop being put back together!!

Get one, i'd have another in a heart beat.

[OperationAlfa]

Triumph Coupe said:

Get one, i'd have another in a heart beat.

Amen to that.

[velocemitch]

Wombat Rick said:

velocemitch said:

RichB said:

Nuova500 said:

Are Alfa's really as unreliable as people make out as one car that we like is the 147 JTDM.

Iv'e had four, the answer is no they are not.

Well there you go... I've had four too and the answer is yes they are

Oh no they're not.
Is it Panto season already?

(Mitch, I think your answer might be muddled)
;)

Oh yeah... must have been a bit late at night that..
just to clarify then, I've had four and YES they ARE reliable.
Or is it yes we have no Banana's.

Though to qualify this it depends how you measure reliability, if you count changing suspension bushes on a regular basis no they aren't. Have they ever failed to complete a journey or let me down in 120000 miles or more, no they didn't so that makes them reliable to me.

[Wombat Rick]

Sounds right to me Mitch.
Have a banana.

[noisebox]

My experience of a 147...

Looked great, went well and much more intersting than Golf, Focus etc.

However, cambelt want at 36,000 miles costing £1,800 to get fixed. ECU also needed replacing due to repeated lambda sensor failures which dealer failed to resolve, in the end an independent in Lytham (Ferdi's - brilliant) sorted.

In general the dealer network is awful - if you will be doing high mileage you have to take that into account. I tried Manchester (now closed), Blackburn (now closed), Rochdale (now Fiat only) and Preston and I couldn't say a good word about any of them.

I understand newer cars have chains rather than cambelts, if the dealer network was better I would consider another one.

[Wombat Rick]

noisebox said:

if the dealer network was better I would consider another one.

It is improving - slowly.
Many of the crap dealers have been closed and the new ones that are slowly appearing seem to be much more on the ball.

[noisebox]

Wombat Rick said:

noisebox said:

if the dealer network was better I would consider another one.

It is improving - slowly.
Many of the crap dealers have been closed and the new ones that are slowly appearing seem to be much more on the ball.

It needs to...

I should add on the cambelt issue, this is not unique to Alfas - I know Saab and Vauxhall have had similar problems.

[edward1]

Interesting comments on the dealers. We have dealt with autoworld Sheffield (now closed though) and having experienced Vauxhall and Renault dealers, Alfa were by far the best, maybe not saying much though. although as soon as the warranty was up we haven't been back preferring a local indie instead.

Can't fault the 147 though, goes through suspension bushes a little quicker than I'd like but can't complain other than that

[Alex]

Wombat Rick said:

noisebox said:

if the dealer network was better I would consider another one.

It is improving - slowly.
Many of the crap dealers have been closed and the new ones that are slowly appearing seem to be much more on the ball.

A lot of the good dealers have been closed too, and replaced by "shiny", but crap new ones.

[Driver Rider]

ive been thinking of an alfa in the near future and have to say. reliablility worried me a little. also heard the dealers are terrible. went to the motorshow apparently all the dealers have been shut down. can any confirm this?

[jamieboy]

Driver Rider said:

apparently all the dealers have been shut down. can any confirm this?

Not all the dealers!

A load of the worst dealers lost their franchises, and a load of new ones have started up. For me in Edinburgh, the old dealer was rubbish (really rubbish) and the new one, so far, has been great.

There are three other Alfa dealers I've used in the past that were terrible, and they've lost their franchises too.

So I think they've ended up with fewer dealers, but hopefully better ones.

[Chris71]

Driver Rider said:

ive been thinking of an alfa in the near future and have to say. reliablility worried me a little. also heard the dealers are terrible. went to the motorshow apparently all the dealers have been shut down. can any confirm this?

]

The main dealer I spoke to the other day was superb.

And very helpful.

And hugely sheepish when the 147 wouldn't start.

I know it's just another second hand car that's been lying around on a forecourt until the battery went flat, but I think he was dreading another defence to "do they breakdown a lot?"