Looking for an Alfa 147 for my other half - any advice
Discussion
Ladies and gents,
We have a budget of about £6k to spend on a sporty/ nice looking hatch and it looks like Lou has fallen in love with the Alfa 147, which does look very nice in my opinion as well. We had a wander round Car Giant and had a look on the 'Trader and here and it looks like fairly new, low mileage cars fall within our budget.
So - Does anyone have any advice about what to look out for or anything we should be wary of? Any major service items we should check for or anything that is particularly expensive to replace etc?
Do they last well and are they fairly reliable?
Lou does about 60 miles a day, so it will do around 10k - 20k a year, commuting to and from work and and I think she would rather have the smaller, petrol engined car (1.6) than the 2.0 or the Diesel as she is not keen on a diesel. Plus, she is 24 in January so insurance is still quite steep (although she has 6 years no claims).
Will a 147 survive the commute ok for 2 or 3 years?
We are based in South West London, so if anyone knows of a nice example for sale, please let me know. I think we may look at buying from a dealer though, to be sure that we get a warranty as I know little about Alfa's and what might go wrong.
Cheers,
Dom
We have a budget of about £6k to spend on a sporty/ nice looking hatch and it looks like Lou has fallen in love with the Alfa 147, which does look very nice in my opinion as well. We had a wander round Car Giant and had a look on the 'Trader and here and it looks like fairly new, low mileage cars fall within our budget.
So - Does anyone have any advice about what to look out for or anything we should be wary of? Any major service items we should check for or anything that is particularly expensive to replace etc?
Do they last well and are they fairly reliable?
Lou does about 60 miles a day, so it will do around 10k - 20k a year, commuting to and from work and and I think she would rather have the smaller, petrol engined car (1.6) than the 2.0 or the Diesel as she is not keen on a diesel. Plus, she is 24 in January so insurance is still quite steep (although she has 6 years no claims).
Will a 147 survive the commute ok for 2 or 3 years?
We are based in South West London, so if anyone knows of a nice example for sale, please let me know. I think we may look at buying from a dealer though, to be sure that we get a warranty as I know little about Alfa's and what might go wrong.
Cheers,
Dom
We've got an '06 1.6 147 TI, which we've had since new.
It's been absolutely fine in terms of reliability, etc. - only thing that's been done was a new door check-strap under warranty because it had developed a bit of a creak.
The 1.6 is OK in this car, but no better than that. Once it's wound up it nips along quite the thing, but you do need to keep it revving to get the best out of it.
Driven like that, it's given mid-30's mpg since we've had it.
Like all Alfas, if you buy one that hasn't been abused and keep it serviced properly then it should be absolutely fine.
It's been absolutely fine in terms of reliability, etc. - only thing that's been done was a new door check-strap under warranty because it had developed a bit of a creak.
The 1.6 is OK in this car, but no better than that. Once it's wound up it nips along quite the thing, but you do need to keep it revving to get the best out of it.
Driven like that, it's given mid-30's mpg since we've had it.
Like all Alfas, if you buy one that hasn't been abused and keep it serviced properly then it should be absolutely fine.
They're cracking cars and go a long way to reinforcing the new Alfa reputation for producing something that lasts as well as it looks.
Buy one with a fsh and that has had the oil checked WEEKLY. (bit difficult if you're buying from a dealer admittedly)
It'll definitely last for 2 or 3 years....in fact, you might have a problem by not wanting to get rid of it. I know 3 people with one and they love it.
The 1.6 is a bit buzzy on the motorway at speeds attracting police attention due to a slightly low geared box, but otherwise it's a cracking revvy engine.
Enjoy.
Buy one with a fsh and that has had the oil checked WEEKLY. (bit difficult if you're buying from a dealer admittedly)
It'll definitely last for 2 or 3 years....in fact, you might have a problem by not wanting to get rid of it. I know 3 people with one and they love it.
The 1.6 is a bit buzzy on the motorway at speeds attracting police attention due to a slightly low geared box, but otherwise it's a cracking revvy engine.
Enjoy.
My wife has 1.6 147 and uses it daily for a 40 mile round trip commute in the peak district. Mo problems, keep an eye on the oil level, she never realy revs it much and is often stuck behind traffic as a result she gets around 40mpg on average. The 1.6 for me lacks low end torque but if worked hard goes reasonably well. Handles well and with a galvanised body you don't need to worry about rust later in life. Only down side to the petrols is the short cam belt interval, dropped to 36k due to failures (about £300 to change it). Diesels are at a 72k interval.
Any creaking that you hear on a test drive from behind the dash will most likely be the upper wishbones. Not expensive to change, reasonably easy to do DIY or around 1.5 - 2 hrs labour each side.
Any creaking that you hear on a test drive from behind the dash will most likely be the upper wishbones. Not expensive to change, reasonably easy to do DIY or around 1.5 - 2 hrs labour each side.
Cheers Edward!
She has seen one she likes: 22k miles, 2006, £6,500
That seems like a pretty good price to me, considering others we have seen and the fact that it is with a dealer and we would get the warranty with it.
Plus, it is on our road, 2 miles down, which is always nice if anything were to go wrong.
I think we will give it a test drive this weekend.
She has seen one she likes: 22k miles, 2006, £6,500
That seems like a pretty good price to me, considering others we have seen and the fact that it is with a dealer and we would get the warranty with it.
Plus, it is on our road, 2 miles down, which is always nice if anything were to go wrong.
I think we will give it a test drive this weekend.
Thanks for the responses everyone.
We had a look at that '06 last night and it had some minor door dings in the drivers side door, but other than that, it looked lovely and had the balance of the Alfa warranty on it - Which seemed good.
Is it possible to get an extended warranty with Alfa themselves?
Also, on your recommendation, we are going to spend Saturday looking at other casr including the 2 litre and the Diesel... I am sure she will go for the petrol but I would liek her to have the 2 litre as the insurance doesn't seem bad and it is that bit more 'sporty' and the ones we have looked at have leather seats, which she is keen on!
Are there any must have extras - sat nav for example?
Thanks for all the help,
Dom
We had a look at that '06 last night and it had some minor door dings in the drivers side door, but other than that, it looked lovely and had the balance of the Alfa warranty on it - Which seemed good.
Is it possible to get an extended warranty with Alfa themselves?
Also, on your recommendation, we are going to spend Saturday looking at other casr including the 2 litre and the Diesel... I am sure she will go for the petrol but I would liek her to have the 2 litre as the insurance doesn't seem bad and it is that bit more 'sporty' and the ones we have looked at have leather seats, which she is keen on!
Are there any must have extras - sat nav for example?
Thanks for all the help,
Dom
We specifically replaced our 2.0 (145) with a JTD (147) for a couple of reasons. One to avoid the fragility and expensive servicing of the T.S. and the other because it's a far easier engine for pootling round town and general knocking about which is pretty much what my missis uses her car for. She didn't really get any benefit from the peaky power delivery and 7,000 rev limit of the TS - nice as it is!! I really wouldn't dismiss the JTD (8 or 16 valve). Your biggest trouble will be finding one which says it all really.
Leather is good to have as it makes the cabin even more classy. A Lusso or Ti spec is nice too. The sat nav is bobbins so don't worry about that.
Leather is good to have as it makes the cabin even more classy. A Lusso or Ti spec is nice too. The sat nav is bobbins so don't worry about that.
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