Reliability?

[Green Montego]

I bought myself a 916 GTV TS in the summer and have had all the snipes about the reliability. I've been resiting "tempting fate" up till now but it's been (dare i say it) faultless. Proven the other day on a stop start journey through snow and ice that lasted four hours. Has anyone else had a relatively trouble free ownership experience?

[Le Man]

I did 336,000 miles in Alfas between 1996 and 2003 with just one puncture to report.

[jamieboy]

Green Montego said:

Has anyone else had a relatively trouble free ownership experience?

Yes.

In fact, I think most owners tend to find they'e no worse than any other car. Generally, it's people who have never owned one who 'know' that they're desperately unreliable.

[RicksAlfas]

Green Montego said:

Has anyone else had a relatively trouble free ownership experience?

Pretty good thanks.
Although I once got a hare stuck up my 156 intake pipe and had to haul it out once the AA man had dismantled most of the front of my car. He was too much of a southern girly wuss to touch it.

Can't blame that on the car though I suppose.

[pdV6]

I've had my GTV for nearly 8 years and it has been the most reliable car I've ever had bar none.

[velocemitch]

I ran three 156's over a period of 8 years. I had one time when a 2.0JTS went into 'safe mode' and I had to limp home, it was a failed Lamda, the problem did take a while to cure though, but never did any of them ever fail to finish a journey I started.

If you count Suspension bush failures as 'reliabilty' then it would be a differant story....

[badger_royale]

My GTV has been almost faultless in the 10 months I've owned it. Had a thermostat to change when I bought it(common problem, easy job, £12 part) and an oil change and thats it. Though the battery does tend to run low after a week or so, just means I have to drive it more!

Ignore the snipes, mine mainly come from people with German or Japanese stuff, which have cost a lot more in repairs to keep going. And sod'em anyway, I like it.

[V6]

I've had a 145 and 156, in total have travelled around 70,000 miles in them.

145 now has over 135,000 and 156 is at 112,000.

Both cars have been excellent - only needing servicing and expected things.

I am especially impressed by the 145, for 30,000 miles it was driven more than enthusiastically to and from work on fast A/B roads. The suspension components and tyres/brakes needed lots of replacing but the engine has put up with much redlining without failing and is still strong.

[jacobyte]

I've owned my 147 from new (bought it in 2001), and have done 107,000 miles so far. Other than the cambelt going AWOL at 47,000 miles (before they changed the schedule to 36,000), it's only needed the usual preventive maintenance.

It's going up for sale soon as I need something a bit newer, bigger and faster, but can't think of what to replace it with (possibly a 156 GTA SW?).

[Green Montego]

It's reasuring to hear these comments. I bought a low milage example for (relatively) very little and took it to my local Alfa specialist Ferdie (who's worth a gratuatous plug) who gave it a full once over, changed belts and an oil change and it's been the best car i've ever owned.

The real benefit of these reliabilty snypes is it's a buyers market out there now.

[exgtt]

Had My 156 V6 for 2.5 years and bought with about 90k on the clock. Spent loads on service parts as the previous owner was a git and got shot of the car knowing it needed a BIG service and i was an Alfa novice at the time.

However i thrashed it everyday in the time i had it and was only let down once with a burst heater hose. Got the car towed home and i put a new hose on in under an hour (and i'm a complete spoon)The lovely Alfa cooling system needs no bleeding, so replaced hose, topped up coolant and off i went.

It was the silly stuff that was a bit annoying with it, rear electric window stopped working, air con poor, Speedo stopped working, hideously flakey Alloy. Things that don't take much fixing but can add up if your not on top of em.

[V6]

Green Montego said:

The real benefit of these reliabilty snypes is it's a buyers market out there now.

Exactly. As much as it annoys me when people say all Alfas are unreliable, it makes it excellent for the people that actually know different - Mine was £1500 for a 2.5V6 S reg, red leather, air con, FSH etc etc, try and find an equivalent BMW for that price.

[MarkwG]

Had a 164 TS - normal service stuff, + the Bosche AFM broke...twice... + main dealers were 4rses! Use a specialist.

Have a 156 V6 - normal service stuff...for a 156 V6 ie suspension, lots off! Otherwise, the main dealers are 4rses etc etc!

Both shared drive-space with Hondas, Vauxhalls & BMs, & both were worth any aggro elsewhere.

[Kentish]

Does anyone know whether the 2.4JTD needs a cambelt every 32k like the TS does?

Anything else one should look for or be careful of on the JTD?

[jamieboy]

Kentish said:

Does anyone know whether the 2.4JTD needs a cambelt every 32k like the TS does?

Anything else one should look for or be careful of on the JTD?

I think it's still officially 5 years/72k miles, but most good indies will change it before then.

Have a look round the Alfa Workshop website if you haven't already - there's usually a lot of good info there.

http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/jtd_engine.shtml

[Kentish]

jamieboy said:

Kentish said:

Does anyone know whether the 2.4JTD needs a cambelt every 32k like the TS does?

Anything else one should look for or be careful of on the JTD?

I think it's still officially 5 years/72k miles, but most good indies will change it before then.

Have a look round the Alfa Workshop website if you haven't already - there's usually a lot of good info there.

http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/jtd_engine.shtml

Cheers Jamie, I'll check that out later.

I'm (obviously) thinking about another alfa, I liked my 1999 Spider except the wobbly ride and temperamental roof!

Maybe a 156 this time or perhaps a GTV with the V6.

My old spider :-

[jamieboy]

Kentish said:

perhaps a GTV with the V6.

I'd still have mine if the dog had fitted in better.

[RicksAlfas]

Kentish said:

Does anyone know whether the 2.4JTD needs a cambelt every 32k like the TS does?
Anything else one should look for or be careful of on the JTD?

I had an engine mount and bizarrely two(!) battery cables go on my 2.4 (10 valve). It's a heavy lump and seems to work better with the Veloce suspension setup than the Lusso/Turismo. Other than that it's a strong beast.

[abarth130]

Green Montego said:

I bought myself a 916 GTV TS in the summer and have had all the snipes about the reliability. I've been resiting "tempting fate" up till now but it's been (dare i say it) faultless. Proven the other day on a stop start journey through snow and ice that lasted four hours. Has anyone else had a relatively trouble free ownership experience?

I've had more than 25 Alfas in the last 15 years and never been let down by any of them. Like any other car, they love a bit of preventative maintenance and regular oil changes. Other than that, drive them like you stole them. I never buy a mollycoddled Alfa(everyone I know who has, has had bother). If you buy one thats been used like it was meant to be used(ie flat out), then it'll be a faithful servant. 25 of the things can't be wrong!!!

[Robertf]

Agree totally - buy a well used well maintained one. My GTV3.0 had 144000 miles on the clock when I bought it and it was brilliant. My GTA had 55K on the clock as well, and was no problem at all either