Alfa 156 good used buy ?

[siko]

hi !

Looking at migrating across to an Alfa 156, or possibly a 147 in the very near future. The one thing putting me off is the fragility, having just paid a ***teload of cash for a 911 engine going pop, what is the reliability like ?

looking to spend circa 5k but running scared at the mo, people seem to love them, but be scared of them aswell.....bit like a staffs bull terrier!

[225]

I had a V6 156 fro two years and not a thing went wrong with it, great cars and so much nicer than the silver coloured german brigade. Great cars

[Mon Ami Mate]

The service history is what makes the difference. I've owned mine from new (Feb 2000) and have done 80,000-odd miles. Apart from the clutch expiring at 54,000 miles it has proved utterly reliable.

[Twin Turbo]

Yep, ours is reliable too (touch wood!).

[siko]

Thanks guys,

I saw a 156 GTA today and almost crashed my works focus! Considering saving up a little more (a lot more) to get one.

[silverback mike]

Another positive experience here, 2 156's, no problems.

[dougal]

1 X '02 156 2.4JTD 150 SW, excellent car. Had some little niggles when new, but all sorted now. 63k and still like new.

A true second hand bargain.

[2 Smokin Barrels]

We had four, all dogs. (2.4jtd) and used more fuel than some petrol cars in the fleet.

(I suspect a lot of the problems were dealer related though)

[viper_larry]

156 GTA here for 15 months - no problems at all, fantastic cars

Local dealer is great, which makes a big difference

[pdV6]

2 Smokin Barrels said:

(I suspect a lot of the problems were dealer related though)

Seems to be the way with most Alfas. Cracking cars let down by p155 poor customer service; minor niggles can become major annoyances through professional incompetence!

[Avocet]

Wife has a 1.8 156 - a 1999 car with 70,000 on it. We've had it about 3 years now. I has never been dealer serviced and since we bought it I've maintained it myself.

I think the build quality isn't particularly good and I feel it has ben built down to a price. Typical faults are rattly, creaky trim, stupid brittle plastic clips, cheap fasteners that seem to corrode a bit prematurely and a voracious appetite for brake light bulbs.

All that said, the only serious thing that has gone wrong was the cam belt snapping at 57,000 miles. This did a fair amount of damage and cost me a fair bit of time / money. Although the handbook / service schedule specified 72,000 miles, it turned out (when I took it up with Alfa GB) that they knew about this and had told the dealers to change them at 36,000. Pity they didn't tell me!

On the positive side, I also think its a very pretty car and it handles beautifully. Other than the cam belt, nothing has actually gone wrong that has stopped it from moving though!

[saxmund]

There are two factors which make Alfas a good used rather than new buy. One is that the dealer network is generally agreed to be cr*p, however once a car is out of warranty that doesn't matter too much, particularly as there are quite a lot of independant specialists which generally have a good reputation. The other is that Alfas seem to depreciate quite fast, whcih means that at three to four years old an Alfa 156 will cost you an awful lost less than, say, a BMW 3 series with an equivalent level of performance and trim.

I've only had mine since March, but the only problem I've had was a "sticky" fourth gear that cost £100 to fix. I did get take the precaution of getting the belts changed, however.

I think the potential niggles are a small price to pay for the combination of practicality, style and performance.

[DamienCBR]

There is no way i would buy one brand new, as others have said here the depreciation is massive. I work for a company and our fleet of company cars are 156's, either the 1.6Tspark or the 1.9JTD. I have got the 1.6 which i have to say is not bad. There has been a couple of niggley things with a number of cars, the petrol gauage! Mine is still knackered but a number of the other cars have had it fixed and they seem to work, only problem is they have to reset the speedo doing it. (not the end of the world)

The other comment is that they use allot of oil, including the petrol ones. The Alfa's are lovely to look at and not bad to drive, holds the road very well, if the quality of build was better and the samll things stopped happening they would be onto a winner, maybe they are with the 159?????

D

[slapmatt]

I've got a 2.5 V6, which is great. I'd say it's an excellent compromise between the very expensive GTA and the 4 cylinder 2.0. The V6 really does sound amazing.

[chaparral]

If there was one really, really good Alfa dealer in the whole of the UK, how well would it do? Seems three out of every four bad words I hear about Alfas aren't about the cars at all.

[tr7v8]

Medway Alfa in Rainham Kent are brilliant. Always treated me straight, bent over backwards on multiple occassions to help me out and are enthusiasts.
Also always got an Alfa as a courtesy car no poxy Fiats.

Jim

[sp60]

I have a 2001 147 2.0TS.
Its up to 86k miles now and has had no major problems.
Love it to bits

[vulcan1208]

Siko said:

I saw a 156 GTA today and almost crashed my works focus! Considering saving up a little more (a lot more) to get one.

You shouldn't have to save too hard, just transfered mine from the company to me and the glasses valuation was £7900, had it from new 3 years ago when it cost £32k with all the bits so it's lost around £24k in 3 years. I must say though it's been brilliant nearly 70k miles with no trouble at all and the dealer (AMC chelmsford have been good from day one). Highly recommended.

[silverback mike]

Thumbs up from me, I think they are great. Bit of an awkward driving position if you wear heels.



My wife, not me.