RE: Shed Of The Week: Alfa 156 Sportwagon

[Hoopsuk]

anything fast said:

Since when has Maroon been a nice colour? Along with Dark Green its one of the worst colours you can have for resale. But on a shed I am sure resale is not on the menu, drive it, wait for it to go wrong then scrap it.. But I would still have this over a Ford or Vauxhall for a £1000.

+1

[RoverP6B]

anything fast said:

Since when has Maroon been a nice colour? Along with Dark Green its one of the worst colours you can have for resale. But on a shed I am sure resale is not on the menu, drive it, wait for it to go wrong then scrap it.. But I would still have this over a Ford or Vauxhall for a £1000.

I suppose you own a silver/grey/black Audi A4 2.0 TDI S-Line? Some of us actually like these strange things called COLOURS. Such as red, green, blue, even yellow. Oddly, the big-name supercar makers (e.g. Ferrari) still offer a reasonable range of colours, but the mass-market has become a sea of monochrome. Besides, who gives a flippin' stuff about resale. Some of us buy cheap sheds because we can actually get nice cars for that money (like my sub-£600 sub-100k miles E39 535i) and we don't mind spending a bit to keep them running. In the case of my BMW, it's in such good condition at 18 years old that I have every confidence that it will still be in every bit as good mechanical order another 18 years from now. Alfas are no worse than BMWs in this respect - treat them with a bit of care, show some understanding, keep on top of any corrosion and they'll go on pretty much forever. I was very tempted by a 156 2.5 V6 wagon back in the winter of 2001/2 when they were doing some very good deals, but, unfortunately, I simply didn't fit in it! I ended up (more fool me) in an E46 318i 8-valve Touring (possibly the slowest-accelerating petrol-engined car of the last two decades? Handled nicely though, when it wasn't dumping coolant everywhere or breaking springs). However, I've still yet to scratch that Alfa itch - perhaps a 166 3.0 might be on the agenda at some point...

[Alfajock]

Love this - had exact same model and year when new. Black with red momo leather interior, best looking car I ever had and great fun. Sadly the only unreliable Alfa I ever had out of five in a row (146, 145 Cloverleaf then three 156s) and I used to stick 25k a year on them. The sexy selespeed commuted suicide by cambelt at 37k back before we knew they all do that, and then the selespeed system decided to stick in neutral in the fast lane of the M1 in rush hour with my pregnant wife at the wheel. Dull Germanity quickly followed.... Do miss my Alfas though, if they'd just start building proper sized ones again!