RE: Shed of the Week: Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon

[Too Drunk to Funk]

Richard-390a0 said:

Martin 480 Turbo said:

peteygt said:

TooLateForAName said:

Seriously, who thinks this sort of crap is funny or acceptable in this day and age? Is it 1950 again?

Agreed. These articles don't flow well and they're difficult to follow. More annoying than anything!

But we have found the sole reader, who genuinly gets amused by this.
We should have a readers vote on forcing "Mrs Shed" out.

Whenever there's a Mrs Shed reference I just down vote on the 'rate this article' tab as it's getting tedious now.

Anyhow I thought this SOTW is overpriced by approx £500 so I'm surprised people didn't think these 159's were in this price range yet?.

Nice shed BTW.

[Smitters]

I bottled getting one four years ago and bought an A6 instead. The 159's larger diesel engine had a big bill looming at some point IIRC - cam chains, or belt, or something, I think. The 1.9 was lower powered, but offered better (less worse) economy and was more common too. However, despite my Audi being well used, I'm really sure it's not in shed territory, and I'm also sure it's not potentially rusting badly. I love the looks, but feel like I dodged a bullet on the 159. Better to admire it from the outside than suffer it from the inside methinks.

[jbrisley]

Well I bought one in February this year for £850.

With a solid 9 months of MOT.

It really was crap in every way and I'm a huge Alfa fan i'm currently on Alfa number 8!

I mean you get what you pay for and everything but it really was a new problem everyday and surprisingly expensive to put right.

Without a peppy petrol engine it was out of my life within 2 months.

Bloody struggle to sell too.

[R6VED]

I love the look of these, especially in red or black. I just get the impression it would be more trouble than it was worth.

I am also now sucking at the teat of a cheap lease Golf GTI with no down payment and a change every 6 months, it just makes too good a case for itself to look at sheds.

Added to that I have a 1981 Mercedes 500 SEL as a long term rolling project, so sheds whilst massively appealing in theory, just don't make sense in practise for me anymore :-(

I also think the Mrs Shed commentary is rather tired and extremely tiresome, it adds nothing to the articles and detracts quite a lot.

[wal 45]

I'm genuinely surprised by the overall negative reaction to this SOTW but hey ho, Pistonheads German speed matters........

[givablondabone]

Always liked the look of these particularly in ti guise. Weren't they criticised along with the Spyder and Brera for being too heavy?

Back in 2003 The now ex wife and I bought a Marea Weekend HLX with a derivative of the 2.4 TD. Despite a comprehensive SH, low mileage and us changing the cambelt immediately post purchase, it was slow, thirsty and developed a pulley squeal. It threw the new cambelt after 6 months/13k of ownership effectively writing it off.

Sounded good though.

[Plate spinner]

crostonian said:

No wonder the mainstream media get their facts wrong when the specialist media also peddles fake news. The diesel tax increase announced in the budget does NOT affect used cars, it only affects the first year tax applied to new cars registered after April 2018. Maybe PH should run a headline article explaining this as this misinformation continue to spread.

That's my understanding also

[SidewaysSi]

I do like the look of these.

We have a 2003 147TS which we use as a town car and wheels for the wife.

I really like it - quick steering and very agile. It has needed a few consumables but never let us down and has been a great little car. A lot more interesting than a Polo/Golf/Focus etc.

[RyanTank]

I've always loved the looks of the 159 and always thought i'd get one when I grew up into needing a 4 door car, then my brother in law bought one 2nd hand and a few weeks later the drivers door fell off while he was driving home one day
(it went back to the dealer as it was dropping and being difficult to open and close, they claimed to not be able to find any fault and returned the car to him, days later it fell off)

Still tempted by one, but v6 petrol as I'll never get the use out of a diesel.

Didn't Shed used to be cars for under £1k?

[jamies30]

givablondabone said:

Weren't they criticised along with the Spyder and Brera for being too heavy?

They were criticised for that. The earlier cars were a little heavier, unfortunately the reputation stuck. These were the figures for the 2008-onwards cars, so they really weren't heavy at all compared to their peers:

someone on another forum said:

Toyota Avensis 2.0 D4D 1450
Audi A4 2.0 Tdi 1460
VW Passat 2.0 Tdi 1460
VW Passat CC 2.0 Tdi 1466
Renault Laguna 2.0 D 1480
Ford Mondeo 2.0 TD 1481
ALFA 159 1.9 JTDm 1490
Volvo S40 TD5 1490
Jaguar X type 2.0 D 1502
BMW 320D SE 1505
Peugeot 407 2.0 D 1505
Saab 9-3 1.9 TiD 1510
Mazda 6 D 1530
Opel Insignia 2.0 D 1540
Honda Accord 2.2 D 1540
Mercedes C200 D 1560
Citroen C5 2.0 D 1608
Ford Mondeo 2.2 TD 1613

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Shed - ignore the PC-miseries. The references to Mrs Shed are usually moderately amusing and I for one enjoy the schoolboy humour.

[crostonian]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Shed - ignore the PC-miseries. The references to Mrs Shed are usually moderately amusing and I for one enjoy the schoolboy humour.

Indeed, can only imagine the complainers are either under 30 or work in the civil service

[georgezippy]

Smitters said:

I bottled getting one four years ago and bought an A6 instead. The 159's larger diesel engine had a big bill looming at some point IIRC - cam chains, or belt, or something, I think. The 1.9 was lower powered, but offered better (less worse) economy and was more common too. However, despite my Audi being well used, I'm really sure it's not in shed territory, and I'm also sure it's not potentially rusting badly. I love the looks, but feel like I dodged a bullet on the 159. Better to admire it from the outside than suffer it from the inside methinks.

It is very pretty but as above. My 2000 Audi A4 PD still looks ok, uses no fuel and utterly refuses to die, Infact it’s almost a pistonheaders first world problem as I fancy a change but would be nuts to part with something so dependable. Might get one when the Audi does explode. It’ll probably be legislated from existence first.

[rxe]

exgtt said:

Had one for about 4 months, the headlight switch on the left hand stalk has a habit of going wrong, check the lights actually turn off when requested. As you'd imagine Alfa want £300+ for a brand new plastic piece of tat light stalk. EGR's are a non issue, 10 minutes to change or bodge.

Odd mix of quick steering but heavy front end, great mway cruiser. 1.9 needs a remap. Am holding out for a 2.4ti in red, gorgeous.

Edited by exgtt on Friday 24th November 09:57

Stalk fix takes 20 minutes and a soldering iron. No parts required.

Our 2.4 Ti wagon is going strong at 105k. Remapped to 260 HP from 210, it’s needed a turbo, but not much else.

[hairy vx220]

A work colleague had one of these - I don't remember whether it was a 1.9 or a 2.4, however it gave us an excellent drive down to and around Exmoor.

I did find out later that he took a day off to drive up to the Midlands somewhere to get his electric windows fixed, then at the end of the day when still not fixed he was told they were closing so he'd have to come back another time!

[tr7v8]

BeastieBoy73 said:

Martin 480 Turbo said:

peteygt said:

TooLateForAName said:

Seriously, who thinks this sort of crap is funny or acceptable in this day and age? Is it 1950 again?

Agreed. These articles don't flow well and they're difficult to follow. More annoying than anything!

But we have found the sole reader, who genuinly gets amused by this.
We should have a readers vote on forcing "Mrs Shed" out.

I vote "Out" and look forward to numerous threads popping up in "News, Politics & Economics" about the outcome.

I vote out as well. Stupid needs binning.

[Niffleman]

My brother ran one of these four or so years ago. I am not sure if it was a 1.9 or 2.4 but it was definitely a diesel. He kept it about two years and put about 30k on it. He was happy enough but he had a number of observations. Firstly, although it was an estate it wasn't that big and when his second child came along he found he needed a bit more space. He described it as more like a hatchback. Secondly, he never completely trusted it. Although it never threw up a big bill or left him stranded he said he always harboured a lurking fear that bad news was just around the corner, which spoiled his enjoyment of the car. Thirdly, although it looked lovely there were aspects of the styling which made it less practical that he had hoped, for example doorhandles which could only be opened from underneath. Overall, he thought it was OK but he wouldn't buy another.

[PistonBroker]

Brompty said:

only1ian said:

Love Alfa's suspect this one is cheap because the current owner is fed up of spending money on it

Edited by only1ian on Friday 24th November 07:01

I agree - the starter motor in November was the straw that brake the camel's back. But what a car for the money? Best looking estate ever - it's 10 years old and looks super fresh.

Last time I had to replace a starter motor on a diesel it was because the DMF was on its way out.

Cracking looking car though.

[lb3nson]

I've got a 2.4 Ti Saloon and I'm pretty damn happy with it. Yes it's had more repairs than most other cars I've had, but it's also done twice the mileage of them and is much more complicated like all modern diesels. 260bhp with a remap means it goes pretty well despite it's weight and is perfect for motorway cruising. I'm happy these are undervalued as it meant I'd have paid double what mine cost for a German car in equivalent spec!

Edited by lb3nson on Friday 24th November 22:58

[pete.g]

wal 45 said:

I'm genuinely surprised by the overall negative reaction to this SOTW but hey ho, Pistonheads German speed matters........

Much of the negativity is coming from people who've owned one . . .

My brother had one as a company car - the first and last they had, as it was off the road so much, with many niggling faults and some quite major ones. It went back 18 months into the lease and heaven help whoever got it afterwards. And the dealer was absolutely awful.