Shed of the Week: Alfa Romeo GT
A Bertone-styled Alfa for £1500? You have our attention...
You’ve got to feel sorry for Alfa Romeo. For years, the press has been categorising it as the ultimate disappointment brand, each new launch being greeted by the familiar cries of ‘oh no, not another Alfa that promised so much but delivered so little’.
Anyone who has ever had to deal with Mrs Shed’s stubble-chinned aggression (think Biffa Bacon’s mum) will understand why Shed has cultivated a half-full rather than a half-empty view on life. And that’s why he thinks the press attitude towards Alfa is not just unfair, but plain wrong. He reckons that, dynamically, and with the exception of the odd dud like the misbegotten Arna, Alfas have always been at least as good as – and often better than – the opposition.
The problem, if you can call it that, has been with Alfa’s stylists. They’ve been too good. Cost-controlled engineers at Alfa were always going to struggle to meet the gloriously high standards consistently set by the styling boys. They’ve had some damn good goes at it, though. You’d need a first-class degree in churlishness to slag off the spine-tingling Busso V6, the delicious delicacy of the Alfasud or the razor steering response of the humble 156.
Corporate confidence, or the lack of it, has played a part in Alfa’s history too. As exhibit number one, we unveil the GT in its first-time SOTW appearance.
The GT came out in 2003, five years after the Audi TT. Based on the 156/147 chassis, it was clearly meant to be a response to the game-changing German. The early 2000s were tough times for Alfa though, and that showed in the GT’s styling. Rather than giving Bertone an open brief to create what might well have been another ‘disappointing’ stunner, it looks like Alfa hamstrung the styling house by asking them to combine traditional Alfa values with some of the more stolid attributes of the hugely successful TT.
Caution usually comes across as compromise in the motor biz, and so it was with the GT. The flat-iron look Alfa and Bertone ended up with may have added visual strength, but it also subtracted allure.
In one respect at least the GT was a better grand tourer than the TT, as it offered seating for up to five, and for once the usual Alfa mismatch between style and performance wasn’t quite so marked: both aspects were genuinely slightly disappointing.
The engines on offer were the sublime-sounding but juicy 240hp 3.2 V6, a 150hp JTD Multijet 1.9 turbodiesel, and a 165hp JTS 2.0 petrol that gave a 15hp boost over the 156 2.0 on which it was based. From most perspectives, handling especially, the JTS was your best bet. The Multijet diesel didn't stack up so well against the smooth and torquey BMW Threes that were the default company car user-chooser pick back in the mid-2000. Those JTDMs later acquired a poor reputation for being troublesome in the catastrophic timing belt/swirl flap/EGR/DPF/dual-mass flywheel failure department.
The natural PH selection would be the V6, of course, but the weight of the metal up front made it just a bit too nosey in slower corners. It was too torque-steery too, unless it was one of the later Q2 models with the proper diff.
Q2 or not, those V6s are getting expensive now, but the 2.0 is still highly affordable as this example proves. And it should be fun to run too, with average fuel consumption in the mid to high 30s and a reasonable 8-second 0-60 time.
What about this particular car, then? Well, it’s a one-owner car, and we’re guessing that the solitary owner was a typical Alfisti who put a steady 5k or so miles on it every year, giving it all the love at his or her disposal before giving up and putting it up for sale with one of the UK’s best-known independent Alfa specialists.
The Stromboli Grey/black leather combo still looks fit bar the usual bolster wear on the driver’s seat. Most of the issues affecting this particular car have been to do with external moving parts, mainly misshapen or cut tyres, and dodgy suspension – a common Italian problem at the time. The MOT fail & pass record tells us that the long snagging list on last October’s ticket was all sorted, and the selling garage is saying good things about the service history, but what’s to fear in the future if you decide to take it on?
Door handles and ABS rings can fail. Early JTS engines could suffer from gunged-up valvegear, short-lived injectors and flaky sensors, but by the time Alfa got to our ’06 model, most of the major mechanical quirks had been resolved. Properly maintained with regular oil changes (ideally using 10W60 oil rather the factory-specified 10W40 to stave off cam wear), these can turn out to be very good, reliable units, if not especially exciting ones. So, no real worries.
£1500 for an ’06, low mileage, one owner, Bertone-styled Alfa coupé? You’d be mad not to. And of course you’d also be mad to. That’s the wonder of Alfa Romeo.
I have to omit, I owned it for 3 years and absolutely loved it. It looked abit special and different. It wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box but the engine gave a useful bit of shove.
You’ve got to be careful if the cills as if the car is not jacked in the correct position they can fail, which happened to me twice, once at an Alfa dealer.
Fun fact, you have to take the front bumper off to change the headlights...
My one snapped its cam belt just inside warranty so at 70k moved on to a manual BMW E92 330d coupe which was a better car in just about every respect but for the money I would definitely have this one! Apart from the near catastrophic engine failure at 60k, I cannot remember anything else going wrong with it all...
The last model with the proper v6 good ones won’t be at shed money for long as proven by the fact it’s already marked as SOLD at 0637 Friday morning
Have to agree with above post, the stiling does still look very good in the metal. The car has aged well IMHO.
I had two wonderful years with my GT, it has one of the most comfortable driving positions/seats I had experienced.
I think the GT has aged fantastically, and having driven a (well looked after) high-miler diesel a few times they can handle very pleasingly as well - even if that JTD lump is a bit, well, lumpy.
I loved my GT, and - along with my Primera 2.0eZX - a car I truly regret selling.
Great car overall. Good space in the back, fantastic AC, reasonable fun to hussle, very economical, pretty reliable and nice looking.
Interior plastics have melted in the heat - probably not a problem in UK.
The drivers door fell off once - literally the top pin in the hinge snapped - comedy moment I suppose, reminding you of its italian origins!!
Engine wise i feel that the 2.0 JTS is absolutely NOT the best pick, mine has had a full rebuild including new piston rings and a mod to stop it from burning insane amounts of oil. As a result oil consumption is about 1:6000. I would be very weary of a non-modded JTS with high miles, despite claims about issues being fixed on later cars, id expect oil consumption and sooted up valves.
Then there is the JTS engine management, it was Alfa's first foray into direct injection (which also caused the sooted up intake/valves), and for some reason the engine runs on a special lean mixture strategy at low RPMs, this pretty much means that unless you give it good bit of boot when setting off, the engine will end up with a case of the hickups, and you looking like a novice while you judder about in your seat. Same goes for general low speed driving, everything below 2k rpm is juddery.
Once above that though, the engine pulls very well, peak torque is at 3250 rpm, and unlike a diesel there is a good power band, so it will shift pretty nicely once you leave low RPMs behind.
Im slowly getting attached to mine, and for shed money i can only wholeheartedly recommend these, especially if taken care of, but the JTS certainly isnt the pick of the bunch, the JTD has insane tuning potential once you deal with the clutch/intake vanes, the 1.8 TS has the old school revvy twinspark character (while slower then the JTS, it probably is much more fun to drive hard), and the V6 is the busso's swan song.
Front wishbone life is 50,000 miles, and they'll still squeak after! Default suspension geometry guarantees a slick inner shoulder on the front tyres, with many mm of tread on the rest of the tyre.
And the timing belt interval of 36000 miles!
Did one this year on my old 147, with just some youtube videos as prep, i managed to swap it in under an hour, first time i ever did any suspension work, and im sure having done it once, i can probably do it now under 45 mins.
Timing belt isnt a DIY job, and the ARB bushes are a b
h (hidden above the subframe), but otherwise pretty much anything can be DIYed with a trolley jack, axle stands and some basic wrenches/toolsEDIT2: Just had a look at the add, looks very similar to mine, only differences i can spot are the wheels (although i really want those 17" multispokes), JTS badge on the back and this one being RHD (and mine is blue :P)
Parted company with my immaculate JTD 6 years ago now. Saw it last week on the M8 looking as good as the day I sold it. These are future classics.
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