RE: Shed of the Week: Alfa Romeo GT

RE: Shed of the Week: Alfa Romeo GT

Author
Discussion

kellyt

158 posts

118 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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We had a brand new V6 3.2GT. It was very comfortable, beautiful and practical. It was also surprisingly slow, handled like a pregnant sow on ice skates and had a drink problem.

The beautiful black paint literally fell off. I mean fell off. Not got dented, not rusted, not abused; it just said screw it, and fell off in pieces.

Utterly gorgeous, but terribly flawed. I wouldn’t bother.

Chris Type R

8,018 posts

248 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Not just a 'pretty face' - an incredibly practical way to own a Busso engine (the 5 bins fit in the boot for dump runs). The 3.2 definitely benefits from a diff upgrade. Mine is now 13 years old.





Edited by Chris Type R on Friday 17th August 11:26

Colin-t4n2y

26 posts

74 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Scary!! An Alfa GT for shed money!!!!!! As a then dyed in the wool Alfisti, I bought a 3.2V6, in dark metallic grey with black interior new in 2003, and ran it for 3 years and 40,000 miles. It was my 5th Alfa, and followed a S3 Spider, a new 156 2.0TS, an almost new 164 3.0V6, (which was one of the greatest cars I have ever owned - fabulous 8v V6, and 185,000 glorious miles in 14 years), and a 166 2.0TS company car. Being a pre-Q2 model the GT did suffer from dreadful torque steer, and had bone hard run flat tyres, but it looked great in that colour combination, and was a terrific GT, completing several trips across Europe. For an Alfa it was surprisingly reliable as well, the only issues I had were the clutch exploding (literally!) at 13,000 miles, fixed under warranty, and a strange area of peeling paint on the roof. I eventually traded the GT for a 3 year old Mercedes SL500, which over the next 4 years made Alfa Romeo reliability look absolutely impeccable!!!!

underphil

1,245 posts

209 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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the 1.8 twinspark blackline edition is the pick of the bunch in my opinion

J4CKO

41,287 posts

199 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Where did the GT fit in with the Brera, they look sort of similar, is the Brera a successor to the GT ?

george123

458 posts

181 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Originally the GT was designed as a folding hard top as was all the rage in early 2000s , that plan was canned. You can see how it could be in the side profile.


VitorioVeloce

4,296 posts

142 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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J4CKO said:
Where did the GT fit in with the Brera, they look sort of similar, is the Brera a successor to the GT ?
Not really, the GT is based on the 147/156 platform, the brera is based on the 159. Oddly enough though, the GT ran from 04-10, the brera from 05-10

Platform, engine and practicality wise they are two rather different cars, the GT is lighter/nimbler, has the older true alfa engines. The brera is more of a mile muncher, has mostly GM based engines and is heavier and smaller inside.

Mainly it was just alfa being alfa and doing the weird thing, but both cars have their purpose/niche, and as a GT owner, i wouldnt trade mine for a brera

BFleming

3,589 posts

142 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Colin-t4n2y said:
... fabulous 8v V6...
Ah you can't beat 1.33 valves per cylinder biggrin

Jokes aside, there an unofficial rule (!) that everyone should own an Alfa at some stage of their motoring experience. My soiree was with a 156 2.4JTD, a 140bhp beast that actually handled ok too. I don't think that engine even found its way into the GT, probably because it was too heavy compared to the 1.9 16v unit.
All this talk of the Busso engine, but can someone clarify which engines were GM, as I thought the 3.2 belonged to that set (as it did in the 159 & Brera)? Or is this one from the GTA heritage? Happy to be enlightened.

VitorioVeloce

4,296 posts

142 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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BFleming said:
Ah you can't beat 1.33 valves per cylinder biggrin

Jokes aside, there an unofficial rule (!) that everyone should own an Alfa at some stage of their motoring experience. My soiree was with a 156 2.4JTD, a 140bhp beast that actually handled ok too. I don't think that engine even found its way into the GT, probably because it was too heavy compared to the 1.9 16v unit.
All this talk of the Busso engine, but can someone clarify which engines were GM, as I thought the 3.2 belonged to that set (as it did in the 159 & Brera)? Or is this one from the GTA heritage? Happy to be enlightened.
The 2.4 did not make its way into the GT, it was used in 20v form in the later 156, the 159 and the brera

As for the busso, it started life as a 12v 2.5 engine, had various other forms along the line (2.0 12v turbo, 3.0 12v, 2.5 24v, 3.0 24v), but ended up at 3.2 24v, used (in different stages of tune) in the last gen GTV, the GTAs and the GT. The 159/brera/spider also had a 3.2, but this is the GM lump. If you dont know by model, just keep an eye out for "JTS", except for the 2.0 JTS, all other JTS engines are GM, and the 3.2 in the 159 is also called "3.2 JTS V6" or something to that effect.

officially the GM V6 has more power, but is generally regarded as a less characterfull engine. It also comes with some timing chain issues.

Chris Type R

8,018 posts

248 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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BFleming said:
All this talk of the Busso engine, but can someone clarify which engines were GM, as I thought the 3.2 belonged to that set (as it did in the 159 & Brera)? Or is this one from the GTA heritage? Happy to be enlightened.
This is roughly speaking a GTA without the A biggrin

There's some history on wikipedia about the production end of the bussos - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_V6_engine...

"Engine designer Giuseppe Busso died within three days after the last engine was produced in Arese."

Squadrone Rosso

2,740 posts

146 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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My wife had a red V6 GT which featured in Fifth Gear used car show with VBH.

https://youtu.be/zHXqB7dlPbc

It had the Wizard exhaust & Q2. Did loads of Euro blasts in it including the Alfa Centenary in 2010.

Sounded epic, was solid enough inside & built pretty well.

It became trigger’s broom after a fk up with engine powder coating at a well known Speciaist.

Hence, it needed a new engine. This binned my idea of a matching numbers future investment keeper.

Shame. I had a V6 Brera at the same time. Different engine but from the factory, a significantly better car (despite what the Alfa snobs say).

Edited by Squadrone Rosso on Friday 17th August 12:58

Chrishum

1,413 posts

67 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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I looked at one of these that was £1695 on Tuesday, it seemed an awful lot of car for the money. The dealer selling it set alarm bells away, also I always prefered the way the Brera looked.

to3m

1,226 posts

169 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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THE SPICE MUST FLOW - that's all I can think of when I see these.

unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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r11co said:
These are future classics.
+1

and I'd want to prepare myself, mentally, biggrin for the culture of maintenance, so to speak

AmosMoses

4,039 posts

164 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Dog ugly, cannot stand these.

Chris Type R

8,018 posts

248 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Squadrone Rosso said:
My wife had a red V6 GT which featured in Fifth Gear used car show with VBH.
I think we spoke many years ago when you were down at the independent in their old premises near Dunstable.

V6Alfisti

3,305 posts

226 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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What cracking value, not surprised it has sold.

I am a Alfa GT 2.0 JTS owner having had one for about 6 years now (with approaching 90k on the clock!). I steering rack is quick, the suspension is sufficiently tight, the seats are fantastic, the boot space is frankly ridiculous (in a positive way) with the seats down and it looks great.

Mine is on 90k and in the 40k miles I have done in it, it has cost me a couple of cambelts, regular oil changes, an upper wishbone, a backbox, tyres and I think that is about it.

With a yatour Bluetooth module you have music/calling via your phone and retain the steering controls/original look.

I am looking to replace it now, as I am going to be doing more miles and fancy some slightly more modern tech but what to replace it with. Looking at a budget of £15-20k for soemthing used and sub 50-60k miles

Similar cars - Scirroco (plain jane), 1/2/4 series coupe (all fine but don't really tickle my fancy), latest C class coupe (lovely but 25k+ for a used one), A5 (plain jane), Toyota GT86 (not a jap fan), 2014 E Class Coupe Petrol (rare and a bit too lux/exec for my needs)

Then going into other

Coupe but more powerful - Granturismo (Gorgeous but sub 20mpg everywhere) and a bit over budget but worth it if had something near 30mpg, Porsche 911 (a 2005/6) has no fold down rears or really any storage, Cayman has no rear seats. Audi TT is fine but doesn't really interest me

Saloons - C Class Petrol (2014 onwards) - meets most of the criteria but is a saloon, IS300H - Something a bit different but the CVT box is apparently very average, Ghibli - Only real option is the diesel but a diesel in a Maserati ...hmm

For me it has been surprisingly difficult/impossible to find a coupe I find attractive, reasonably premium, with quick steering, good handling and loads of rear space with fold down seats with seating for 4.

I even considered buying another GT with the 3.2 v6 but I am overly familiar with the GT now. Time to move on.

Edited by V6Alfisti on Friday 17th August 14:31

drjdog

345 posts

69 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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From the GTV, which is a mostly good looking car, to this, which is awkward from almost every angle. The Brera was definitely better looking, but not as nice to drive. I think this sits in the middle as a disappointment in some way to nearly everyone.

Actus Reus

4,229 posts

154 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Always liked these and still do.

Saw one for sale a while back that somebody had turned into a track car. Not a hugely fast track car, but nonetheless what a machine. As to those who prefer the Brera, I just can't see why - these are much better looking to my eyes.

CarlosSainz100

470 posts

119 months

Friday 17th August 2018
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Had one in the same colour with a red leather interior. Wonderful car. I should never have sold it.

The later ones do rust on the floorpan so I'd check that out. Other than that they are pretty reliable, certainly no worse than other cars around at that time.
Drive well, fast steering, and great interior and the seats are the best I've been in.

BJ55FVB where are you now?