First car: Alfa Romeo 156 JTS Ti
Discussion
Chris Peacock said:
Although Alfas are nice to look at, your thread among others on PH goes to show how turd they actually are........
Throught with problems, s
te build quality, poor running......the list goes on....
Although nice,....not for me.....
Throught with problems, s
te build quality, poor running......the list goes on....Although nice,....not for me.....
Just the same as any other manufacture then
Chris Peacock said:
Although Alfas are nice to look at, your thread among others on PH goes to show how turd they actually are........
Throught with problems, ste build quality, poor running......the list goes on....
Although nice,....not for me.....
I don't really see what you're on about. I've been frank about the past & potential ailments, but it's not exactly the disastercar is it? If you trawl forums and sum up all the reported issues with a type of car, you will have something where every component had already failed by the time it left the factory. The thing that has cost me the most money, far ahead even of expensive injectors, is that it's not just an appliance and I care for it accordingly.Throught with problems, s
te build quality, poor running......the list goes on....Although nice,....not for me.....
It sounds a little bit like you came to this with an opinion and selectively read the stuff that backed it up, perhaps to justify not going for one. TBH it's fair enough - I justify having one using the opposite, rose-tinted view, but I feel that the underlying truth is closer to my version than yours.
Edited by trashbat on Wednesday 9th May 15:50
trashbat said:
don't really see what you're on about. I've been frank about the past & potential ailments, but it's not exactly the disastercar is it? If you trawl forums and sum up all the reported issues with a type of car, you will have something where every component had already failed by the time it left the factory. The thing that has cost me the most money, far ahead even of expensive injectors, is that it's not just an appliance and I care for it accordingly.
It sounds a little bit like you came to this with an opinion and selectively read the stuff that backed it up, perhaps to justify not going for one. TBH it's fair enough - I justify having one using the opposite, rose-tinted view, but I feel that the underlying truth is closer to my version than yours.
OK, so lets say that you ran 10 ....eg Honda accords against 10 Alfa 156s for the same amount of time over the same mileage, lets say over 100k miles, the repair bills and servicing costs would be the same?.....It sounds a little bit like you came to this with an opinion and selectively read the stuff that backed it up, perhaps to justify not going for one. TBH it's fair enough - I justify having one using the opposite, rose-tinted view, but I feel that the underlying truth is closer to my version than yours.
Edited by trashbat on Wednesday 9th May 15:50
I dont think so..........
You love your Alfa....I love my Honda..
......I'm not slating your car at all, ...just the marque..
Lovely car OP. I've had a 147 GTA, 156 1.8TS, and a GT JTDm over the last few years and still have a soft-spot for Alfa. I'm pretty sure one day I'll get another GTA of sorts. I've since moved on to a BMW 335i and I've had just as many problems with that as I had with the Alfa's.
The 156 I had cost me £2k. In 10 months I drove it to Shetland and back in the snow, Bournemouth and back to Cheshire 3 times. It didn't miss a beat.
The 156 I had cost me £2k. In 10 months I drove it to Shetland and back in the snow, Bournemouth and back to Cheshire 3 times. It didn't miss a beat.
Chris Peacock said:
OK, so lets say that you ran 10 ....eg Honda accords against 10 Alfa 156s for the same amount of time over the same mileage, lets say over 100k miles, the repair bills and servicing costs would be the same?.....
I dont think so..........
To answer your question, no, I don't think it would be. I just had a peek at cambelt changes and the Honda owner would be doing better there in price & regularity for starters. However (again assuming competent ownership) I don't think it would be drastically different over the long term, and importantly, not close to a point where someone who had chosen to own the car for any reason at all would have any regrets. I've no experience of comparable Hondas but with whatever car you go for, it depends on your priorities and the overall package.I dont think so..........
With the exception of the injectors, the only big bills in the PO's service history were from running low on oil and from ignoring the revised cambelt interval. It's not been long enough owning this car to derive any real trends, but the only 'must fix' was the injectors and possibly the bent wheels and the rad. In 20 months, on a seven year old car, that's OK in my book.
TL/DR: reliability is not a source of constant burning pain.
Chris Peacock said:
Although Alfas are nice to look at, your thread among others on PH goes to show how turd they actually are........
Throught with problems, ste build quality, poor running......the list goes on....
Although nice,....not for me.....
I'm glad there are people like you around, mouthing off about 'how bad Alfas are' if only to drive Alfa used prices into the floor, so people who love them can buy them cheap!Throught with problems, s
te build quality, poor running......the list goes on....Although nice,....not for me.....
I wonder why you hate Alfas so much? Did your ex girlfriend have one or something
Squadrone Rosso said:
Nice car mate. Usual anti-Alfa stereotypes above though by Captain Peewee COCK 
Chris Peacock said:
^^^^^..Did I touch a nerve?
Whats with the insults?...
Now now, no fighting in my most brilliant of threads.Whats with the insults?...
wormburner said:
Nice car. What on earth happened with that paint?!
Well. I took it to some backstreet painters next to an Alfa specialist. At first they did the rear bumper and side skirts, in the wrong colour as per blooper #1, but you couldn't really tell because of the angles when comparing those pieces - no straight edges. This mismatch only became apparent when they did the bonnet & bumper, as shown. (I had it done because it was so heavily stonechipped).Basically their paint supplier had made a mess of it, and it wasn't obvious until on the car, and even then only in certain lights. On the second attempt the car shouldn't have been delivered to me, but it was due a replacement rear windscreen so I had to pick it up. They couldn't leave it in primer so had to persist with the obviously wrong near-black.
Eventually I am told that the paint supplier ordered a very expensive tint from Alfa (I have my doubts) and it all ended well. I then drove into some walls and had it fixed a second time this April at the same physical location but by a different guy, since the first lot had done a runner. Same paint supplier so the same thing happened again (black!) although I never saw it. Anyway this obviously rang some memory bells since the second attempt was sorted, and now it looks right as shown.
Hopefully if I need any more work, someone will remember this saga and get it right first time. I should say that I have nothing against either painter (will happily recommend by PM if you're looking for work done near Southampton) but perhaps the paint supplier could get their act together.
They made the facelift V6 (and possibly Twin Sparks) for other regions like the Middle East, where emissions weren't the same barrier to entry. IIRC someone on here's dad has a white Ti one of exactly that.
The facelift looks seem to be very slightly marmite but I really like it. I was just saying how I can see the evolution to the 159. Respect to any original shape owners too - such a good looking car - but for now I think the facelift has aged well and however it does it, just makes me tick. It's certain angles on this car that really do that to me; looking down at the front quarter from upstairs when parked in the street, and it just looks like it's ready to pull a train. Same for the rear quarter as aimed for in one of those pics; the rear is arguably less pretty than the original, but from the right position it just exudes class.
The facelift looks seem to be very slightly marmite but I really like it. I was just saying how I can see the evolution to the 159. Respect to any original shape owners too - such a good looking car - but for now I think the facelift has aged well and however it does it, just makes me tick. It's certain angles on this car that really do that to me; looking down at the front quarter from upstairs when parked in the street, and it just looks like it's ready to pull a train. Same for the rear quarter as aimed for in one of those pics; the rear is arguably less pretty than the original, but from the right position it just exudes class.
HeatonNorris said:
The best combination for an Alfa 156 is the original shell with the facelift interior and TSpark engine. Unless you really want the V6.
You get the best looking shape, with the better quality interior, and more reliable oily bits.
Don't think they made many of them, though.
Only the 1.6 and 1.8TS, which weren't as sweet as the 2.0TS as they didn't get the balancer shafts.You get the best looking shape, with the better quality interior, and more reliable oily bits.
Don't think they made many of them, though.
I agree about the older nose and the face lift interior, my second 156 was a phase 2 JTS Veloce 2 and I found it slightly better but less characterful than my 2.0TS.
As for the usual whittering about reliability, I ran 3 156's a 2.0TS, JTS, and GTA for a total of well 100.000 miles. Only one ever let me down, the JTS went into 'get me home' mode with a cat failure, it was fixed under warranty.
The only costs were suspension bushes, most of which were done under warranty, though I did pay for the belts on the GTA. The belt on the TS was done under warranty as it 'showed signs of wear' at 36k, this was before Alfa realised 72k was just not on.
I followed my 156 ownership with a BMW, new clutch, new Flyweel, balky gearchange, juddering transmission, randomly going into safe mode. I'm back in an Alfa now, 21000 miles in with very few problems.
Mind you the Wife's Honda CRV shed has been pretty good I have to say
velocemitch said:
Only the 1.6 and 1.8TS, which weren't as sweet as the 2.0TS as they didn't get the balancer shafts.
I agree about the older nose and the face lift interior, my second 156 was a phase 2 JTS Veloce 2 and I found it slightly better but less characterful than my 2.0TS.
I'm pretty sure Motorpoint and one or two other supermarkets were flogging TSpark / flappy paddle cars with the original nose and new interior about 6 or 7 years back.I agree about the older nose and the face lift interior, my second 156 was a phase 2 JTS Veloce 2 and I found it slightly better but less characterful than my 2.0TS.
You get all kinds of odd stuff at Motorpoint, though - I have no idea where they source some of it, but they also had some really strange BMW 5-series a few years back.
A lex said:
Most/all the strange spec Alfas came from Malaysia (due to the importer going bust I think?).
There was also a car transporter that sank/caught fire and a load were repaired and then punted on in the UK.
There was also a car transporter that sank/caught fire and a load were repaired and then punted on in the UK.
That does not sound like a good start in life for any car, then to be sold on. Malaysia the tax rules changed I think, making them a silly price, so they all came back.
The other unrelated incident was a ship to Australia caught fire. Only smoke or no damage at all to most cars but the lot got written off by the insurer. Again they were bought and eventually returned.
The other unrelated incident was a ship to Australia caught fire. Only smoke or no damage at all to most cars but the lot got written off by the insurer. Again they were bought and eventually returned.
Time for a little update on this.
At the end of September, it'd been three years, and on Saturday, this:
Didn't explode and noone died. Who knew?
Since I wrote the original post, it's been pretty much perfectly reliable - eek. Got through a few lightbulbs, a couple of slow punctures, and it uses a fair bit of oil on long runs, but no faults to speak of. The last MOT saw no advisories and the bloke commented on what good care I'd taken of it.
I had the front suspension refreshed including Powerflex, which should increase its notorious longevity a little.
It took us to Ireland and around the beautiful Ring of Kerry several times, the Dingle peninsula and even through the 'you must not drive it in a car' Gap of Dunloe. Oh, without breakdown cover. I don't think the undertray enjoyed it, but I did.
Back home, someone scraped into the rear door whilst it was parked, and put a bit of a dent in it, and I also lost a mirror to the marvellous people of Portsmouth, although I have a spare that's almost the right colour. When I've more cash, all that will be fixed, although the machine polisher I bought hides most of my problems very well.
Similarly, if money ever permits, I'm thinking of having an engine rebuild at Autolusso Bournemouth along with a map, C&B cams and a new exhaust system from Alfatune. Whether that ever materialises, we'll see. I can't remember if I ever posted it, but I once had it dyno'd and the results are here. Not the claimed factory 165hp as you can see, nor a great torque curve, although apparently they're all like that Sir. The aforementioned work could notionally take it to about 185bhp from today's reality. Either way, it's a testament to the car that I'm even thinking about serious work.
This ain't the winter tyre thread but I also had a couple of days of fun with my Nokians last winter, and they'll be on again as soon as it gets cold. Who would have thought that an Alfa would be one of the only cars on the road not stuck or bimbling perilously at 5mph? It behaved immaculately in the untreated rural roads of Hampshire and many fun times were had.
Well, long may it continue. See you at 200k? Or in my 4C if it ever goes a bit too well over on the Share Tips thread.
Edit: I still keep my PH costs blog up to date if anyone is interested in the detail, here.
At the end of September, it'd been three years, and on Saturday, this:
Didn't explode and noone died. Who knew?
Since I wrote the original post, it's been pretty much perfectly reliable - eek. Got through a few lightbulbs, a couple of slow punctures, and it uses a fair bit of oil on long runs, but no faults to speak of. The last MOT saw no advisories and the bloke commented on what good care I'd taken of it.
I had the front suspension refreshed including Powerflex, which should increase its notorious longevity a little.
It took us to Ireland and around the beautiful Ring of Kerry several times, the Dingle peninsula and even through the 'you must not drive it in a car' Gap of Dunloe. Oh, without breakdown cover. I don't think the undertray enjoyed it, but I did.
Back home, someone scraped into the rear door whilst it was parked, and put a bit of a dent in it, and I also lost a mirror to the marvellous people of Portsmouth, although I have a spare that's almost the right colour. When I've more cash, all that will be fixed, although the machine polisher I bought hides most of my problems very well.
Similarly, if money ever permits, I'm thinking of having an engine rebuild at Autolusso Bournemouth along with a map, C&B cams and a new exhaust system from Alfatune. Whether that ever materialises, we'll see. I can't remember if I ever posted it, but I once had it dyno'd and the results are here. Not the claimed factory 165hp as you can see, nor a great torque curve, although apparently they're all like that Sir. The aforementioned work could notionally take it to about 185bhp from today's reality. Either way, it's a testament to the car that I'm even thinking about serious work.
This ain't the winter tyre thread but I also had a couple of days of fun with my Nokians last winter, and they'll be on again as soon as it gets cold. Who would have thought that an Alfa would be one of the only cars on the road not stuck or bimbling perilously at 5mph? It behaved immaculately in the untreated rural roads of Hampshire and many fun times were had.
Well, long may it continue. See you at 200k? Or in my 4C if it ever goes a bit too well over on the Share Tips thread.
Edit: I still keep my PH costs blog up to date if anyone is interested in the detail, here.
Edited by trashbat on Tuesday 22 October 22:31
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