Alfa 147 / GT 1.9 JTD - £5k

[wilbo83]

For c.£5k these look a great buy for a diesel. Engine seems reliable, as long as service history is full with belt / pump changes, and no DPF to worry about. I know the front suspension has issues and can squeak. The interior looks a very nice place to be. Any thoughts?

Any other £5k diesels that compare in the looks department? The only other one I can think of is an A3 S Line.

[daemon]

On looks alone the alfa is a contender, however the reality is that they're dynamically 'average' in their class, fuel economy isnt great and they have poor residuals (no matter what the sellers says)

Oh and they have the ride height of a moon buggy - artificially raised by Alfa because indicators have to be a certain height off the ground in the UK.

If you really must, try to get one with leather

[markmullen]

I've smoked one as my daily runner for 75000 miles, it is a good little car, even thrashed I get mid 40s mpg, nothing much has dropped off, apart from, as you say, the front suspension being made of chocolate.

[wilbo83]

daemon said:

On looks alone the alfa is a contender, however the reality is that they're dynamically 'average' in their class, fuel economy isnt great and they have poor residuals (no matter what the sellers says)

Oh and they have the ride height of a moon buggy - artificially raised by Alfa because indicators have to be a certain height off the ground in the UK.

If you really must, try to get one with leather

Definitely would go for leather. I thought economy was quite impressive, I would be pleased with averaging mid 40s. (For context, I drive a Subaru Impreza at the moment!)

[RicksAlfas]

The economy is good and the power delivery much more pleasant than a VW of similar money. The interior is a nice place to be, but just keep your eyes and ears open and be prepared to spend money on it to keep it running well. Check for when the waterpump was last done. Ours failed at 50,000 miles and it can take the cambelt with it. Also have a good luck underneath for chassis corrosion as some cars can suffer.

[wilbo83]

RicksAlfas said:

The economy is good and the power delivery much more pleasant than a VW of similar money. The interior is a nice place to be, but just keep your eyes and ears open and be prepared to spend money on it to keep it running well. Check for when the waterpump was last done. Ours failed at 50,000 miles and it can take the cambelt with it. Also have a good luck underneath for chassis corrosion as some cars can suffer.

If it hasn't been done recently, would probably just get it done straight away, would happily pay £350 for the peace of mind. I read that the GT can come with a winter pack which includes heated seats, does the 147 have the same option?

[RicksAlfas]

Yes, you could get heated seats on a 147. I'm not sure if they were part of a pack or not.
Check they work before you get too excited!

[daemon]

wilbo83 said:

daemon said:

On looks alone the alfa is a contender, however the reality is that they're dynamically 'average' in their class, fuel economy isnt great and they have poor residuals (no matter what the sellers says)

Oh and they have the ride height of a moon buggy - artificially raised by Alfa because indicators have to be a certain height off the ground in the UK.

If you really must, try to get one with leather

Definitely would go for leather. I thought economy was quite impressive, I would be pleased with averaging mid 40s. (For context, I drive a Subaru Impreza at the moment!)

Yes, i'd say 45mpg is about right. Not impressive relative to probably a golf of the same genre which will be hitting the right side of 50mpg.

[daemon]

I fitted coilovers to mine to get away from the gumball look. I tried lowering springs first, but due to the weight of the diesel engine it sat a bit nose down. Wasnt cheap to do but was worth it.

Mine was a (from memory 115BHP) Ti - at the time i bought mine (pre-reg in Nov 2005) the Ti was just out and it got you the full black red stiched leather, the 17 inch Ti alloy wheels, the GTA black headlights and a few other bits and bobs. They didnt do the 140 (as i think it was at the time) in the Ti spec. I stuck a tuning box on mine for some extra oomph.



I think they subsequently did the facelifted 147 with the 150BHP engine and the Ti pack so it might be worth looking out for.

[300bhp/ton]

wilbo83 said:

For c.£5k these look a great buy for a diesel. Engine seems reliable, as long as service history is full with belt / pump changes, and no DPF to worry about. I know the front suspension has issues and can squeak. The interior looks a very nice place to be. Any thoughts?

Any other £5k diesels that compare in the looks department? The only other one I can think of is an A3 S Line.

The GT has never really appealed visually to me. Not sure why, but it just looks a tad wrong somehow.

I suppose the sensible question to ask is:

"does it really need to be diesel?"

And if so, why?


I have absolutely nothing against diesels. But I see little point in buying one if you don't actually need one, when as a rule you can get a better spec/condition petrol version for less money, that'll usually be faster and for most people probably won't really cost anything different to run unless you are doing a large annual mileage.

[wilbo83]

300bhp/ton said:

The GT has never really appealed visually to me. Not sure why, but it just looks a tad wrong somehow.

I suppose the sensible question to ask is:

"does it really need to be diesel?"

And if so, why?


I have absolutely nothing against diesels. But I see little point in buying one if you don't actually need one, when as a rule you can get a better spec/condition petrol version for less money, that'll usually be faster and for most people probably won't really cost anything different to run unless you are doing a large annual mileage.

I am not one for diesels usually but with a wedding to save for, I could do with something economical. I do about 16k a year. Appreciate what you are saying if the diesel would cost more to buy, as this would immediately negate the extra economy, however for the price I think the Alfa is well specced. For the budget you seem to get a 2007/2008 model. Have been browsing for a while and not many 2007/2008 £5k petrols come quite as well specced.

[ArsE92]

The JTD is a bit agricultural. Prone to EGR failures too, but it's an easy job to clean out and refurbish the valve. Or, £100 for a new one and fit it yourself (shared with Vauxhall/Saab etc).

We averaged 42MPG over a year in our GT (150bhp)

[300bhp/ton]

wilbo83 said:

I am not one for diesels usually but with a wedding to save for, I could do with something economical. I do about 16k a year. Appreciate what you are saying if the diesel would cost more to buy, as this would immediately negate the extra economy, however for the price I think the Alfa is well specced. For the budget you seem to get a 2007/2008 model. Have been browsing for a while and not many 2007/2008 £5k petrols come quite as well specced.

That's fair enough. Although to my mind, if saving for a wedding is a big deal, then I'm not sure simply opting for a diesel car is really the best way to save.

Parkers list the 1.9 GT @ 45mpg and the 2.0 petrol version @ 32mpg. The petrol is quite a bit quicker and more powerful.

For 16,000 miles a year you would be looking at about £60/month difference in fuel costs. Which fair enough is enough to notice.

But I'm willing to bet you could buy a petrol GT for less money, so would instantly offer up 1 - 3 years worth of fuel savings.

If money saving is really important, just spend £1000 on a vehicle and save 4 grand straight away. Buying a diesel it'll take you nearly 5 1/2 years of fuel saving to claim the same.

[wilbo83]

I also quite like these which seem to produce decent mpg in both petrol and diesel versions:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/h...

[daemon]

wilbo83 said:

I also quite like these which seem to produce decent mpg in both petrol and diesel versions:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/h...

My son has one. Its a 2006 1.8 6 speed - hes getting 42mpg in it.

[blearyeyedboy]

300bhp/ton said:

wilbo83 said:

I am not one for diesels usually but with a wedding to save for, I could do with something economical. I do about 16k a year. Appreciate what you are saying if the diesel would cost more to buy, as this would immediately negate the extra economy, however for the price I think the Alfa is well specced. For the budget you seem to get a 2007/2008 model. Have been browsing for a while and not many 2007/2008 £5k petrols come quite as well specced.

That's fair enough. Although to my mind, if saving for a wedding is a big deal, then I'm not sure simply opting for a diesel car is really the best way to save.

Parkers list the 1.9 GT @ 45mpg and the 2.0 petrol version @ 32mpg. The petrol is quite a bit quicker and more powerful.

For 16,000 miles a year you would be looking at about £60/month difference in fuel costs. Which fair enough is enough to notice.

But I'm willing to bet you could buy a petrol GT for less money, so would instantly offer up 1 - 3 years worth of fuel savings.

If money saving is really important, just spend £1000 on a vehicle and save 4 grand straight away. Buying a diesel it'll take you nearly 5 1/2 years of fuel saving to claim the same.

I don't always agree with what 300 says (no offence 300! ) but he's talking a lot of sense here.

[wilbo83]

blearyeyedboy said:

I don't always agree with what 300 says (no offence 300! ) but he's talking a lot of sense here.

Know what you mean, again no offence 300. I don’t agree with buying a £1k car to do 16k miles in and I am not willing to sacrifice that much. I do however agree that if I could find a petrol with similar spec for significantly less money, then I would go for it, but the petrol GT/147’s don’t seem to be much cheaper. Sure there are cheaper petrol alternatives but I don't want a boring car, I want something with character.

[blearyeyedboy]

^ Point taken, and I'd agree. I suppose it's forefront in my mind after I've postponed a car change in order to pay for my own wedding. It does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, particularly when some diesels of that vintage tend to leave their owners with lots of bills. Fortunately the 1.9 Fiat/GM unit's usually a good 'un, as long as you don't nearly kill an egr valve/DPF with multiple short journeys.

[TREMAiNE]

Lovely looking hatches, so much more style than the MiTo.

The Ducati Corsa edition looks fantastic. No idea whether its worth the extra premium though!

[300bhp/ton]

wilbo83 said:

if I could find a petrol with similar spec for significantly less money, then I would go for it, but the petrol GT/147’s don’t seem to be much cheaper. Sure there are cheaper petrol alternatives but I don't want a boring car, I want something with character.

That's surprising, although I haven't looked.

My best guess would be that a same age/spec petrol one would likely be £4k if the diesel is £5k.

Such a saving as this would take you 1 1/2 years to recoup in fuel savings.