Alfa romeo 159

[jumare]

After a few years of driving around in a Fiat Panda (great car and was still going strong at 107K) it was time for a change. I was looking for a small estate* and after thinking about Volvo's (V50) and 3series tourers, the Alfa Romeo 155 Sportwagon caught my eye. It's not that small and the wife doesn't like driving it but I like to have something different and the looks, to me, are great.

So I bought an '07 155 1.9JTDm Lusso SportWagon with 41K miles, standard spec, leather, climate, 17" wheels, from a main dealer who even gave me a reasonable price for the Panda.



So far all I've done is get the interior valetted to get the leather looking its best, AMK Detailing in Swindon great job at a good price. Otherwise it's already been to B&Q to collect plywood and to collect horse feed/bedding. A trip to Portsmouth in the worst/best of the heat proved it's a nice place to be and performance isn't too bad (great compared to a Panda) economy maybe isn't a good as I thought.



Don't have many plans as it's a daily driver, needs a phone/iPod kit, debadge (and add a PH sticker) rear, good clean and that's it for the time being. May go to 18" wheels if a set turn up at a good price.



I love it and have had some favourable remarks about it's looks.

Mark

• I've had 4 'estates' and only one has been called an estate, a Cortina MKIV, the the others were Tourer and then an Avant and now a SportWagon.... marketing huh.

[C.A.R.]

Lovely cars, very pleasing on the eye!

I've always wanted a 156. A friend bought one of these and without wanting to sound too much like a broken record it was constantly going wrong! The fuel gauge stopped working, various knocks, tyres were quickly consumed! But ultimately he still has it and loves it to bits, and that's what counts in my book. Hope it serves you well

[ParanoidAndroid]

Keep thinking about one of these to replace my ageing 325i Touring. Looks lovely, what the boot like? Looks a fair bit smaller than the 3 series which has put me off a bit.

[jumare]

ParanoidAndroid said:

Keep thinking about one of these to replace my ageing 325i Touring. Looks lovely, what the boot like? Looks a fair bit smaller than the 3 series which has put me off a bit.

Boot's pretty good, just about got a 6' length of wood in (was pressed up against the windscreen). I would say it was about the same as an E36 but wider, the roof is low though. We've got a Discovery 2 for big loads and towing, I only got an estate for occasional dog use and I prefer the way they look.

I'll take a picture at some stage.

Mark

[ecotec]

great looking cars these and it looks like you got a fully loaded one,
is mpg really bad or just OK?

[Baron Greenback]

Great car I bought 07 paddywagon now on 113k on the clock! Never uses oil and no major/minor things gone wrong! 44mpg on average I get not booting it. Likes to eat front wheel more than most cars. The only advice I would is timing belt is recommended to replace alot earlier than Alfa recommend.

[jumare]

MPG not really bad but when you're used to ~50mpg from a petrol it's noticable, the computer is showing about 40mpg probably get it better over longer runs. Got a ~450mile round the north trip at the end of the month wil be interesting to see what I can achieve.

Timing belt was changed by dealer before sale, so is good for a while yet. There's also a Fiat/Alfa specialist within walking distance of home.

Mark

ps in the earlier post when I said pressed against the windscreen, not the wood me, I had to move the seat forward a lot.

Edited by jumare on Wednesday 13th August 20:11