From C63 to Alfa 159
Discussion
Well that didn't last long! I've had my Merc C63 two months and unfortunately the OH is likely to be made redundant from her teaching post. Jobwise; as there are a lot of cutbacks locally, the job market will be flooded with teachers and as her subjects are being phased out it will be doubly difficult to find anything suitable/well paid/holidays.
So, as I owned the C63 outright, I sold it to shore up 12 months of mortgage payments and pay off all the credit cards and buy myself a cheap run-around for my 80 miles-a-day commute.
So I've now got this Italian Stallion...or Italian Gelding...an Alfa 159 2.2 JTS. My first Alfa (tick) and I have to say I'm really liking it. Cost me £3k cash, service history, MOTs sensible and has just ticked over 65k on the clock. I treated it to a blueme iphone adapter, some new mats and brighter bulbs.
I've had my mate who services all my cars give it a good going over on the ramp and he's impressed with it...so fingers crossed.
Not very exciting but twice the range, half the insurance, half the tax of the C63 and parts will be cheaper too.
I'm also liking the fact that I'm willing to park nearer to the shops in a car park and see potholes/kerbs as a fun challenge rather than a sharp change of direction and hard gnashing of teeth.
So, as I owned the C63 outright, I sold it to shore up 12 months of mortgage payments and pay off all the credit cards and buy myself a cheap run-around for my 80 miles-a-day commute.
So I've now got this Italian Stallion...or Italian Gelding...an Alfa 159 2.2 JTS. My first Alfa (tick) and I have to say I'm really liking it. Cost me £3k cash, service history, MOTs sensible and has just ticked over 65k on the clock. I treated it to a blueme iphone adapter, some new mats and brighter bulbs.
I've had my mate who services all my cars give it a good going over on the ramp and he's impressed with it...so fingers crossed.
Not very exciting but twice the range, half the insurance, half the tax of the C63 and parts will be cheaper too.
I'm also liking the fact that I'm willing to park nearer to the shops in a car park and see potholes/kerbs as a fun challenge rather than a sharp change of direction and hard gnashing of teeth.
hondafanatic said:
see potholes/kerbs as a fun challenge rather than a sharp change of direction and hard gnashing of teeth.
Great looking car the 159, but I believe front suspension arms are slightly more 'consumable' than you might have hoped, so might be worth keeping in mind I'm sure the plumper tyres will help a bit though.SturdyHSV said:
hondafanatic said:
see potholes/kerbs as a fun challenge rather than a sharp change of direction and hard gnashing of teeth.
Great looking car the 159, but I believe front suspension arms are slightly more 'consumable' than you might have hoped, so might be worth keeping in mind I'm sure the plumper tyres will help a bit though.And I've just noticed I didn't shut the boot on the last pic!!!
SturdyHSV said:
Great looking car the 159, but I believe front suspension arms are slightly more 'consumable' than you might have hoped, so might be worth keeping in mind I'm sure the plumper tyres will help a bit though.
The front suspension arm thing is mainly for the 147/156/GT, the 159 might have a similar issue, but nowhere near as bad (my 147 had a fresh arm on the right side 20K ago, rubber is creaking badly already) I'm sure the plumper tyres will help a bit though.R6VED said:
One of the best front ends of any car in this sort of class. £3k sounds like a bit of a bargain, or have they dropped that much?
They have dropped quite a lot, although 3K for a 2.2 with that mileage is a good deal i'd think@HondaFanatic, have you checked the timing chain? the 1.9 and 2.2 JTS have chain stretching issues, so at some point most cars will have a new chain.
Vitorio said:
@HondaFanatic, have you checked the timing chain? the 1.9 and 2.2 JTS have chain stretching issues, so at some point most cars will have a new chain.
One of my mates technicians is Alfa trained and it was the first thing he looked and through the paperwork...I can't actually remember if there was paperwork to back it up but I'll ask again for peace of mind Edited by hondafanatic on Tuesday 10th April 14:55
hondafanatic said:
One of my mates technicians is Alfa trained and it was the first thing he looked and through the paperwork...I can't actually remember if there was paperwork to back it up but I'll ask again for piece of mind
Excellent, good to see you had someone with the proper knowledge look it over!R6VED said:
One of the best front ends of any car in this sort of class. £3k sounds like a bit of a bargain, or have they dropped that much?
Mine cost me £2.2k over two years ago, though that was at 133k miles and no history (a one owner car in good shape though)... I think £3k at that mileage is a good buy though, there isn't a lot else for the money that is as stylish.Oh wow!!!!!
That's my old 159!
I traded it in in January and have been missing it ever since. Followed it getting sold so I'm genuinely thrilled that it's popped up on here!!
When I bought it a few years ago it had 34k miles on it. I bought it from a little dealer down in Gloucester. In my tenure it never let me down. Once in a blue moon if you press the starter button very, very quickly after putting the key in it throws up the EML light but it always goes after a few restarts. I checked the code and it was something to do with a sensor on the coolant system. I presume being an Italian lady she preferred to be roused more slowly.
I'd say that my 30k miles in it were 99% just me in the car, often with a bike in the back.
On the subject of the timing chain the main risk I believe is that if oil gets sludgy it can restrict flow to the chain. The two things that apparently help are not using it repeatedly for short journeys and making sure the oil is in decent nick. I tended to use it for proper journeys much more than doing a mile or two, and, more significantly I changed the oil half way between each service to be absolutely sure. It does look like there's a service missing in the book but it did have it, honest, chap forgot to stamp the book, I then moved away.
Did it have a new oil filter and wiper arm in the footwell when you got it? I left the filter in there as I was just about to swap the oil when I sold it and the wiper arm was because one of the original ones has a big paint chip. It also should have a little flap that covers the boot lock latch on the sill. This fell off at christmas and I chucked it in one of the small cubby holes in the boot so as not to lose it then forgot to replace it!
Enjoy the sometimes amusing messages such as "Limited cruising range" when fuel gets low. They're the same messages you get on Maseratis. My QP says similar things and odd things like the way the cruise control works is the same.
That's my old 159!
I traded it in in January and have been missing it ever since. Followed it getting sold so I'm genuinely thrilled that it's popped up on here!!
When I bought it a few years ago it had 34k miles on it. I bought it from a little dealer down in Gloucester. In my tenure it never let me down. Once in a blue moon if you press the starter button very, very quickly after putting the key in it throws up the EML light but it always goes after a few restarts. I checked the code and it was something to do with a sensor on the coolant system. I presume being an Italian lady she preferred to be roused more slowly.
I'd say that my 30k miles in it were 99% just me in the car, often with a bike in the back.
On the subject of the timing chain the main risk I believe is that if oil gets sludgy it can restrict flow to the chain. The two things that apparently help are not using it repeatedly for short journeys and making sure the oil is in decent nick. I tended to use it for proper journeys much more than doing a mile or two, and, more significantly I changed the oil half way between each service to be absolutely sure. It does look like there's a service missing in the book but it did have it, honest, chap forgot to stamp the book, I then moved away.
Did it have a new oil filter and wiper arm in the footwell when you got it? I left the filter in there as I was just about to swap the oil when I sold it and the wiper arm was because one of the original ones has a big paint chip. It also should have a little flap that covers the boot lock latch on the sill. This fell off at christmas and I chucked it in one of the small cubby holes in the boot so as not to lose it then forgot to replace it!
Enjoy the sometimes amusing messages such as "Limited cruising range" when fuel gets low. They're the same messages you get on Maseratis. My QP says similar things and odd things like the way the cruise control works is the same.
Edited by Benmac on Tuesday 10th April 18:45
?? !!
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