A £1k Alfa 147 - a shedding baptism of fire
Discussion
So having recently (I’m sure I’m not alone in this) seen my financially secure future dissolve into a pile of coronavirus-filled tissues before my very eyes, it has become necessary to enter the world of more modest motoring, now needing something with low running costs that’s cheap enough to be disposable rather than financially ruinous if it throws up a big bill.
I started out looking at old Saabs and Volvos for general good value usefulness, but it seems sub £1500 examples all have something fairly serious wrong with them these days. I was in no way looking for or at Alfas specifically, but this little thing popped up near another car I was already going to look at.
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A 1.9 8v JTD sport special edition. Covered in battle-scars and certainly well-used at 140,000 miles, but everything except the A/C works and mechanically seems fairly sound. Mine for the princely sum of £1000, and certainly an interesting first foray into Alfa ownership.
About a week in and it does seem to be a lot of car for the money, not slow, comfortable, cruise control and 45mpg running average.
I’m totally incapable of leaving cars alone, so there are already a few things planned for it. First up will be a damn good clean, particularly inside, and those terrible decals which have nothing to do with the sport edition stuff are going to be gone pronto. I’ve also already ordered stuff to do a basic service on it, and as I’m playing cam belt roulette (due in about 3k miles ) I’ll be doing that when I have the cash. I’ll probably also do something about some of the worst battle scars, but the priority is mechanical reliability.
I will now brace myself for waves of mockery for buying an Alfa with 140k miles on it for mechanical reliability.
I started out looking at old Saabs and Volvos for general good value usefulness, but it seems sub £1500 examples all have something fairly serious wrong with them these days. I was in no way looking for or at Alfas specifically, but this little thing popped up near another car I was already going to look at.
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/cNZcbsup[/url][url]|https://thumbsnap.com/2W9FDauX[/url]A 1.9 8v JTD sport special edition. Covered in battle-scars and certainly well-used at 140,000 miles, but everything except the A/C works and mechanically seems fairly sound. Mine for the princely sum of £1000, and certainly an interesting first foray into Alfa ownership.
About a week in and it does seem to be a lot of car for the money, not slow, comfortable, cruise control and 45mpg running average.
I’m totally incapable of leaving cars alone, so there are already a few things planned for it. First up will be a damn good clean, particularly inside, and those terrible decals which have nothing to do with the sport edition stuff are going to be gone pronto. I’ve also already ordered stuff to do a basic service on it, and as I’m playing cam belt roulette (due in about 3k miles ) I’ll be doing that when I have the cash. I’ll probably also do something about some of the worst battle scars, but the priority is mechanical reliability.
I will now brace myself for waves of mockery for buying an Alfa with 140k miles on it for mechanical reliability.
NickofName said:
I’m totally incapable of leaving cars alone, so there are already a few things planned for it. First up will be a damn good clean, particularly inside, and those terrible decals which have nothing to do with the sport edition stuff are going to be gone pronto. I’ve also already ordered stuff to do a basic service on it, and as I’m playing cam belt roulette (due in about 3k miles ) I’ll be doing that when I have the cash. I’ll probably also do something about some of the worst battle scars, but the priority is mechanical reliability.
That's half the fun with sheds, being able to tinker with and maintain them yourself. There is something very satisfying about turning someones unwanted and unloved car into something decent for very little money.I am however starting to think seriously about buying a polisher for my 13 year old shed so it can go a bit far......
NickofName said:
I will now brace myself for waves of mockery for buying an Alfa with 140k miles on it for mechanical reliability.
No different to any other car - look after it well and it will be reliableMy Alfa GT diesel (effectively a Coupe version of the 147, but with the 16v JTD lump) has now done well over 260,000 miles and just refuses to die. Sure, it's had quite a lot of replacement bits in that time (turbo, clutch, brakes, lots of suspension wishbones) but nothing untoward. In the seven years and 110,000 miles I've owned it, I've never put oil in it between services. It's only ever requierd the AA man twice - once for a fractured earth cable and once for a gearchange cable popping off the gearbox.
The 147 8v responds extremely well to a gentle remap - fuel consumption should be 50+ afterwards. Don't overdo it though as the gearbox isn't the strongest
Watch out for uneven tyre wear - suspension arms are usually the culprits.
Rust can take hold, especially in the floorpan, but diesels don't seem to be as bad as petrols
Enjoy it - definitely a stylish way to go Shedding
RicksAlfas said:
Well done. They are cheery little things. Do the waterpump at the same time as the cambelt.
Water pump is definitely also on the list. It’ll be a new experience for me having only worked on chain driven engines to date.Nigel_O said:
No different to any other car - look after it well and it will be reliable
My Alfa GT diesel (effectively a Coupe version of the 147, but with the 16v JTD lump) has now done well over 260,000 miles and just refuses to die. Sure, it's had quite a lot of replacement bits in that time (turbo, clutch, brakes, lots of suspension wishbones) but nothing untoward. In the seven years and 110,000 miles I've owned it, I've never put oil in it between services. It's only ever requierd the AA man twice - once for a fractured earth cable and once for a gearchange cable popping off the gearbox.
The 147 8v responds extremely well to a gentle remap - fuel consumption should be 50+ afterwards. Don't overdo it though as the gearbox isn't the strongest
Watch out for uneven tyre wear - suspension arms are usually the culprits.
Rust can take hold, especially in the floorpan, but diesels don't seem to be as bad as petrols
Enjoy it - definitely a stylish way to go Shedding
I’ll say here and now that I won’t be playing with any remaps, but that’ll probably last about 2 months...My Alfa GT diesel (effectively a Coupe version of the 147, but with the 16v JTD lump) has now done well over 260,000 miles and just refuses to die. Sure, it's had quite a lot of replacement bits in that time (turbo, clutch, brakes, lots of suspension wishbones) but nothing untoward. In the seven years and 110,000 miles I've owned it, I've never put oil in it between services. It's only ever requierd the AA man twice - once for a fractured earth cable and once for a gearchange cable popping off the gearbox.
The 147 8v responds extremely well to a gentle remap - fuel consumption should be 50+ afterwards. Don't overdo it though as the gearbox isn't the strongest
Watch out for uneven tyre wear - suspension arms are usually the culprits.
Rust can take hold, especially in the floorpan, but diesels don't seem to be as bad as petrols
Enjoy it - definitely a stylish way to go Shedding
This seems to be a pretty rust free example underneath, and it’s just had £400 spent on the front suspension so hopefully that’ll hold it for a while.
OscarIndia said:
I'm about to join you! Grand total of £365 with 12 months MOT Leather interior just some surface corrosion underneath to fettle.
Another great find, and yeah a fresh mot was a must for me with the potential for terminal rust on these.Quite envious now....
I have had 2 Alfa 156s, last one was a 1.9 16vJTDM 150. I also had a Punto 130 Sporting ( had your 1.9 8v engine)
Those diesel engines are probably one of the best designs IMO.
I bought my 156 JTDM with 65,000 miles, ran it to 160,000 miles, 70,000 of which were done after a remap. I drove that car to Monaco when it had about 140,000 on it, and did a couple of track days as well.
You may well have done some research, but I would try and find an Alfa indy specialist if you can....some garages just don't like Alfas.....!!!
The only reason I got rid of mine... was the rust got into the main chassis rails so it was sold for parts to a well known Alfa 156 specialist.
The 147 is basically a smaller version of the 156 floorpan.
They are brilliant cars, underrated by most, but the Alfisti rate them highly.
I have had 2 Alfa 156s, last one was a 1.9 16vJTDM 150. I also had a Punto 130 Sporting ( had your 1.9 8v engine)
Those diesel engines are probably one of the best designs IMO.
I bought my 156 JTDM with 65,000 miles, ran it to 160,000 miles, 70,000 of which were done after a remap. I drove that car to Monaco when it had about 140,000 on it, and did a couple of track days as well.
You may well have done some research, but I would try and find an Alfa indy specialist if you can....some garages just don't like Alfas.....!!!
The only reason I got rid of mine... was the rust got into the main chassis rails so it was sold for parts to a well known Alfa 156 specialist.
The 147 is basically a smaller version of the 156 floorpan.
They are brilliant cars, underrated by most, but the Alfisti rate them highly.
I had a pre-facelift 1.6 TS one. Great little car. I think the alternator or battery started to go at about 120k miles. I bought it for £1k, sold a year and 20k miles later for £600, which I thought was fair seeing as it broke down with a dead battery while the guy was test-driving it! £400 well spent for a year of motoring IMO. You can't really criticise a 10+ year old car for things like that.
In fact it can't have been that bad, the guy I bought it off was selling because he'd upgraded to a 147 GTA!
In fact it can't have been that bad, the guy I bought it off was selling because he'd upgraded to a 147 GTA!
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