buying a 156! THoughts?

[jains15]

Evening all.

Newbie here saying hi, but I have a question too so thought I would stick it in here.

I pretty much have my heart set on a 156 for reasons you are all no doubt familiar with. I am coming from an n/a Saab 9-3 auto and a Focus Cmax diesel (my most recent driving experience). Had a lovely drive of a 2.0 TS today which made me want one even more. So nice and refreshing to drive a car so obviously set up for the driver and for the purpose of actually driving.

The car irself is lush, but I have questions which I will outline below.

Good points
-Alfa red with whale tail, skirts and teledials
-Black leather interior, is it a MOMO interior when the seats have the alfa logo imprinted on them?
-Stunning drive and stunning sound, suspension is silent with no knocks or anything
-Owner has had it for 7 years and is second owner (it's a 2000 car)
-59K miles
-Has good service history, having had a major service 2k miles ago which included spark plug oil filter etc AND cambelt
-Engine sounded nice (maybe slightly tappetty), no nasty speaks and a clean engine bay

Bad point
-Needs new pads (don't know why this was not done at last service but I like to have a go at these things DIY so would be happy to do myself)
-Laquer is lifting on the whale tail (very localised and not really all that noticeable), and there seemed to be a can of laquer in the spare wheel bay.
-A couple of very small scale dings
-Needs tax
-MAIN PROBLEM. I noticed a diesel like rattle on startup that seemed to go away after about a minute. Research tells me this may be the variator. Not sure why this wasn't changed with the cam belt. I can see the part for £110 delivered (shop4parts). How much to have it fitted (ballpark) and will it really need a new cam belt even though this has done a paltry 2k miles?

So any thoughts? I have a budget of £2000 all in (so hopefully buying the car then anything else that needs doing) and i have been offered a price of £1400 for this vehicle. So is it worth a punt, or should I just walk away considering there are planty more 156's put there. Trouble is I find this particular example utterly beguiling

Gonna post this on alfa owner too and 156 net

Thanks
Jon

[velocemitch]

No doubt you will be flooded with replies on AO, but just to say the rattle on start up is the variator, it should have been done when the Cambelt was changed. But I guess if the owner didn't know to actual ask they wouldn't have done it. Changing the Variator would be the same job as doing the belts so cost wise it will eat up a chunk of your £600.00 surplus.

But I would have thought you could get a set of decent Pads (Ferodo DS) and the variator for £600.00 so for your 2K you should get a decent car.

But I'd be inclined to shop a round a bit more, you might find one even better, maybe a V6?.

[velocemitch]

How about this one with a bit of haggling???

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1388389.htm url

Edited by velocemitch on Sunday 21st February 19:29

Edited by velocemitch on Sunday 21st February 19:29

[jains15]

Thanks for the advice mate. The concensus is walk away from this one and I'm inclined to agree. There's too many nice 156's out the to plumb for a motor with a dodget variator!

Everyone else is saying get the v6 but I don't think i can live with the extra fuel cost

[velocemitch]

Yes it's a consideration these days. Perhaps about 15% difference, between the two I'd say.