Friend looking at Alfa 147 - advice needed please

[B3Svert]

Friend of mine is looking for a 5 door hatch £2-2.5k big enough for a border collie in the boot, sturdy enough for 50 country road miles a day plus weekend jaunts.

He has spotted a 51 plate Alfa 147 1.6 T Spark and has asked me for some advice. The one he has seen has 90k on the clock, up for £2.2k.

From what I have seen, the 147 was the turning point for Alfa reliability, is rust still an issue on these? What about the clutch life? What do we need to look at in the SH, cambelt at c.60k etc.?

Thanks

[hornetrider]

On the face of it 2.2k seems a lot of money for a 147 of that vintage...

Edited by hornetrider on Monday 26th April 10:00

[Deluded]

I think they are generally pretty good as long as they have been serviced properly. Probably not really the type of car you could rely on to just keep going and going without having a service every now and then.

[VxDuncan]

Nope. Don't do it. Cambelt is every 36k IIRC (not the 70k or whatever they used to say in the service book, they were forced to revise it down). 90k is high mileage for an alfa - might be okay for a year if it's had new wishbones, and suspension reveamp (they rust badly) andif it's a good one, but seriously, don't bother. Get something like diesel focus.

I'll get flamed for saying negative things about alfas, but I had a 2ltr T-Spark for a year and it was an unreliable hunk of junk, despite the previous owner having just put it through a £1500 service (cambelt, wishbones, major service etc). Oil consumption was comical - about a ltr every 500miles, which is actually within tolerance for the t-spark...

Just don't, get a proper engineered car instead.

[jamieboy]

B3Svert said:

He has spotted a 51 plate Alfa 147 1.6 T Spark and has asked me for some advice. The one he has seen has 90k on the clock, up for £2.2k.

From what I have seen, the 147 was the turning point for Alfa reliability, is rust still an issue on these? What about the clutch life? What do we need to look at in the SH, cambelt at c.60k etc.?

We ran a 147 1.6 for three years, didn't have any problems with it whatsoever. Replaced it with another 147, and it hasn't had any real issues either.

Rust isn't any more of a problem than any other make (hasn't really been for about the last 20-odd years ) so if it's rusting then look for the reason.

Cambelt is 36k or 3 years, not 60k - this is really pretty important.

The 1.6 isn't a bad engine, but it needs to be revved to get much out of it. It's happy to rev, so it isn't really a hardship, but if you've got lots of motorway miles to do it can get a bit tiring.

So in general there's no real reason to avoid them.

Have a look at this buyers guide

Edited by jamieboy on Monday 26th April 10:50

[B3Svert]

Excellent replies, thank you very much

Cambelt every 36k sounds very Italian, although slightly more high end than I would have thought for a 9 year old hatchback!

Re. Ford Focus, that was my initial suggestion however he has "Ford phobia" and wants something a little bit different, hence looking at the Alfa.

What other suggestions can the PH massive offer up? Main criteria are 5 doors, space for a large dog in the boot and 30+mpg

[frosted]

2000 is not much money to spend on a car ,Especially if the word reliable is a must . Maybe a civic would do ?

[p1doc]

second on the avoid having had alfa147 since new lol
martin

[POORCARDEALER]

We have one here, as I was driving it home from main dealer it was bought from, the cambelt jumped a few teeth, its the only one I have had any issues with, oil level in engine is really really important on these cars, need to get into routine of weekly checks.

[ZesPak]

Needs checking every now and then. Not the most reliable 2nd hand.

Alfa's started to get better with the 156 & 147, but not exactly "on par" with a lot of the other brands.