Alfa 146Ti, what are they like?
Discussion
I need a winter runaround to protect my Tiv, & a neighbour has offered me his Alfa 146Ti 2 litre for £500. It's a '98 with about 100k miles, cambelt done 10k ago.
It drives really nice, feels quite responsive, interior is very tidy, the seats are comfy, feel & look like Recaro's & has long tax & test. Does anyone have any experience of them, are they comfortable on long runs, what kind of fuel economy, that sort of thing. Mind you anything will be more frugal than my XJR I reckon!
Cheers peeps.
It drives really nice, feels quite responsive, interior is very tidy, the seats are comfy, feel & look like Recaro's & has long tax & test. Does anyone have any experience of them, are they comfortable on long runs, what kind of fuel economy, that sort of thing. Mind you anything will be more frugal than my XJR I reckon!
Cheers peeps.
Speedracer329 said:
It drives really nice, feels quite responsive, interior is very tidy, the seats are comfy
That's my experience of owning one. Not huge acceleration but can be worked hard enough to be huge fun on the right roads.Speedracer329 said:
are they comfortable on long runs, what kind of fuel economy
I felt a slight lack of support around the lower part of the back-rest, and at times the seats seemed bouncier than I liked. Other than that they were fine for all day interesting motoring. About 30 mpg on a run, give or take depending on the style of driving, but I don't remember being bothered enough to work out an accurate figure.I managed to get the tyres to wear fairly evenly - the rears would last only a few thousand miles longer than the fronts
Basically the tyres (Hydragrip) lasted about 22,000 miles over almost 62,000 miless of ownership.Ours developed a slight slackness in the pick up of the accelerator which eventually became annoying. The local Alfa specialist reckoned they all did that to some degree and that I could pay them loads of money to improve it but with no guarantee it'd actually be entirely fixed. The injector warning came on quite often but it could be ignored.
Overall I'd say ours was remarkably good value and fun for the money -- bought it for £1000 in October '05, sold 4 years later for almost nothing. And I quite liked the silhouette.
Good fun cars. The engine is a classic - not hugely torquey but loves to rev and is one of the best sounding four pots of all time. Keep an eye on the oil level as they sup a bit and it's not a very big sump. Very practical cars too. Slightly strange driving position but you soon get used to it. Do check for corrosion in the sills these days - most cars are fine, but some aren't. Ideally it should come with two red everyday keys and one brown "master" key. Don't use the handbrake overnight in the winter.
Buy it!
Buy it!
I had a look at one. This one had a plate welded in the floor near the back axle which put me off and reared concerns about their rustability. Main points I researched was the small oil sump issue meaning oil level needed to be kept checked. I bought a Mk III Golf GTI instead but believe me, that has rust issues too and seems to offer no durability bonuses judging by bits I've had to replace.
I had my 145 (same car, more hatchbacky) for 7 years, because I couldn't bear to part with it!
Great cars, mine showed no signs of rust, cracking engine, lovely gearchange, quick steering, could really use a 6th gear on motorway runs, bit of a drinking problem, seats never seemed to wear, frozen handbrake in winter, very reliable otherwise. Love them!
Great cars, mine showed no signs of rust, cracking engine, lovely gearchange, quick steering, could really use a 6th gear on motorway runs, bit of a drinking problem, seats never seemed to wear, frozen handbrake in winter, very reliable otherwise. Love them!
AnotherGareth said:
Ours developed a slight slackness in the pick up of the accelerator which eventually became annoying. The local Alfa specialist reckoned they all did that to some degree and that I could pay them loads of money to improve it but with no guarantee it'd actually be entirely fixed. The injector warning came on quite often but it could be ignored.
Overall I'd say ours was remarkably good value and fun for the money -- bought it for £1000 in October '05, sold 4 years later for almost nothing. And I quite liked the silhouette.
Thanks for the replies so far guys.Overall I'd say ours was remarkably good value and fun for the money -- bought it for £1000 in October '05, sold 4 years later for almost nothing. And I quite liked the silhouette.
AnotherGareth, one thing that struck me about the drive was that the throttle response was very good indeed.
I have had a good look around & underneath, can't see any rust anywhere & it has FSH, with keys, been really looked after from what I can see.
Can't go wrong for 500 quid can I?
Best advice is 3 years or 36,000 miles whichever comes sooner.
They will go further - I had one that did 48,000 before a change, and a mate with a low miler is five years in, but the problem is that if the belt (or more likely the tensioner) goes it does huge damage and will effectively write the car off. However you could also argue that if you got the car for £500, is it worth spending £300 for the belt doing, and do you just run it until it goes....?
They will go further - I had one that did 48,000 before a change, and a mate with a low miler is five years in, but the problem is that if the belt (or more likely the tensioner) goes it does huge damage and will effectively write the car off. However you could also argue that if you got the car for £500, is it worth spending £300 for the belt doing, and do you just run it until it goes....?
RicksAlfas said:
Best advice is 3 years or 36,000 miles whichever comes sooner.
They will go further - I had one that did 48,000 before a change, and a mate with a low miler is five years in, but the problem is that if the belt (or more likely the tensioner) goes it does huge damage and will effectively write the car off. However you could also argue that if you got the car for £500, is it worth spending £300 for the belt doing, and do you just run it until it goes....?
Good point, & the answer is no. It will take me a couple of years to do 10k miles in it, & I must admit that rather than £350 for a belt change on a £500 car I would risk, & if it went scrap it for a £100 or so & get something else. Seems a shame really but that's bangernomics for you. They will go further - I had one that did 48,000 before a change, and a mate with a low miler is five years in, but the problem is that if the belt (or more likely the tensioner) goes it does huge damage and will effectively write the car off. However you could also argue that if you got the car for £500, is it worth spending £300 for the belt doing, and do you just run it until it goes....?
Kinky said:
36k, 36k, 36k - all the way 
Better safe than sorry.
72k was the original period. But due to a number of failures, they revised that to 36k. But that was not specific or unique to the 145/146. IIRC it was a general Alfaism.
I think it was a bit more specific than that - from memory it is the twin-spark engines that are the main culprits.Better safe than sorry.
72k was the original period. But due to a number of failures, they revised that to 36k. But that was not specific or unique to the 145/146. IIRC it was a general Alfaism.
OP, your original post says the car had a new cambelt 10k ago, is this the car you bought? If so, you shouldn't have to worry about it for a good couple of years.
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