Andrewj

Thinking about chopping in the MY99 Turbo for something interesting but a bit cheaper to run.

I know that I may be able to save about £200 a year on Insurance, but what are these (say the 1.8 or 2 litre Turismo)like to run in terms of runing costs, including service intervals and cost, mpg, tyre wear etc?

Thanks in advance.

logiclee

Andrew,

I have just run one for 18months, far cheaper on consumables, fuel and insurance than the scoob but be prepared for some reliability issues.

Suspension bushes and suspension parts are a major issue if you have rough roads.

Don't bother with the 1.8, the 2.0TS is gutless enough below 3500rpm never mind the smaller engine.

Do not buy a Turismo it's the base model, even had wheel trims on early models and the seat material is very poor. The Lusso will give you more kit and a decent interior, look out for momo-leather which is first class. Lusso's and Turismo's do have soft suspension which will bottom out if you tend to push on a bit.

Coming from a scoob you may want to consider a Veloce or Sport Pack as it was known on early cars.
These have lowered and stiffened Eibach springs with Bilstien dampers, side skirts, carbon centre console with red on black dials, 16" alloys and a range of sports seats. Depending on options they have Sports blitz cloth seats, Recaro seats or the momo leather.

Here's my old 156 Selespeed Veloce.




If you want any further info just ask.

Cheers
Lee

Andrewj

Thanks for that Lee...the picture didn't load for some reason.

What sort of service intervals and costs are you looking at? (I just paid over £700 for my 60k service - including cambelt) and how was she on mpg and tyre wear?

Thanks again.

logiclee

Andrew,

Servicing is 12k miles or 12 months and cost's around £180 for a standard service. Spark Plugs are expensive as there are eight but don't need changing until 60k miles, cost around £120. Cambelt is 5 years or 70k miles but Alfa UK have had a lot of failures and are now telling the dealers to do an inspection at 3 years or 36k miles. Most dealers recommend you change them at this time, it's a big job, you need cambelt, tensioner, variator, idler and the two balancer belts. The total job on top of a 3 year service will be at least £600 at a dealer.

My tyres lasted around 15k on the front and after 25k the rears were about half worn. I had 16" wheels with 205/55x16 Continental sport contacts which were around £80 each. Pre facelift Turismo and Lusso's will have 15" wheels with 195/60x15 tyres at around £60 each.

Mpg? I got around 26mpg around town and 7 mile run to work and about 35mpg on a run out.

They are not built like the Scoob and I had supsension bushes going every 8k to 10k miles. Don't rely on back up from dealers either, they deserve there reputation for being crap.

Cheers
Lee

Up_North

I echo Lee's comments on dealers - they are absolutely appalling and do the car no justice at all. They accused me of breaking the locking wheel nut and were going to charge labour to get it off - the only time the wheel had been off the car was at it's previous serveice with the same dealer!!!!

I loved the car though - even though its getting on a tad it still looks stylish. Build quality is typical Italian!!!!

Definitely go for Veloce spec.

Ian

C

DONT get an Alfa 156 then!

I have one as a company car, 75,000 miles, 3 engines, new front suspension, gearbox, ecu, wiring loom & a few other things I have forgotten.

It's an absolute pile of **** IMO, wheels bearings a month away on back order, everything is a joke.

Normal manufacturer tolerances of 1 litre of oil per 1000 miles applies which is a joke, even with new engines from day 1 it uses about 1.5 litres for every 800 miles.

Oh & Alfa customer services are appaling too!

About the only good thing I have to say about it is the looks!

& it's hardly a one off, 6 others in my company also drive either 147's or 156's & not one is on the original engine

logiclee

Hmmmmm oil usage.

Some Twin Sparks use loads of oil and some don't use a drop.

I was lucky and had one that didn't use any. It seems about 30% of Twin Sparks use oil "Within Alfa Specification"

A lot of company motors have suffered engine failure because usually company car owners do not lift the bonnet weekly to check oil levels. By the time the warning light comes on the engine has probably suffered some damage.

My workmate bought a new Audi A4 2.0FSi last September, he's done 6000miles in it and it's using about one litre of oil every 1000 miles. Audi say this is within there tollerance and they won't do anything. My workmate is taking legal advice.

For all Alfa info have a look at the forums on Alfaowner

Cheers
Lee

M-J-P

I agree with 'C'. Had a friend with a Alfa 156 and had a engine replacement.

Andrewj

Ouch!

Thanks guys...think I'll look for somethng else!

TopBanana

The engine failures you hear about are mostly due to oil starvation. You need to keep them topped up. Alfa are now putting stickers on the inside of windscreens reminding owners to top the oil up

LG John

I've condsidered the same swap myself and did a lot of reading up. As far as I can tell reliability will be the big issue. It seems most drivers fall into one of ONLY 2 categories:

a) Had an 156 for 70k miles and never had a problem OR

b) Had a 156 for 20k miles and everything that could go wrong did go wrong, it cost me my life savings and my wife divorced me as a direct result

I'm being serious btw - its that black and white it seems. Risky or what

logiclee

Saxo Boy,

After 18 months on the Alfa BBS I think your odds are...

30% Never had a problem.
50% Small niggles and the dealers are crap sorting them out.
20% Major reliability issues, engine failures etc.

How lucky do you feel?

I fell into the middle section, some rattles/trim problems and suspension bush issues that I ended up sorting myself.

The selespeed gearbox and 2.0TS engine were both faultless and the best part of the car.

Lee

TopBanana

Never had a problem in 18 months, except for an airbag sensor coming adrift under the passenger seat! Perhaps I was lucky

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

I've had 2 - one for 5 months and the other for 12 months. Neither had any problems. Really enjoyed both.