scoobysnax69

Ladies an gentle men, i need some help. I desperately want a scooby, but for the mo, the insurance premiums are way too high - unless i want a sport ( no offence to you sport owners, but if i'm gonna have a scooby a want a turbo!) Thinking of getting summit a bit cheaper on insurance, but a bit sportier for da mo(currently drivin a volvo 340!!! ) I have been recommended an alfa by a mate, theres definately plenty of them around, but i have no experience of them! Wondered if theres any alfa owners out there - please give me your experience, good or bad!

Any other motor suggestions would be greatly appreciated - sensible ones!!!


scooby snax

richs2891

I've had two Alfa's a 33 and a 145.
Enjoyed every minute of ownership - right up until I crashed my 145 !
Can honestly say they where not the most reliale of motors with lots of niggling little faults (they are Italian !)
33 had lots of little habits of when in wet weather and at night could roll up to traffic lights with a full tank of fuel and the gueage would drop to zero and then go to full after pulled away.
145 was a lot better apart its habit of occasionally deciding to drop the passenger window for no reason.
On the plus side wonderful cars to drive, engine note is good if get a boxer engine varient (not as deep as Scooby). Be careful with insurance as they can be expensive to insure.
No experience of the later models - I hope the reliability has impoved and the attitiude of the dealers

Richard

IWatkins

Good 33's are very difficult to find but there are a few more good 145's about.

33 16v with a nice exhaust sounds a lot better than the best Scooby you have ever heard. I know, I've had one

Cheers

Ian

Scuba

Talkin' of Alfa's...anyone seen that new GT alfa...looks very nice!

RichWalk

Lovely cars to look at & drive, build quality is still very suspect and depreciation very high. You can pick some real bargains esp at auctions.... 156 selaspeed 2yrs old for 6K ish.

scoobysnax69

Thanx 4 the replies guys. not as bad as i thought - have heard some mixed opinions about alfas! Test drove a 146 (1.8 t - spark) the other day. Very spritey ( well compared to a 1.4 340 anyway!), engine note not throaty enough for me though! What are these things like to mod, is there much on the market?

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Wouldnt touch an Alfa with a barge pole! Horrendous running costs and depreciation

IWatkins

Thing is, once you've owned an Alfa (especially an old one), no matter how much trouble it is, you never stop loving them as they have a soul. You can't say that about many cars.

Cheers

Ian (getting all misty-eyed over his old 33).

Bajie

I've got a 1991 Spider which isn't fast, doesn't give that good a ride but don't half make you feel good when you take her out on a sunny day.
All I've had to do is look after general wear and tear bits and bought all my bits on the internet.
I've had some fun in that car ....

Headlamp from Alfa Romeo circa £200
Alfa Spares on the web £50
Get all parts for servicing etc delivered next day too for low price and very good advice from the guys there too.

Buy an Alfa ... but make sure its an old one

carl

Alfa C8 Competizione looks good (but not in production, unfortunately). I guess you'll be steering clear of an SZ (another cool car).

If you can afford a 156 V6 I reckon that would be a winner. Before I bought the Scoob (bear in mind I knew less about cars then) my shortlist was:
Alfa 156 V6
Impreza
Volvo S40 T4 (I know, I know... )

ChrisB

My folks had an Alfasud when I was nipper.

What a beaut sound when Dad used to blip it going round a mult-storey car-park. Actually, Mum was worse than Dad for enjoying the noise

Chassis rusted through in the end

scoobysnax69

Looks like you've had some bargains on your parts! Got any web addresses to hand? Would be greatly appreciated!

dosenöffner

If depreciation is the major worry then buy one a couple years old surely? Let someone else take the hit.

I was currently thinking of getting a 1.8 or 2.0 156 as a run around. Worth while? Seen an X reg with history, 60,000 miles and full Momo leather interior (2.0) for £4,250. Seems a good deal.

C

I have a 156 as a company car.

I have had:

3 new bottom ends,
2 radiators,
3 sets of wheel bearings
Ecu caught fire
entire loom replaced
windows work erratically
Airbag went off with no warning
2 new air con systems
new clocks
new alarm
various soleniods have failed
3 seized brake calipers
snapped cam belt
head gasket gone

all in the space of 2 years - the warranty record on my car with the local Alfa garage has 'just' gone over the £30,000 mark.

I have about 9 or 10 months untill this pile of dogshyte goes back to the lease company & I for one would never even consider buying an Alfa Romeo because of it.

It's hardly a one off either - every single person who has an alfa 147 or 156 in our company has got a warranty bill of over £10k due to abysmal build quality.

One last thing I forgot to mention is the oil consumption. 1.5 litres per week, which I have complained about & is apparently "eithin manufacturers tolerances" lmfao

If you buy one it will probably be the biggest mistake you ever make

Brit_in_Japan

The quality of Alfa Romeos has improved over time, like all cars. They don't rot any more than any other car now, but people remember the bad old days when Italian cars were made with poor quality steel. For some reason people have forgotten that Japanese cars used to rot badly, but they don't forget Italian cars used to.

I've had a couple of Alfa's, a 3.0 V6 164 (MY1990), and a 145 Cloverleaf (MY1996). The 164 (MY1990) was quite costly to run, but it was a car which cost over £26k new and I picked it up for just over £4k with 70,000 miles on it. V6 sounded fantastic and the car had real class and character.

The 145 I had from new and kept it for 3 years. Apart from being returned to the dealer on a low loader within 24 hours of taking delivery it proved very reliable. Never needed anything other than standard maintenance. The only reason it was returned to the dealer on day 1 was because of some foreign object in the ignition barrel which meant the key wouldn't turn and wouldn't release either. I always enjoyed driving the 145, it was a hoot. The 2.0TS engine sounded great and the car was always begging to be bounced off the redline. It also has a quick steering rack IIRC, 2.1 turns lock-to-lock.

The worst thing I found about Alfa Romeo was the dealerships, and from surveys the last few years suggest they haven't really improved. I never even got a "sorry" about the 145 being returned within 24 hours. Build quality might not be up with the best of the Japanese brands (which doesn't include Subaru) but it seems no worse than most other makes nowadays.

The best thing is the depreciation (if you're buying second hand). You get a lot of fun for your money.

Edited after seeing the above post to say I could be wrong about quality

Bajie

scoobysnax69

Heres the link for EB Spares.
I find them really helpful and can source you OEM or other parts.
When I had a heater problem they actually saved me hundreds by not selling me a heater rad and suggesting somewhere to get the old rad re-conditioned [for £20 quid]

EB Spares

Totally amazed at the unreliability of the new Alfa's as listed above.
Especially after arguing long and hard with the missus when trying to get her a 147!

CrisPDuk

I used to work with a guy who owned two 33's, one them had absolutely NO paint on the underside whatsoever But my what a noise. The residuals on new ones are horrendous, which must make them worth a look second hand even if they do have a few niggles (but then so do X5s & Cayennes).
I used a couple as short term hire cars at the last place I worked, a 1.8 manual & later a 2.0 selespeed. As an ownership prospect, avoid selespeeds like the plague, they must smoke their way through a clutch faster than a scoob and it definitely can't change gear as smoothly as a human can, even if it is microseconds faster at it

C

I havent mentioned the fact that when my car is clean somehow who or whatever spayed my car in the factory must have used the 'painting by numbers' approach as every single panel is a different shade of silver...

We have to upgrade our AA company car policy for us Alfa drivers

Latest today, alarm appears to have another fault, wont turn itself off now

Mark Miwurdz

So true.

I had '76 Spyder in red and it was an absolute dog. Would I have another? Absolutely - I loved it to death.

Cheers
Kav

Muffleman

I had a Limited Edition Alfa 75 2.0TS, last of the RWD Alfa's. Came with Recaro's and a few other bits.

The car was released in 1990 and the 4-pot 2 litre was developing 150bhp - the 'new' 2004 Monduno still only produces 145ps.

It had the gearbox over the rear wheels, a near perfect 50:50 weight ratio, and a 0-60 of 8.2secs - hardly slow.

Yes, I STILL miss the thing

Everyone should own an Alfa once in their life. Yes there are a number of Alfa's out there that are clearly Friday afternoon cars, but every manufacturer has that problem.

Go into it with your eyes wide open and your fingers crossed

All the best

Matt

matlow

thread hijack, (only for a mo)

anyone have experience of the GTV spider? think they look great and prices seem very reasonable.......

very tempted

C

I give it a week before it starts costing you a fortune

Sorry, but 15 odd drivers in our company with the record we have with them I cant see any reason why anyone would even consider buying one....

messiah

2 of my mates had an Alfasud sprint veloce at the same time - lovely sound - esp. the 1500 with an ansa exhaust - great note to it.

unfortunately both rusted until there was only the engine left... pity, I'd love one as a do-er upper.

Bajie

Hmmm
I bought my Spider in Germany, ran it every day for six months or so drove it back to England worked in Holland for six months [left Spider at home, took scoob for some bahnstorming].
Came back to England, spent a bit of money on the Spider stiffened suspension new tyres new roof [mohair hood through EB with good advice] and mechanics who knew what they were doing
All the 'problems' I had with mine were wear and tear oriented.
I like the new spyder but there is no room behind the seats for drinks and sarnies!
And I 'personally' think the older one has more character. Get people old and young asking about her when she takes me for a spin ... shame it doesn't have that V6 though

ProperCharlie

is the 156 as unreliable as all the rest? quite fancy one of these when i next dip my toe in the second hand car market.

scoobysnax69

[QUOTE=Bajie]scoobysnax69

Heres the link for EB Spares.
I find them really helpful and can source you OEM or other parts.

Thanks for the link mate, much appreciated.

Totally amazed at the unreliability of the new Alfa's as listed above.
Especially after arguing long and hard with the missus when trying to get her a 147!

I know, i was confused before, now i dont have a feckin clue!!!

Scoobysnax69

MooseRacer

My brother has a 3.0 spider - fanbluddytastic engine, seems well enough put together - he's had no problems in 2 years of ownership. More of a cruiser than a sports car, but very nice all the same.

Ralf

Avoid the Alfa Romeo badged FIATs. An Alfa is something different and will be repositioned to where it was together with Ferrari and Maserati.

The older the cars the more soul they have. A rwd Alfa is unbeatable. Couldn't scrap my Giulia when she failed TÜV as she'd provided me with more fun than my previous 3 BMWs (323i (E21), 323i (E21), 323i (E30) M-suspension) together!