rmtypeR

A friend's just asked me what I thought of the above. He's looking to spend around £2000 and has seen one with 120,000miles. I'd didn't realise you could get them for that little.

Colinj

Hmmmmmmm think id avoid any alfa with that sort of mileage!

In saying that we have on sitting on the drive just now - R reg owned from new. Theres been a few issues - Front dampers needed replaced at 40k rear handles are prone to snapping, nothing major - Only got 45k on the clock right enough!!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Be prepared to top it up with oil, they drink it !

AudiLover

You reckon most alfa problems are just because they are high maintenace which the average owner doesnt know about?

I reckon with most cars these days if you look after them and maintain their liquids they should be very reliable.

Jamescsti

Avoid the Selespeed gearbox, I drove one for a number of months and it was prone to sticking in reverse, also slower to change gear than a manual

rmtypeR

Thanks for your opinions chaps.

The guy who asked me will shortly have 1 years no claims and is looking to move up from his 1.25 Fiesta zetec. I haven't had much to do with Alfa's but I know they are not famed for their reliablity! He's looking to spend a max of £2000 and wants a car that's good on the motorway - or one that's better than a fiesta anyway!

logiclee

I bought an ex-demo and ran it for two years.

Alfa 156 Selespeed Veloce.


First the good bits.
The drive, handling (Veloce spec) and engines are great, the interior and exterior styling still look good today.

Most twin sparks don't use oil, mine never used a drop in 24k miles but some do and some engines have gone due to low oil pressure.

The selespeed divides opinion, I thought it was great but others hate it. Top Gear magazine did a trial with readers and nearly all though they where changing gear faster than the selespeed but in fact even the fastest drivers took around 600milliseconds to change gear and the selespeed can do it in half that. It's all in the mind, when you change gear fast your mind is concentrating on doing something quickly. When you are in the selspeed you mind is waiting for the selespeed to change gear so it feels longer.

The bad bits.
Reliability and build isn't good, my engine and gearbox were fine but I had problems with suspension bushes and steering as well as minor trim issues. What compounds the problem are the dealers who are totaly crap. I tried three dealers and all were unable to sort the basic of problems. I even ended up changing the front wishbones myself as it was less hassle than getting the dealers to do it.

I enjoyed owning the 156 but I don't think I'd buy another.

Cheers
Lee

rmtypeR

Thanks Lee, I'll send him a link to this thread so he can have a read of it.

Chris L

That is an understatement. At my previous firm, we lost 6 156's in less than a year - all due to seized engines. Now you can argue that this was down to the (typical) company car owner doing bugger all to his car and the general lack of maintenance you have to do on a modern car, but we ran 100s of company cars and we didn't lose any other makes....

I really would be extremley careful with an Alfa and that kind of mileage - much as I love Alfas - I've never really considered owning one, which is a great shame, as they make great cars.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I can agree with what Audilover is saying but nowadays people arent used to checking under the bonnet very often, say if they came from a Mondeo to an Alfa they wouldnt expect the oil usage.