Theres also an article in Autocar pitting the GTA vs the EVO 7.
Anyone got any plans to swap to Alfa?
Personally much as I love driving Alfas the one I owned was so completely unreliable it put me off for life.

Havent read the Auto Express/ Autocar articles in detail but they were comparing the GTA as an EVO/Scoob alternative. I agree that they are really different types of motor.

Must say there is something special about Alfas which the jap cars don't have. Just dont know whether I would put my money in one again.

Wilf,

According to the Alfa bbs problems on the 156 and 147 tend to be rare, reliability and build quality are usually good, but if you do have problems the dealers tend to be unable to sort them out quickly, mainly due to the dealers incompetence or waiting for parts.

The 147 does still suffer from minor electrical clitches in the new connect sat-nav/radio/warning panel system and they will be fitting this in the new 156 (available shortly) including the 3.2V6 GTA.

Lee

Seen a few GTA's in the flesh now and they look good - from behind especially with that lovely square-ish rear valance.

The interior quality of Alfa's may have been a relevation 3 years ago but I don't really rate it that much now as the goalposts has moved so much. The GTA's seats are a bit overdone and I didn't think that they were as comfortable as the regular Momo leather seats when I sat in one for a few minutes at the Geneva Motorshow in March.

For some reason the GTA is way more expensive than the STi7 out here in Switzerland [CHF 66k versus CHF 52k] so I expect they will be quite a rare sight. Is the UK price differential like this?

I suppose it is naive to think that Alfa wouldn't plunder the GTA name sooner or later but at least they have turned out a fairly impressive car and not just 'done a FIAT' and stuck Abarth stickers everywhere.

I know two people with 156's and they are certain are full of character - if what you mean by character is armfulls of mechanical and electrical defects!

I love the looks of the 1960's 105-Series Guilia's (not just the GTA versions) and funnily enough, I saw a beautifully preserved silver 105 parked up next to a newish silver 156 the other day. Nice.

read this article today and the lurid headline on the front cover proclaims and i quote "IMPREZA BEATER: ALFA 156 BLOWS AWAY SUBARU & BMW" .
calculated to get you to buy the Magazine because performance wise it does not blow the impreza away at all at best it matches in gear acceleration 30 to 70 no great surprise there.
yet again the hoary old subject of cheap trim and styling mean it comes in second.
As 90 percent of subaru buyers care most about its a to b capabilities (as the article admits this is where it is untouchable) i wont be losing any sleep worrying ive got the wrong car.

....And the Evo tested was the the Auto version.

Wilf,

I swapped from a UK Scoob to an Alfa 156 selespeed!

Not as fast but handling is spot on for a FWD saloon, steering very fast and I don't want another manual again now that I've got used to the selspeed. The Alfa engines love to rev which is just as well as there was little torque below 3000rpm in both the 2.0TS and 2.5V6 I tried, from the write ups the 3.2 is the same.

Build quality is far better than I expected, everything feels solid nothing has broken or fallen off and there are no rattles. I once had a drive in a 146 and the build quality was crap, Alfa has come a long way but the dealers still need to pick up there act if they are truly to compete with Audi and BMW.

As an all out perfomance car alternative to the STi or EVO I don't think so, as an alternative to the BMW330 and AudiA4 3.0 maybe.

Lee


[Edited by logiclee - 4/10/2002 3:03:50 PM]