Thinking of changing my MG for an Alfa Romeo 147

its amazing how new/modern cars can be made so badly. id get a focus, youll appreciate the sanity after having your rover 25. first youll have to find another raving loonatic to buy the rover!
 
It's a heart vs head matter. Head tells me something reliable and sensible like a Golf/Focus - but my heart would yearn for something more exciting with more charisma.
 
Sorry I meant it in a way so that I was putting myself in his shoes :)

Yup the MX5 does have it by the spade load - especially viagra'ed as it is :D I wish I was a bit smaller though, it is a little cramped in there - still fun though :D
 
I must be lucky then as my car is pretty identical to yours (mg zr 120+) but not as many miles (yet). I got the car on 12,000 miles and its now done 34,000 miles. What mileage did yours start going down the toilet rapidly? :D

Total expenses in 24,000 miles

mid+ back box of the exhaust £140
steering part £10

the end.

Hope the worst isn't the come! I agree about the build quality..when i use my electric windows the plastic around it falls off etc :) outta curiousity yknow you said you had a leak? where does it gather? i used to get a puddle in the rear drivers side foot bit, don't suppose yours ends up there too? Never care these days as its garaged anyway so rain never gets near it often.
 
Yeah - exactly the same (ZR 120+). What age is your car?

My list of costs and faults:


Costs so far (excluding insurance, fuel, tax and depreciation):

- 60k service last year (with new discs and pads, including MOT) £750
- 2 new tyres last year £200
- New exhaust (mid and rear) £250
- New fuel filter with diagnostics (running poorly) £120
- New headgasket and cambelt £800
- Another two new tyres £200
- 75k service (with new discs and pads and a new passenger headlight) £950
- MOT £50
- New windscreen wipers and headlight bulbs: £30

Total £3,350

Faults:

- Boot doesn't shut properly - fixed by removing and regreasing mechanism
- Rear and front washer jets not working - both fixed in the 75k service
- Glovebox has fallen off (not fixed yet)
- Sunroof leaks (not fixed yet)
- Trim has fallen off the door handles on the front doors (not yet replaced)
- Badges have delaminated
- Still uses coolant and can't find out why


A lot of the expensive is down to me being a bit of an idiot and taking it to a main dealer but it's still expensive. I've probably done about 20k in the car - it was fine really up until about 45-50k really - the service was expensive before but could have been cheaper

The sunroof leaks in the right hand corner nearest the windscreen. It's only really been bad once (dripping on me) in the pouring rain. I've had a look around to see if the drainage holes have become blocked.

The thing is I'm kind of hoping that the worst has come and gone so it should be cheap from now on to keep on the road. I love driving the car though!
 
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would be interesting to see how the your rover is doing 10 years in the future when its got 170k on the clock. there many high mile ones on the rover boards?
 
Yeah it would be. There aren't many that come to mind on the Rover board though

Loads of 75s doing that mileage (particuarly the earlier ones before "Project Drive" under the Phoenix Four) though but that was a superb, well engineered car so you'd expect it. Dad had a 2001 75 V6 for 5 years and about 70k miles from new (company car) without a single problem. He's currently got a 2004 facelift 75 diesel estate. Bought 1 year old with 5k miles - now on about 20k without a problem
 
Matmulder said:
Another problem with Alfa's is that parts availability is crap. Can take a while to get hold of bits that aren't commonly replaced. I've been waiting on a new engine for 5months, in the end I went to Autodelta to get one.

But there are other cases - like the bloke who's after a gearbox casing, been waiting 3 months and still not resolved. They have given him a new Alfa Spider as a courtesy, but still doesn't solve the problem.

At least the dealers and reliability are on the up though.
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My dad can usually get bits same day for his 156. It's fiat's parts system, order before 5pm and it arrives before 10pm, ready to fit the next morning.
 
OT slightly, how tall are you AJ? Ive heard that the R200/ZR etc can be a bit of a squeeze if your fairly tall/large.

Considering something :)
 
I'm about 6 foot 2

Plenty of room in the front really - the seat's a little high but I find it OK. There's not much room for me in the back though!
 
ajgoodfellow said:
Yeah it would be. There aren't many that come to mind on the Rover board though

Loads of 75s doing that mileage (particuarly the earlier ones before "Project Drive" under the Phoenix Four) though but that was a superb, well engineered car so you'd expect it. Dad had a 2001 75 V6 for 5 years and about 70k miles from new (company car) without a single problem. He's currently got a 2004 facelift 75 diesel estate. Bought 1 year old with 5k miles - now on about 20k without a problem
Click to expand...

Aye, those 75s had the BMW engineering.
 
I'm 6ft 8 and can fit in the mg zr pretty comfortable now i've got a hacksaw out on the seat! :D

Oh wow what a list of problems! Mine is an 51 plate bit 02 reg'd so one of the first i guess. I'm only on 34k but ive had it 2 years and its been soooo trouble free for me, its been a good thing really as its got me through a stop-gap where i was quite skint and couldn't have kept my old car (gen6 celica which i miss soooooooooo much) on the road.

As i've said before on the forums its got magical disappearing finance from a previous owner but because it was HPI checked they can't take it but its still illegal for me to sell it but they won't be reasonable about negotiating something so my plan is to keep it until something goes wrong like the head gasket and if i know other things like brake pads / discs are coming up i'll just think ****** it and get a ATR/CTR.

Thanks for the insight into the mileage that it may/may not go down the toilet rapidly though! I must admit i drive this car extremely softly, rarely having much fun in it tbh. I'm the sorta person i'd like to buy a car off tbh so hopefully down the line that'll help with the repair bills (or fingers crossed, lack of them :D).

Anyway, sorry for going off topic. You should go honda next! just don't buy an ATR if the seller is called enfield :eek: the cars cursed!
 
May as well pimp some pics of my GT as there is some Alfa lovin in this thread!

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My previous car, 02 Passat was always in the garage. The Alfa hasn't skipped a beat and has only needed servicing and a couple of minor warranty items in the 10 months and 22k miles I've had it!
 
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