Alfa in the Garage

wonder_lander · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:09

Had the car since Dec 06 when I got it with 17k miles on the clock (2006 1.9JTDm).

Today I dropped it off for it's 36k mile service, got a 159 for the day which isn't too bad although the 2.2 litre engine isn't the most powerful!

In my time of having the car the following has gone wrong and caused me to be stranded :

March 31st 2007 - Inside tyre wall let go! - Cost 2 new tyres £270 (ish)

Cost of servicing:
March 2007 - 24k Service £344
August 2007 - 36k Service £320

Warranty issues:
Bootlight not working - Replaced boot catch in March service
Gear selection stiff for 6th gear - Linkage adjusted March service
Squeaky seat - April Service (Awaiting response)
Drivers Door creak when opening - April Service (Suspected replacement door strap)

All in all the car has been what I would definitely class as reliable and soaks up the 100 miles per day that I put onto it!

Just thought I'd post my experiences as people are all too keen to jump on the alfas are made of swiss cheese bandwagon!

ineed2upgrade · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:39

i have an alfa 156,most unreliable car i have ever owned and would never have another one.would have cost me about £3k in the last 2 years if i wasnt an ex mechanic.faults galore,usually electrical but it also eats wishbones and most other suspension parts and has probably the worse fuel economy of any car with the same power.
put it this way im looking for an E36 M3 EVO and its likely to be cheaper to run and have better fuel economy that my 156.bound to be better built for sure

wonder_lander · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:49

ineed2upgrade said:
i have an alfa 156,most unreliable car i have ever owned and would never have another one.would have cost me about £3k in the last 2 years if i wasnt an ex mechanic.faults galore,usually electrical but it also eats wishbones and most other suspension parts and has probably the worse fuel economy of any car with the same power.
put it this way im looking for an E36 M3 EVO and its likely to be cheaper to run and have better fuel economy that my 156.bound to be better built for sure

Can you give a bit of background about the car and it's faults to put some meat on the bones?

Bill101 · 21 Aug 2007 at 14:06

My brother's 1.9 GT has gone in today as it's belching out black smoke evey time it goes over 2000RPM, it's less than 3 years old as well.

CryptKeeper · 21 Aug 2007 at 16:17

I've always loved the look and feel of the Alfa, but refused to get one simply for the reliability issues. Though, looking at the Alfa 149 concept art, I don't think I can hold off any longer, I simply must have that car (18 months till release though!)

ineed2upgrade · 21 Aug 2007 at 16:41

wonder_lander said:
Can you give a bit of background about the car and it's faults to put some meat on the bones?

well ive had to replace:

the fly byw wire throttle system twice
both front wishbones
anti roll bar
drop links twice
upper wishbones
steering rack(major pain on a v6)
battery
engine mount
2 hoses
afm x2 and needs another one grrr
gear knob fell off
dodgy electric windows
wheel bearing humming
needs new top mount
needs new dampers soon
fuse box cover falls off(on every 156!!!)
eats bulbs big style

i have replaced all the bulbs several times and they still keep going after about 6 months.have checked usualy voltage checks/alternator ect.
car is an electricians nightmare.
its only a 2000x so not a major old car.

cam belt will be due on mine in about 8k miles and no way im spending any more on it as its not worth it with second hand prices on them,just trade it in and get a proper car thats not italian

Third Opinion · 21 Aug 2007 at 17:43

I have had loads of Alfa's and the only dud I had was a 156 Twin spark. The car was reliable enough until the engine went poop one day. Turned out the previous owner had missed the cam belt service and the belt had failed. Although he had the head done the bottom ends often self destruct shortly after.

2k later it was back on the road but I lost all faith in it.

Other than that it seems to be niggles most of the time. I have just bought a 2002 156 Sportwagon and the quality feels surprisingly better than my old X reg 156.

NickXX · 21 Aug 2007 at 17:53

The servicing on your Alfa has cost more than it has on my BMW over a greater mileage. My BMW has also had less issues with it in that time.

Maybe nothing special about that in it's own right, but the car is now over 4 years old, covered 122,000 miles and has been tracked various times since I've had it.

Firestar_3x · 21 Aug 2007 at 17:57

Seems to cost a fair wack per service :eek:

wonder_lander · 21 Aug 2007 at 18:20

Due to the reduced numebr of Alfa dealers if you want to get it serviced at a dealer it will cost a reasonalble amount!

I'm also not making out that it's a perfect car but wanted to let people know my experiences.

Anyway todays warranty issues turned out to be a new door strap, some grease for the seat mechanism and they replaced the nearside front inidcator as it was as the lense reflector wasn't as orange as the other side!

People should make their own minds up about cars, I just wanted to give my experience so people could take this onboard if they where considering buying one!

I think I have a pretty special looking car and I can afford the costs so for me it suits, your experiences may vary!

MarkDavis · 21 Aug 2007 at 19:44

Sister's 2001 Alfa 147:-

1. Cambelt snapped necessitating an engine rebuild. £megabucks (Alfa paid half the cost as a goodwill gesture)
2. Creaking clutch pedal. Master cylinder replaced. £300
3. Rattle from both front door looking mechanism. Bolts tightened. £40.
4. Weird ringing sound from CD/stereo. Connections checked. £40.

72,000 mile service - £550 (cambelt + £80 plugs)

It depends on what you mean by "reliable". If they means never leaving you stranded at the side of the road, well, I don't there much better than Citroen, Peugeots and those sort of cars. They're lightyears behind Honda/Mazda etc.

I did a car swap with my sister for my Beemer 3 for a few weeks :eek:

The main downer with Alfas is the cost of maintenance. The parts simply aren't engineered to last in the same way that Honda bits go on to 100K before needing replacing, so you're always having to fork out wonga for a new crank sensor / cambelt / variator / tensioner / water pump / MAF / clutch / master cylinder / trailing arms / bushes / drop links / ARBs / cables fraying etc etc + labour costs etc etc Alfa just seemed to have used too many s*** quality parts for far too long.

The car looks great - inside and out - and is good to drive, but one thing that I don't like about it are the TwinSpark engines. It's nothing that I can particularly put my finger on but I have a nasty feeling that it's not an engine that is built to last. They guzzle oil like you won't believe and it only takes one previous owner who didn't top it up the oil every few weeks for the engine's life to be cut short. The engine on my sister's car sounds slightly piston slappy which doesn't bode well for the future.

If Alfa could fit some more high tech engines to them and get some Japanese blokes to re-engineer the components to last more than 500 miles, I'd consider buying one.

FISHGUTS · 21 Aug 2007 at 20:52

I Had a 1.8TS 156 for 5 years with no problems.
Then got a 156 1.9 jtd mjet(140), had that for around 8 months with no problems.
I've had my 156 2.4 jtd mjet for 2 years now with no problems.
My cousin has had a 156 2.0 jts for around 4 years with no problems.