I need a cheap car and I've been offered an Alfa Romeo 156

[ScarySquirrel]

Hi all,

I've just moved back to the UK and I need a car for work. I'll only be using it to get to and from meetings mainly, so work will be paying 45p/mile so I'm not too fussed about how economical it is.

Ideally I'd just buy another Clio 182 (I owned one for a few years and loved it), but I can't find a suitable one (ie. I have high standards for them now and I really want a particular colour) and realistically I can't afford £2.5-3k up front at the moment due to saving for a wedding, and having just returned to the country (I still haven't even had my first pay since I got back).

So, someone I know has offered me a Alfa Romeo 156 V6 24V Veloce Q-System. She is selling it for £500, but she says it needs £300 spent replacing the airbag in order to pass MOT. She says:

the car is actually my Dad's, we've just got a new car and my Dad is having my old car so we are selling this one rather than mine. It's an Alfa Romeo 156 V6 24V Veloce Q-System. It has 67,000 miles on the clock, 4 doors, saloon, typtronic automatic gear box, 2.5L petrol engine, ABS, alloy wheels, CD player, central locking, electric mirrors, electric windows, power steering, airbags, child locks etc. If you send me your email address I've got a few more pics I can send which show the interior as well if you want? It's a 2002 model but it was a late registration in 2007 (basically it just wasn't sold until then as they had hundreds sitting on a lot) so it was effectively brand new then and as such has only had 7 years wear rather then 12 years. As you suspected they're not the cheapest cars to run given the size of the engine, and the tax is one the higher side because of the age of the car. Apart from that it's a lovely car to drive and it's a lot of car for the money. It's only had one previous owner before my Dad and has had all the appropriate services etc, although Dad can't find the book at the moment. My Dad is having mine because for the amount of miles he does (quite a few!) my old car is more economical but to be honest he's a bit gutted because he loves this car!

Here it is, I'm waiting for more pics to be sent:



So my questions are:

- Considering I don't care too much about running costs in terms of petrol, would I likely screwed with potential mechanical issues?

- What is the car actually like? I've never driven an Alfa. I know it's old but I kind of like the classic looks

- Performance wise it actually seems already so might be quite a fun drive

- Basically, what would you do? I WANT to spend about £3k on a car, but I don't NEED to, so would something like this be a good cheap alternative or would I simply end up sinking a **** ton of money into it to keep it running?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Bloody hell, I was really keen on it but just got a message saying it's sold

No idea what I should buy.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

The Alfa is gone now so doesn't matter too much any more.

I definitely want something a bit fun that doesn't look crap and boring. Something classic would be cool as well, although I'm probably not knowledgable enough to be able to keep something like that running.