- Joined
- 3 Jun 2005
- Posts
- 5,365
- Location
- West Sussex
Will said:I don't think that the £2.6k is just for the clutch Conanius,
I'm speaking from the experience of my dads old 146Ti which was flawlessly reliable and yet the 146 was generally considered to be much poorer in terms of build than the newer models such as the 156, and my uncles ancient J-reg 164 T-spark never broke down once until last year, having always been serviced at a specialists and having racked up about 220,000 miles!
I'll accept the latter as a rare case, sure, but the point I'm making the general consensus on reliability doesn't *always* match reality (our two VW Passats being a case in point - both owned from new, the first was so bad my dad threatened to sue VW for the cost of the car, the second that was given to us as a replacement was only marginally better). But ask about VWs here and you almost always get told they're bullet proof, quality German engineering..hmmm.
Yes the 164 had the older 8v Twin Spark which was rock solid compared to this 16v. The 16 valver is getting a bit long in the tooth now as well being it was designed in the late 80's early 90's, virtually a classic by todays standards. Still it's due to be replaced with the 160 BHP 1.9 JTS in the Alfa 159. I had an old 8v Alfa Romeo 75 Twin spark that easily made the 200K without any problems. Why oh why did Alfa replace the chains with belts?
As to the German quality I agree that can be a little eratic too. A girl at work who kind of sniggered when she heard my misfortune had her BMW 323 low loaded away this week. For the second time it has blown the head gasket and this time it is out of warranty. The AA told not to expect much change back from £1500.
Dam cars are getting expensive as technology gets better.
