# Alfa Romeo



## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

I was looking at one of these yesterday. Anyone have any experience of these ?


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## Guest (Aug 27, 2003)

I have friends with both 156's and 166's. They are a good car. Reliability can be an issue, especially ECU problems on the 2.0 Tspark unit. The 2.4JTD is a nice torquey diesel and the V6 is a beast. They do make great second hand bargains. My mate with the 156 V6 had a problem with the diff, because of all that power and front drive it tourqe steered like a bitch anyway, so when the diff packed up you couldnt give it any throttle in first or second. Perhaps thats just because he's more of an "on/off" driver and he is hard on cars. Personally i like old bimmers because they can be had very cheaply, go on forever, rear wheel drive handling and the straight 6's are turbine smooth. At the moment ive got a Focus company car but if i lost it and had about a couple of K to spend i would nip on autotrader and find a nice e30 325


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

Sounds like I should keep the BMW then.


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## Andy (Feb 23, 2003)

Roy said:


> Sounds like I should keep the BMW then.


 Sound like a VERY sound idea to me.


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## steveP (May 23, 2003)

Roy, I've got a company 156 JTD veloce and I think it's pretty good. The only downsides for me are the hard ride quality from the sports suspension and the Alfa Romeo service network which is not upto standard IMO. Overall the 156 represents good value for money. The picture is the non-veloce version and should ride alot better. Cool wheels btw


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

Thank you,


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## Guest (Aug 27, 2003)

Just out of interest Roy, which BMW do you own? What are your thoughts on it? I had a '97 328 as a company car and loved every minute of it. Till they made cuts and i got stuck with a Ford! At least i get to work mostly at home now


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## Andy (Feb 23, 2003)

I do seem to remember that he's only just bought it.

Talk about high turnaround









You must be doing alright Roy, buying these flash motors


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

Its 316 before that I had a 520 but the wife said it was too big for her, like a lot of things these days.


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

My mum hated it when my dad had a BM. She's 5ft tall.

If your wife didn't like the 5 Series Roy, what would she have said if you'd done a Mr Dowling Snr, & come home with a 20ish ft 730?


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

She'd have killed me.


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## steveP (May 23, 2003)

Roy, do my eyes deceive me or is it left hand drive


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

That is not the actual one , it is the only picture I could find. The one I was looking at was right hand drive.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Roy,

Our area manager's got one. It goes like stink but has not been too reliable.

Stick with the BMW, IHHO.

Stan


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

My brother had one. He loved it, but then again he didn't pay for maintainance. Buy a Merc, or keep your BM


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## ericp (Feb 23, 2003)

With my sensisble head on....

I would say that it depends on how you intend to use the vehicle.....

If you want something to "play in" then go ahead..

If you want reliable, day to day, all hours, all weather, get me from A - B motoring there are many other cars that will do the job a whole heap better.

Mrs. Eric loves her Merc. I offered to get her a Jaguar XKR but she turned it down...Speaks volumes to me about the Mercedes....As for the XKR I bought one anyway, and my Stepson uses it.


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## Andy (Feb 23, 2003)

I can bite my tongue no longer on this.

I know a guy who worked for a local dealer when they were an Alfa main agent. Believe me reliability is an issue with these, BIG TIME.

Apparently the staff at said dealers all breathed a huge sigh of releief when they lost the Alfa franchise.


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Agree with Andy

Heard lots of stories about Alfas.

Whilst on the subject of 'defects', how's your BM in bad weather Roy?

My dad loved aforemention 730 until driving home in a blizzard. He's driven HGVs & fire engines, & said they handled better.

He sold the car the next day


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

I cried by the way, as I loved them at the time, but I wasn't driving it.

After other folks changing, I as an observer, favour Mercs now. Be nice if I could sit in the things, let alone drive them.


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

Keeping the BM for now.

The 520 I had was appalling in snow & ice. I have not driven the 316 in snow or ice yet.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

The Skoda Estelle with real wheel drive and snow chains was awesome


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