Hi guys,

I fancy buying a Tipov:idea: . I've currently got an Alfa 156 and my long term project car a Fiat Strada Abarth. I'm now thinking of shifting the 156 and buying a Tipo. The aim being to divert the money from the Alfa to return my Strada to tip top condition which will cost some serious wedge. I'm thinking a 5 door 1.6 or 2.0 would be ideal as a family car. What do people think and what should I look for?

Cheers
Trevor

no

dave said:

no

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That answered my question Dave! Took the Strada out for a blast on Sunday and just put a smile on my face and thought this could be even better with a bit time and money. I know it's totally insane and would never get the money back I put into it but all the same I can dream. Off course your right Dave, it'll never happen, her indoors wouldn't like it and the prospect of losing reliability and Aircon in our new hot world doesn't bare thinking about but I can still dream.

Personally, I would never sell an Alfa 156 to buy a Tipo, even though I own a Tipo and even though I' m very pleased of it. However, this doesn' t mean that I wouldn 't prefer to drive a modern car, it just means that among the cars of it's age the Tipo prooved to be a very balanced car.
In your case don' forget you 're thinking of buying a car whose production was terminated 12+ years ago at least. As a result, finding a well maintained car is very unprobable. Moreover, even if you find a Tipo well maintained, after so many years it' s almost certain that it will present some kind of problem very soon. Even though I have never driven an Alfa 156, I know that it' s a car with very good handling and probably much better that the Tipo's.
For me it 's a matter of priorities. Decide if you are willing to make some kind of setbacks in matters of quality, driving pleasure, securtiy, comfort, etc in order to realize your dream.

the 156 is a tipo.

Problem with Alfa 156's and 147's and iam an ex owner of a 156 is they are plagued with problems. My friend has a 2 year old 147 with 22000 miles and its just broken down for the 4th time this month. Its on its second engine and he is sick of it. He once had a Tipo, and never had a problem with it except rear near side door central locking failing [extremely common].

Andy.

Across models it seems to vary from car to car. My first Tipo (only a year old at the time - lovely metallic blue had dreadful electrics. E.g one day my passenger was winding their window down (electric). I pressed the up button on the drivers side and just that broke it ! The whole car was plagued, but the 5 door I have had for many years is much better built. My friend had a 5 door same year as mine but on his just about every interior trim seemed to have a squeak or a rattle. No wonder he got rid of it quickly !

Besbie said:

the 156 is a tipo.

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Last time I looked it had and Alfa badge on not a Fiat but that's what everyone said about the GTV too, ho hum same floor pan or something not alot else. Anyway, nothing wrong with that I think the Tipo was based on the Strada floorpan.

Sumplug, I obviously got a good one, touches lots of wood. Bought it ex-fleet car at 1 year old and had it for just over a year and haven't had anything fail other than a brake light bulb. I bought the diesel. The twinsparks do tend to fail alot due to cambelts and oil consumption issues where the owners run them dry, but I'm sure you already knew this. I bought the JTD but I'm definately not a diesel man.

4troxoi, I'm not too worried about the odd fault, I'd be pissed off if I bought a car and immediately needed to swap the box or engine out I'd be a bit miffed. The odd replacement part isn't an issue and have not problems doing my own servicing.

Trouble I have is I've plough 10s of thousands into new cars over the last few years and it just keeps going on. I could buy a car like a Tipo for £500 run it for a year and scrap it and pocket the equvilent of £3000-£4000 a year which is pretty much what I plough into a car each and every year then there's insurance, servicing and tyres etc. I could divert that money into some better like, saving it for retirement, mortgage/bigger house or a Strada

Noo The 156 isn't a Tipo.

The 155 and 146 are based on the Tipo floorpan, the 156/147 don't share any components. The only similarities are that they will have evolved from their previous model.

In reply to the original question - sell the 156 and buy a tipo? Yes and no.

Yes - Get a 1.9 TD SX or a 1.6ie/1.4ie (around £300-400) and you will save a bundle to put towards the Strada. Low to mid engined tipos are fantastically reliable.

No - Don't buy a 2.0 16v and expect to save any money over the Alfa. Sure you will free up whatever you get for the sale, but Sedicis need money spending on them, oil, fuel, wishbones... you'll not save any more after the sale.

Hellcat is right - 1.4 or1.6 is the way to go. The sedici is great( I own one)but is not a cheap car to run or maintain.

If you fancy it - do it!! you can always go back to another 156 or whatever.

You are right though about throughing money away by buying new/nearly new cars. Even if you purchase one 12/24 months old a year later its worth F...All compared to what you paid.

Hellcat, thanks for putting that straight on the 156/Tipo. Sounds like I should look for a 1.6, wouldn't the 1.4 be seriously underpowered? I do like the 156, it's definately the best all round car I've owned, with sporting pretentions, but practical too and fuel consumption is great. The other thing I need to consider is image; keeping up with the Jones's might look bad to sell a nice car and roll up in an old beast. I might bring the tone down a bit which isn't great where I live anyway.

As for depreciation I bought a Stilo Abarth and "lost" £10,000 in 3 years ouch. Mind have to laugh bloke at work bought a £38k BMW 5 series and 4 years later was offered £12k trade. That is pretty eye watering.

Hellcat how could you forget about the 1.7 d ?

Nowthen I would say this but the 1.9 td is faster than the 1.6. Once the Turbo kicks in all h** breaks loose. Speaking of BMWs I burned one off trying to overtake me in my TD once uphill, they to remonstrate with me to slow down. I'm sure it was an M3.....or was it a Compact 1.6

ive got a 1.9 td sx tipo, its quite quick, its a riot seeing it eat chavs in there novas and saxos. they handle a lot better with wider wheels on. Ive had about 110 (on a private road officer ) out of it and so far not any problems... apart from aquaplaning into the back of a citroen at slow speed but she'll be fixed soon. if you know of anyone with a left headlight/ sidelight for an L reg mk2 be much appreciated

I would always replace better car for worse if I needed the money for Ritmo/Strada Abarth restoration.Also I would rather drive Tipo than Alfa (any Alfa ).But don't listen to me, I would sell my parents if I needed money for Ritmo

Domo said:

I would sell my parents if I needed money for Ritmo

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:idea: where to? after seeing what alfacento is doing i'd be interested in doing the same with my tipo, but a 3.0 V6 is a bit weedy tbh. 7.0 V12 at least! preferably supercharged/turbo'd.......


if i was looking at downgrading to a tipo i'd go for a 1.6 or a diesel. i'm pleased with my 1.4 but it lacks a bit with a full car up hills, well and on flat too. depends what you would need to use it for really.

Hi pottleflump,

Interesting idea
Unlike Dave I shall give you a slightly longer answer...

Yes the Tipo is pretty economic to run and drives really well for its age. But - remember your Stilo? The Tipo is a FIAT, not an Alfa Romeo. I suggest an Alfa 164... bigger, probably more expensive to run, but a lovely drive and really cheap to buy. It was the first FIAT-ised Alfa Romeo, which paradoxically enough, endows the car with a little more solidity and reliability than say the 33 or Sprint (when reliability was important the Italians used lots of German parts: engine management, gearbox, steering, even the seats!)

Labour is expensive (some jobs on the V6 take a long time) but you can balance this against the price paid and the standard of maintenance the particular vehicle has enjoyed. One thing about buying expensive cars when old is that they tend to have been better looked-after than cheap cars when old...

Or, a similar car - the Lancia Thema. I loved mine. Again, cheap as chips to buy. The V6 lives forever (it's a PRV V6, so effectively you're buying something of a mix between a Renault 25 TXE and a Volvo 960). There's quite a lot in NZ, always one for sale on trademe.co.nz, not sure how many there are in the UK. Most of ours are the V6.

If you do buy a Tipo, then at least try to get one without a carburettor, OK? But I think it will be a little short on equipment compared with the other two cars I mentioned... for example, both my Thema and the 164 had climate-control aircon. You really do get a lot for around 500 pounds in your money...

You may also like to bear in mind that I am not completely talking out of my **** since I did own a 1989 Tipo DGT (from 2000 to 2002) and it was, well, OK. Nothing went wrong, though I did lavish some care on it changing belts, water pump, heater tap etc. But it was one of my least favourite cars to drive... and it seemed slower than my Uno 60, just very sluggish... They're popular cars and pretty solidly-built (and don't rust), but I reckon go a little more upmarket when buying an older car than what you have...

-Alex

Tipo Tipo Tipo.....you know you should,

All the good Alfa's have died and rotted away, New Alfa's SUCK!!
They are very addictive little cars and super reliable,
If you get one with 80-90k you will have to do the lambda sensor as they
usually are over due and cause mind bogling problems if they pack up,
In the last 4 yrs ive had maybe 6, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, and the best of them all is my little "George" hes a pre-cat model on an F-Plate, and been no bother, just moted it and all it needed was a hand brake cable and a bit of welding,
In my opinion (others WILL differ) get a pre-cat 1.4 or 1.6 cos when you hit the 2nd choke on the carb it goes!! And its eisier to maintain due to the fact of no fancy E.C.U's, sensors here there and everywhere....

Amen.. If you want fun, but without the costs of the Sedici get a pre-94 carb'd Tipo. We noticed the difference between our 1.4 carb and 1.4 i.e. The i.e. replacement was much slower than the carb.

sumplug said:

Problem with Alfa 156's and 147's and iam an ex owner of a 156 is they are plagued with problems.

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That's a sweeping statement Andy. I know many 147 and 156 owners that have had little or no trouble and are very happy with their cars. Early 156's had their problems, but Alfa ironed them out, the 147 is generally reliable.

As for the original question, no, you shouldn't sell the 156 and buy a Tipo. Even the newest Tipo is now an old car. Most will be rusting, most will be unreliable compared to a modern car, it will be slower, less comfortable, noisier, less able to complete a long drive, etc, etc, etc. I'm not being anti-Tipo, I'm simply stating fact. I have owned a few pre-1990 Fiats, but not without the back up of a modern car. Older cars are nice as a hobby, but if you and your family depend on it on a daily basis then you will be let down at some point.