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Jonathan
Guest
My dad is thinking of getting an alfa 156 2.5 v6, it has done 60k miles and is 3.5 years old. Any comments on reliability etc would be welcome, especially from people who have owned this or other alfas (Nige?!)
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Alfa 156
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Nigel
Guest
A number of questions spring to mind.
1. Is this the first Alfa he has had. The Alfa 156 gained an unfair reputation for customer satisafaction because a lot of people that bought one previously owned a BMW or Volvo and to be truthfull the build quality is not the same.
2. Are you prepared for the car to spend time at the garage? Most Alfa's enjoy a healthy relationship with the local dealers built up over the many hours they spend there.
3. Are you a driver? The Alfa is a drivers car and needs to be driven hard, not pootled about in.
4. Are you prepared to fork out cash at the most inconvenient times. The Alfa knows when it's the wifes birthday, Christmas etc and will require you to spend your money on it at that time, its a sort of jealousy thing!
Above all though the V6 156 is a cracking car and well worth the money second hand, but you need to remember that it not built like a BMW and will require repair, however nobody second glances a BMW but an Alfa turns heads, whatever one it is.
I had a 156 V6 24V SP3 with full body kit, lowered etc with a one off Momo embossed leather interior (most were Alfa embossed) and I drove it very hard for 60,000 miles. It never actually stranded me but it had its faults, especially electrical and I had a lot of parts replaced under warranty. Basically though the car was abused to the full and I loved every minute of it.
Servicing is relatively cheap (cheaper than my HGT!) but if it needs a part you may have to wait for it to arrive, which was something I found annoying. Front tyres get shredded quickly, especially on the SP3 beacuse of the lowered suspension.
If the clock was rolled back to the day I had to decide to buy it or not, the decision would be yes again without a doubt, I loved it, it is the best saloon Alfa ever.
If you buy one and don't like it, advertise it and it will sell very quickly as there is a demand for them and the second hand value is cheap becuase people are still afraid of them.
Should you wish to email me any direct questions or further advice on the 156 V6 please feel free, but if it hasn't got a CD changer I will feel the need to try to sell one to you as I have one sitting beside me!
All the best
Nige
1. Is this the first Alfa he has had. The Alfa 156 gained an unfair reputation for customer satisafaction because a lot of people that bought one previously owned a BMW or Volvo and to be truthfull the build quality is not the same.
2. Are you prepared for the car to spend time at the garage? Most Alfa's enjoy a healthy relationship with the local dealers built up over the many hours they spend there.
3. Are you a driver? The Alfa is a drivers car and needs to be driven hard, not pootled about in.
4. Are you prepared to fork out cash at the most inconvenient times. The Alfa knows when it's the wifes birthday, Christmas etc and will require you to spend your money on it at that time, its a sort of jealousy thing!
Above all though the V6 156 is a cracking car and well worth the money second hand, but you need to remember that it not built like a BMW and will require repair, however nobody second glances a BMW but an Alfa turns heads, whatever one it is.
I had a 156 V6 24V SP3 with full body kit, lowered etc with a one off Momo embossed leather interior (most were Alfa embossed) and I drove it very hard for 60,000 miles. It never actually stranded me but it had its faults, especially electrical and I had a lot of parts replaced under warranty. Basically though the car was abused to the full and I loved every minute of it.
Servicing is relatively cheap (cheaper than my HGT!) but if it needs a part you may have to wait for it to arrive, which was something I found annoying. Front tyres get shredded quickly, especially on the SP3 beacuse of the lowered suspension.
If the clock was rolled back to the day I had to decide to buy it or not, the decision would be yes again without a doubt, I loved it, it is the best saloon Alfa ever.
If you buy one and don't like it, advertise it and it will sell very quickly as there is a demand for them and the second hand value is cheap becuase people are still afraid of them.
Should you wish to email me any direct questions or further advice on the 156 V6 please feel free, but if it hasn't got a CD changer I will feel the need to try to sell one to you as I have one sitting beside me!
All the best
Nige
OP
OP
Jonathan
Guest
ok
My dad likes driving, he isnt an old gimmer, but at the same time he doesnt break the speed limit by too much. Your comments about reliability have woorried him a bit, if well maintained they cant be that unreliable? When u buy a car that is 3 years old, surely any major niggles will have been fixed?!
Are you sure you dont just attract bad cars nigel
We have had a test drive in the car and it was smooth, quiet and refined, with bags of power. Its in nightfire red and is in mint condition.
I hope he goes for it! Beats his renault laguna any day.
My dad likes driving, he isnt an old gimmer, but at the same time he doesnt break the speed limit by too much. Your comments about reliability have woorried him a bit, if well maintained they cant be that unreliable? When u buy a car that is 3 years old, surely any major niggles will have been fixed?!
Are you sure you dont just attract bad cars nigel
We have had a test drive in the car and it was smooth, quiet and refined, with bags of power. Its in nightfire red and is in mint condition. I hope he goes for it! Beats his renault laguna any day.
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Nigel
Guest
Reliability
I probably put the wrongly then. My 156 as were my friends (yes I have some) 156's although theirs were 2.0 Ts Sparks were are have been reliable. Mine never stranded me, I had an ECU dick about on me for a while which meant the car sometimes would start immediately but through shher persistance the bugger went in the end! Alfa replaced it and it was fine. The things that I meant were that if you had previously owned BMW's or Mercs etc the you would have been really annoyed at twisted trim, rattles parts that needed replacing etc. As an Alfa nut and having owned one before it really was a case of me shrugging my shoulders and chuckling at good old Alfa's.
If the car is mint and the right price go for it, he will love it.
And by the way... did I mention that I had a CD changer for it.... and Thule roof bar foot sets as well.
Cheers
I probably put the wrongly then. My 156 as were my friends (yes I have some) 156's although theirs were 2.0 Ts Sparks were are have been reliable. Mine never stranded me, I had an ECU dick about on me for a while which meant the car sometimes would start immediately but through shher persistance the bugger went in the end! Alfa replaced it and it was fine. The things that I meant were that if you had previously owned BMW's or Mercs etc the you would have been really annoyed at twisted trim, rattles parts that needed replacing etc. As an Alfa nut and having owned one before it really was a case of me shrugging my shoulders and chuckling at good old Alfa's.
If the car is mint and the right price go for it, he will love it.
And by the way... did I mention that I had a CD changer for it.... and Thule roof bar foot sets as well.
Cheers
OP
OP
Jonathan
Guest
cheers
The car he has seen doesnt have a cd changer, but the changer compatible tape player in it is a bit ugly too, so he would probably get a nice kenwood system.
I will let you know if he wants it if he gets this car tho.
The car he has seen doesnt have a cd changer, but the changer compatible tape player in it is a bit ugly too, so he would probably get a nice kenwood system.
I will let you know if he wants it if he gets this car tho.
OP
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Jonathan
Guest
wahey
Your somewhat bad review of the 156 obviously wasnt bad enough. He has bought a lovely 1999 2.5v6 with just 17k on the clock. Sports pack 3 too. I have a question, whats the highest insurance u have ever been quoted. At £4800 zurich were the cheapest for me to be insured on the 156! To top it off quoteline direct keep emailing me saying i have only 3 days left to take the cover at that bargain price! and they may be able to reduce it by upto 10% if i call them.
Your somewhat bad review of the 156 obviously wasnt bad enough. He has bought a lovely 1999 2.5v6 with just 17k on the clock. Sports pack 3 too. I have a question, whats the highest insurance u have ever been quoted. At £4800 zurich were the cheapest for me to be insured on the 156! To top it off quoteline direct keep emailing me saying i have only 3 days left to take the cover at that bargain price! and they may be able to reduce it by upto 10% if i call them.
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Nigel
Guest
Couple of things
1. I didn't give the car a bad review, I loved my 156, I told you what to expect in terms of faults. You may have bought an absolute minter, but you havent had it for two years yet, that was what I was preparing you for.
2. With 2 years NCB, 29 and living in the Midlands with the car on the road side I paid around £1200. After I had my NCB re-embursed back to 4 it went down to £742, both with Admiral. That was for a £24,000 Alfa 156 V6 SP3 with full body kit.
I tried the AROC insurance company and even with club membership they were more insurance.
As far a AROC membership is concerned, don't bother! As soon as I got rid of my collection of "old" Alfa's and bought a "new" one they were totally disinterested in you.
1. I didn't give the car a bad review, I loved my 156, I told you what to expect in terms of faults. You may have bought an absolute minter, but you havent had it for two years yet, that was what I was preparing you for.
2. With 2 years NCB, 29 and living in the Midlands with the car on the road side I paid around £1200. After I had my NCB re-embursed back to 4 it went down to £742, both with Admiral. That was for a £24,000 Alfa 156 V6 SP3 with full body kit.
I tried the AROC insurance company and even with club membership they were more insurance.
As far a AROC membership is concerned, don't bother! As soon as I got rid of my collection of "old" Alfa's and bought a "new" one they were totally disinterested in you.
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andys
Guest
156
Dont give a hoot about reliability. I work in the uk's best Fiat Dealership (97% customer satisfaction!) and a 156 rarely appears on the ramps. Only blight is the electics but this is quite rare. Make sure the car has had regular oil changes using quality oil and has been run on decent fuel, not crappy supermarket drivel. Interior rattles can occur but can be resolved easily enough.
The 156 is the worlds best looking 4dr saloon and nothing comes close in styling terms, possibly Lexus IS200/300 not far behind!
Buy one they are very special indeed...
Dont give a hoot about reliability. I work in the uk's best Fiat Dealership (97% customer satisfaction!) and a 156 rarely appears on the ramps. Only blight is the electics but this is quite rare. Make sure the car has had regular oil changes using quality oil and has been run on decent fuel, not crappy supermarket drivel. Interior rattles can occur but can be resolved easily enough.
The 156 is the worlds best looking 4dr saloon and nothing comes close in styling terms, possibly Lexus IS200/300 not far behind!
Buy one they are very special indeed...
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Dug
Guest
build quality
I was looking last week at 156's (for my brother). We were appalled by the build quality, it really put us off. Here's what we found:
- Oxidised paint in patches (can be expensive to fix)
- Corrosion around door mirror mounts and other trim items
- Poorly fitted bumpers, completely shite shutlines
- Rust along the top of the windscreen (I thought I'd time-travelled to 1975, but no: there really was rust forming! Unbelievable!).
None of the above were isolated incidents: all appeared on more than one car. We didn't look any further, because these complaints were enough to put us off.
Mind you, I discovered you can pick up a Jaguar XJ8 for 12k, that's seriously tempting, and rather better built.
I was looking last week at 156's (for my brother). We were appalled by the build quality, it really put us off. Here's what we found:
- Oxidised paint in patches (can be expensive to fix)
- Corrosion around door mirror mounts and other trim items
- Poorly fitted bumpers, completely shite shutlines
- Rust along the top of the windscreen (I thought I'd time-travelled to 1975, but no: there really was rust forming! Unbelievable!).
None of the above were isolated incidents: all appeared on more than one car. We didn't look any further, because these complaints were enough to put us off.
Mind you, I discovered you can pick up a Jaguar XJ8 for 12k, that's seriously tempting, and rather better built.
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Nigel
Guest
Jaguar v Alfa
Interesting comments and none too surprising. I had surface rust around the boot catch after 6 months on mine but it didn't get any worse, however I put that down to the extreme abuse mine received as I threw wet windsurfing gear in and out the boot (and interior!) on a regular basis.
I have recently seen XJ8 3.2 Sports for as little as £8,000 with 65,000 on the clock. I know this as I am in the process of finding myself a nice XJ-S Convertible, but they are rocking horse **** with the 6.0 V12 under £8k!
However what you must remember is that the running costs of the Alfa are very cheap, it is something that Alfa decided to do to increase sales. A Jaguar will be expensive to maintain. You are right about the build quality but don't forget the original purchase prices were twice that of the Alfa. You can also buy a BMW 740i on a P or R plat for £12k and they are built to perfection (whether you like them or not)but you would expect that from a £60k car!
I loved every minute of my Alfa 156 and would have another one, you just need to remember that it is an ALfa Romeo! The build quality on the Bravo is worse than the 156, but again there is a reflection oin the price there.
Cheers
Nige
Interesting comments and none too surprising. I had surface rust around the boot catch after 6 months on mine but it didn't get any worse, however I put that down to the extreme abuse mine received as I threw wet windsurfing gear in and out the boot (and interior!) on a regular basis.
I have recently seen XJ8 3.2 Sports for as little as £8,000 with 65,000 on the clock. I know this as I am in the process of finding myself a nice XJ-S Convertible, but they are rocking horse **** with the 6.0 V12 under £8k!
However what you must remember is that the running costs of the Alfa are very cheap, it is something that Alfa decided to do to increase sales. A Jaguar will be expensive to maintain. You are right about the build quality but don't forget the original purchase prices were twice that of the Alfa. You can also buy a BMW 740i on a P or R plat for £12k and they are built to perfection (whether you like them or not)but you would expect that from a £60k car!
I loved every minute of my Alfa 156 and would have another one, you just need to remember that it is an ALfa Romeo! The build quality on the Bravo is worse than the 156, but again there is a reflection oin the price there.
Cheers
Nige
OP
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Jonathan
Guest
rust?
Of alll the 156's we looked at, i never spotted any rust on any of them. I was actually quite impressed that many of the cars looked as good as the day they were made. One thing i did notice was that on every 156 there is overspray on the bumpers (like you would get from a cheap respray), and also the bonnet is too low by about 2mm on the passengers side where it meets the headlight.
Of alll the 156's we looked at, i never spotted any rust on any of them. I was actually quite impressed that many of the cars looked as good as the day they were made. One thing i did notice was that on every 156 there is overspray on the bumpers (like you would get from a cheap respray), and also the bonnet is too low by about 2mm on the passengers side where it meets the headlight.
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dom
Guest
nigel
have you any performance figures on the alfa, yes i finally got rid of that shitty hgt (only joking - i'm still toying with the idea of getting another one, but the miles i do make the servicing costs hard to wear!)i'm seriously thinking about a 156 or gtv if i can stretch to one, can't find any figures on them anywhere, i know the 2 litres had 150hp but that's about it, any advice would be welcome.
cheers, dom
have you any performance figures on the alfa, yes i finally got rid of that shitty hgt (only joking - i'm still toying with the idea of getting another one, but the miles i do make the servicing costs hard to wear!)i'm seriously thinking about a 156 or gtv if i can stretch to one, can't find any figures on them anywhere, i know the 2 litres had 150hp but that's about it, any advice would be welcome.
cheers, dom
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Nigel
Guest
Figures
The figures for the 156 were as follows
0-62 7.1 (With the air con ON unlike the Bravo HGT figures which conned me!)
Top Speed 142
Fuel Consumption Ave 22.5 (yeah right!)
If you want any more info let me know as I have the original brochure somewhere.
Nige
The figures for the 156 were as follows
0-62 7.1 (With the air con ON unlike the Bravo HGT figures which conned me!)
Top Speed 142
Fuel Consumption Ave 22.5 (yeah right!)
If you want any more info let me know as I have the original brochure somewhere.
Nige
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Mark156
Guest
156 airbag ECU
My local dealer says that I need a new ECU for my driver side airbag. The light came on a couple of weeks ago when I had a new battery fitted.
Is there any way of avoiding paying 270 quid for this? Are there unbranded ECUs that will do the job? Will a Fiat airbag ECU be cheaper and work just as well?
My local dealer says that I need a new ECU for my driver side airbag. The light came on a couple of weeks ago when I had a new battery fitted.
Is there any way of avoiding paying 270 quid for this? Are there unbranded ECUs that will do the job? Will a Fiat airbag ECU be cheaper and work just as well?