General What to buy next

[FiatFamily]

I have had my Abarth for nearly 2 years and am currently looking at what to replace it with.

Apart from the usually annoying Stilo problems I have a good run from the Abarth and would be very happy with another one. However you only get one chance to change and I want to look at other options before finally deciding.

The list is down to 3 possibles.
1) Another Abarth with leather and selespeed
2) An Alfa 147 with with leather & selespeed
3) An Alfa 156 with cloth & manual gearbox (2 litre engine)

When I bought the current Abarth I drove the 147 and thought it was a bit slow compared to the Fiat. I know there has been a lot of discuss on the 147 so I don't want to restart it.

My question is does anyone have any experience of the Alfa 156. What are they like to drive. Do you have to keep the engine revs up (as on the 147) or does it have good power at low revs. What is the reliability like?

At this stage I have some holidays due next week and will spend some time test driving the 3 options. Any information before then would be a great help.

 

[sammiboo]

what about a nice fiat coupe 20vt

 

[wolfracepunto]

I havnt had any experience with the 156, but its a stunning car- one of the nicest looking cars on the road imo. Ive heard from various people that reliability is very bad unfortunately

 

[timr69]

I think the performance from the 2 Alfas will be disappointing after the Stilo.

Why not get another one but get the manual this time?
I've read sometests and they say that the performance is miles ahead of the Selespeed version.
It's also a lot cheaper.

 

[The Negotiator]

Just for the record the 156 2 litre's performance isn't far off the abarths according to statistics.

Timr69, if you go for the manual you suddenly lose all the toys (like connect +) as standard I believe, a big shame! (I could be wrong however but I think this is why it comes out far cheaper)

I expect the best thing to do is drive them all and see which is best rather than taking others word for it or statistics. Are you from Aus? If so, do Alfas have the same huge depreciation as they do here?

 

[Koa]

I think the performance from the 2 Alfas will be disappointing after the Stilo.

Why not get another one but get the manual this time?
I've read sometests and they say that the performance is miles ahead of the Selespeed version.
It's also a lot cheaper.

Performance is no different at all. If it was then i would have got the manual myself. In fact after driving the manual I was a bit let down by it. I found the selespeed to be far more fun, for some reason it reminds me of the older alfas. Quite hard to keep it still because of the lack of clutch but it just makes it more fun for me. Its an amazing car and you would not regret another purchase.

 

[Stu DemonD]

I bought mine purely coz of the selespeed box, and the associated toys on it. It just becomes so second nature, although I sometimes drive the Ulysse, and as I get to junctions, I forget to drop the clutch, lol.

 

[Bob in disguise]

My dad bought someone a 156 as a company car once and something went wrong with it every few weeks, put me of them for good.

 

[timr69]

I think you're right about the manual Abarth losing the toys but I reckon it's worth the price just to get the extra performance.
The magazine tests of the Selespeed say 0-60 in 8.4 and 124 flat out but the manual is 7.6 to 60 and 134 flat out. Dunno about in gear performance though.

Realistically how often do people use all the toys in their Abarth unless they use Satnav as part of travelling for their job?

 

[Stu DemonD]

But the Nav+ is such a big part of the car, imo. I even added it as an option in the Ulysse which I purchased new.

There are also other specs/options that the selespeed has, btw.

I don't know where you got those performance figures for Abarth from? It varies from 3 to 5 door, but no way is it 124 flat out, lol - I was under impression it was 137, and I have had it to 140 on the M6 toll. So that is just pants....The selespeed is still the choice one, imo.

 

[timr69]

The 124 comes from Autocar's road test.
Maybe they tested it uphill and into the wind.

Certainly the higher figure for the manual seems more realistic.

 

[Koa]

I think you're right about the manual Abarth losing the toys but I reckon it's worth the price just to get the extra performance.
The magazine tests of the Selespeed say 0-60 in 8.4 and 124 flat out but the manual is 7.6 to 60 and 134 flat out. Dunno about in gear performance though.

Realistically how often do people use all the toys in their Abarth unless they use Satnav as part of travelling for their job?

All the tests i have seen have given identical times for the manual and selespeed and that time of 7.6 is Fiats official time for the 3 door in some of their literature.. The only time its different is when its the 5 door selespeed because its marginally slower..
BTW that top speed at 124 ?
Did they have really short legs or something cuz they obviously couldn't have had the gas pedal floored ?

 

[The Negotiator]

The autocar test is really worth a read, if it is correct it's a a very striking peice in terms of what they say...
www.autocar.co.uk and go through to stilo abarth.

BTW: Fiat literature says:

ABARTH - ABARTH SELESPEED
Capacity: 2446 cc
Max power: 170 bhp (125 kW-EEC) @ 6000 rpm
Peak torque: 221 Nm-EEC (22.5 kgm) @ 3500 rpm
Top speed: 136 mph
Fuel consumption: 1999/100 EC Directive: mpg (l/100 km):
urban 20.9 (13.5) - extra-urban 37.2 (7.6) - combined 29.1 (9.7)
CO2 emissions (g/km): 231
2.4 20v

NB: they don't give out 0-60 figure on that brochure and for some reason they don't mention the manual.

 

[Koa]

But they are still quoting/comparing the figures to the 5 door abarth. When will people realize there's 2 different versions eh

 

[FiatFamily]

Thanks for all your comments.

There are only 2 models of Abarth available in New Zealand.
The manual comes with cloth seats and no Sat Nav only a Cd player.
The selespeed model comes with leather and all options (17" wheel, alarm, sat Nav + etc)


I don't yet know what the depreciation on either my Stilo will be or on an Alfa. I suspect that when I finally get a trade price I will be in a state of shock!!

I agree with the comment that after the Abarth I might find the Alfa a bit sluggish. That was certainly my feeling last time when I drove a 147 (which I had gone to buy) and the Abarth. Hence the current Abarth. Acording to the numbers I have read the 156 is closer to the Abarth performance 0-100kph in 8.2 seconds with the Abarth at 8.5 seconds.
If I went for the 156 I would lose all the toys and no leather, so I suspect that after all the looking and fun test driving the Abarth will probably win.

 

[pjp]

I think most peoples view of the Abarth Selespeed is totally misinformed. At the end of the day it is a manual sequential gearbox, with a computer and hydraulics controlling the gear shift and clutch - its not an automatic in the conventional sense.

So any idea that it is slower is totally ill founded - gear changes may be slower than a test driver totally abusing a manual box, but top speed should be no different. Despite the criticism I've seen of the gear changes being slow, I have to say they are pretty quick when you bury your foot on the floor and let it change up at the redline automatically.

The reality is that my Granny in a selespeed could get from 0-60 in sub 8 secs - consistently

Paul

 

[Koa]

I think most peoples view of the Abarth Selespeed is totally misinformed. At the end of the day it is a manual sequential gearbox, with a computer and hydraulics controlling the gear shift and clutch - its not an automatic in the conventional sense.

So any idea that it is slower is totally ill founded - gear changes may be slower than a test driver totally abusing a manual box, but top speed should be no different. Despite the criticism I've seen of the gear changes being slow, I have to say they are pretty quick when you bury your foot on the floor and let it change up at the redline automatically.

The reality is that my Granny in a selespeed could get from 0-60 in sub 8 secs - consistently

Paul

This is exactly what I and others have tried to tell people before Paul. But for some reason if its not written in Topgear or listed in another magazine they really won't listen. Ah well at least us in the know can enjoy what we have.. It would be nice to see some video footage of the selespeed 0-62 but for some reason i think even that would be worthless..
BTW mate, I am a little busy at the moment but i will get your pics updated o the site asap, and thanx for the link
As for what to buy next, all i can say is if I had £20,000 in my hand right now
I would choose the same car. There's nothin that can beat that feeling of being one of the few (in the UK at least).

 

[pjp]

This is exactly what I and others have tried to tell people before Paul. But for some reason if its not written in Topgear or listed in another magazine they really won't listen. Ah well at least us in the know can enjoy what we have.. It would be nice to see some video footage of the selespeed 0-62 but for some reason i think even that would be worthless..
BTW mate, I am a little busy at the moment but i will get your pics updated o the site asap, and thanx for the link
As for what to buy next, all i can say is if I had £20,000 in my hand right now
I would choose the same car. There's nothin that can beat that feeling of being one of the few (in the UK at least).

20 grand? I only paid 12.5K for mine - I suppose I could use the spare 7.5K for a supercharger conversion and insurance

Don't worry about the pics - I'm not short of web space so there's no hurry.
When I compare the old pics with the new I'm amazed how different the car looks with such a simple change!

Paul

 

[FiatFamily]

I agree that the selespeed is great especially when you push the car. The harder you accelerate the better it changes.
It's also great in heavy motorway traffic that is constantly slowing down and speeding up. As the traffic slows the selespeed changes down on it's own. Your always in the right gear when the traffic speeds up. When it does you just click the steering wheel control to change up. Almost hassle free motoring. I don't think I would want a Stilo without selespeed. It certainly is one of the reasons I am considering getting a second Abarth.

 

[Koa]

Yeah i only paid 13k for mine with all the options. I was just trying to point out how good the car is for the money as 20k really wouldn't get me anything I would like better than my Abarth
And yes mate, its made a lot of difference to your car Paul. Thats why im contemplating an upgrade to 18 or 19 inch alloys.