Thoughts on buying Alfa Romeo (159): Dumb Idea?

Transportation, Travel and Trips
41
It would be interesting to discuss this with a former Alfasud owner.

42
LOL, you can find negative reports about every single car ever manufactured if you look for them, but that doesn't make them automatically statistically relevant.

Search for VW Diesel engine problems and you will find countless posts about them...

43
My father owned a 33 in the 90s, several of my friends own Alfa. No problems at all.

Today's Alfa are as reliable as other european brands. Alfas from the 80s, just turned into rust and disappeared slowly from the planet Earth

Regarding automatic vs manual: I've tried a sequential one, 156 selespeed and i was amazed by the quality of the thing, it changes gears quickly, much better than a conventional automatic gearbox. If you find a selespeed, go for it.

A comment about Lancia: they used to be great cars, they were killed by bloody Marchionne....putting a Lancia badge onto eye-sore Chryslers was the coup de grace He should be tried at The Hague for the 2012 Lancia Flavia!

44
The corrosion problems were specifically bad for cars from the Fiat conglomerate. The reason was poor quality steel from the Soviet Union that Fiat got in exchange for building the Lada factory in Togilatti (which is named after an Italian communist) and licensing the Fiat 124 to the Soviets.

45
What is there to be discussed? It was a crappy car built in the poor south (hence the name sud) in cooperation with a company that had nothing to do with cars (Finmeccanica). Search other alfa cars that got into history and you can see on the streets today...

PS, I have my eye on a 2.0 veloce from 79

So when statistics are not in your favour than they are not relevant?

VW is the number 2 producer (by number of vehicles) in the world after Toyota, so for sure you will encounter problem with their cars just like any other. Thing is, with so many happy customers their stats are far more favorable than Alfa and that's why number 1 sold car in CH is a Golf.

Go on autoscout and search for 5-10 year old beemers and mercs with 200-300k km on them and check the price. It is the same or MORE expensive than a 50k km 3 year old alfa. There is a reason for that.

You haven't posted any evidence to back your stories...I gave you at least 2 independent sources to back up my opinion:

-car reports web sites

-used market prices and price trends per km/age

When you will give me something more concrete other than "your opinion is false and I am right" stuff?

46
Actually the Delta, especially the Delta Integrale Turbo (which is a classic and collectable) are Ok.

What I'm talking about are these abortions of nature:

Who pays for that shit? what kind of psychology is that?

Two-colour painted cars show a lack of design ideas: end of the road

47
Fully agree, thats why I wrote RIP to the end of Lancia and their most celebrated car in my lifetime.

48
Ok so here is my experience. I had (and still have) 2 Alfas.

One was the first serie of 145 with boxer engine, which I loved for the sound. Equipped with LPG I sold after it with 180000 km and still running. Now I have a 147 1.6 TS again with LPG and it has 150000 km and the only problem in 5 years has been the electrical engine of the right door window which broke, but no mechanical failures whatsoever.

My father just blew the turbine of his Toyota Rav4 turbodiesel: 3100€ repairs.

159 has great suspensions: quadrilatero alto (don't know in english) in the front and multilink in the back. Engines: petrol derive from Opel (back from the times when Fiat was in bed with GM) with Alfa reworking of the heads, diesels are Fiat (among the best in my opinion).

49
Is your LPG factory fitted or you did it yourself?

If you did it yourself, can you elaborate how you did it (in Switzerland that is)?

50
I've got an Alfa. I was at the scrapyard and I asked the oily rag if I could have a new water pump for my 156. Cheeky git told me it was a fair swap.

I'm only teasing...

Poor Alfa reliability is no longer true. I hear that 99.55% of all Alfas built are still on the road.

The other 0.45% made it home...

51
It's an aftermarket. I think the first factory fitted LPG in the history of Alfa is the Mito (1.4 turbo 120 PS)

I did it in Italy, actually I bought it second hand already fitted.

But since LPG is not very common in CH and I use public transportation, I'm going to sell the car in Italy, because it still has Italian plates.

My LPG system is a Landi Renzo:

http://www.landirenzo.it/

Zero problems so far and performs like petrol at nearly half the cost per liter.

In Italy it works like this: go to a LPG systems installer, have it fitted, then the car goes into an inspection by a state employee, if everything in order you receive a modification of the documentation of the car that states the new possible fuel for the car, brand and date of the LPG modification. After 10 years the tank needs to be replaced. Have no idea how it works here in CH.

52
In Switzerland it doesn't seem possible to have after market LPG fitted only if it's done like that at the factory.

LPG is good actually, very economical, REALLY green (not like the Prius green) and it's safer than petrol.

53
1n 1984 I bought a 1983 GTV6 with 10,000 miles from new, both heard gaskets were replaced at 10,300 ! The depreciation was incredible, I replaced it with a Porsche 911 Lux & never looked back.

54
I think it can be done, at least in Ticino

http://ricca.ch/category/impianti-a-gpl-e-gas-metano/

LPG is greener than petrol and diesel, but the greenest fuel is natural gas.

55
If you judge an Alfa by the buttons on the GPS...than yes look elsewhere, and the dog... you could mount the box on the roof no?!

56
No. (message too short

57
Test drove a 159 wagon yesterday. 2.4 jtm oil burner. Great to drive, tons of grunt matched to a good auto box. Couldn't flog it too hard but the handling felt good. Brakes maybe could have done with more feel and stopping power.

If you get a nice example at the right price they are tempting I reckon.

58
Italian cars do have a different character to them. They are brilliant value if you watch the depreciation curve, and buy one that fits in with your expertise. I bought a clean by Swiss standards Fiat for 300chf, that had a few small problems I DIY fixed, and it provided 3 years of reliable use. I see Alfa's at giveaway prices too, and know that they could be absolute bargains for the right owner. Swiss Alfa garages often sell and service Ferraris and Mazzerati's, so the service standards are higher. So look for a Swiss car with Swiss history.

59
I had an Alfasud Sprint back in the 80s when I was student. I got it really cheap with one year on the MoT (that's the UK MFK, but not so strict) and not much chance of getting another without boatloads of cash. Great car: lovely flat four engine, really fast and nimble. It had an odd driving position, but you got used to it. (What the hell, so do Ferraris). It was a rust bucket, though - that's ok it lasted for the year.

I'm not helping at all, am I?

60
Alfasud was light years ahead of its time designed by an Austrian. Front wheel drive, discs all road, hatch, twin cam boxer engine. Great car, spoilt by the do-gooders who decided to build it in southern Italy.