Alfa Romeo 156s-

M

Maverick1983

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Was looking at updating my car in the new yr, am currently driving 97 seat ibiza 1.4 was looking at the 01 156 tspark alfa romeo, lovely lookin car with lots of extras but unsure about reliabillty, heard BMW took over the compnay in 2000 or something and anythin after then is the best bet. Can any1 shed any light on this 4 me please???
 
I had a Alfa 147, bought new 2001, great car very reliable, until this year loads of things went wrong. Buy a newer one if you can.
 
Great value second hand, a guy in work here couldn't sell a 2.0 2001 156 with leather and works and low mileage for 9 grand.

Should bode well for buyers.

A guy in the last job had one loved it don't remeber him having major problems. Again he got a 99 2.0 with leather and the works.

Nice car, for that money should be worth a chance.
 
Great buy second hand cause the resale is rubbish..Any why is the re-sale rubbish ?????
 
look for one with low milage e.g. 36K or less and absolutely all service history.
Walk away from anything which isn't fully documented.
Too many Alfas around to need to take the first that comes your way.
Get an alfa specialist to green light the car before purchase.
This is absolutely the only way to avoid the majority of the problems that the car has.
An abused alfa with big miles will break your heart.
It is a bargain to be had if you take care but a money pit if you do not.
Don't pay too much because you won't get it back on resale.
 
Not sure about the 156, but the timing belt on the 147 needs to be replaced around 36k miles, so look into this. Check the electrics carefully (lots of great features, lots to go wrong). Fuel consumption is probably worse than average.

I have a 147 and I think it's a great car (so far!).
 
156's are great drivers cars, and depreciate like no other, apart from big French barges perhaps.

A good one will be a fine buy, and a bad one the worst buy imaginable.

Weed them out an find a minter. 1.6 doesn't go well enough, and will have been thrashed most likely.

1.8 and 2.0 are fine engines.

I'd buy one if it had:

1/. FSH by an Alfa dealer.
2/. Very low mileage.
3/. Silver or red paint.
4/. A "D" reg.
5/. Was 100% spotless. No dents, scratches, stone chips, and intact engine undertray (most get broken on lowered Sport models). Unkerbed alloys.
6/. Had leather and air (they all have ABS).
7/. 1 non smoking owner.

The thing is there are plenty of these cars around, so you can afford to be very choosy.

The Sportwagon's are nice too.

Happy hunting.
 
I had a 00 156 1.8 TS. Lovely car, comfortable, relatively powerful.

Watch out for service costs. 60k miles is a big service for the car, and if brought to an alfa dealer, u are looking at 1000 Euro. Spark plugs alone cost 300 euro through a main dealer.

I had mine for 2 years, no problems, and sold it with 80k on the clock inside 1 week of advertising it, but for a low price.
 
great car to drive admitedly but what about the Reliability ?
 
Not hectic unfortunately. There's massive differences between a good'un and a lemon too.
 
The company I work for used to allow the Sales people choose the 156 as a company car in 2000/2001. They all had major problems with them. It was so bad that Alfas have now been taken off the list of allowed company cars.
I woudl not recommend one. I drove a few & they are fun to drive & a good looking car, nice seats etc.
Still my opinion is stay away.
 
3-bed-semi said:
The company I work for used to allow the Sales people choose the 156 as a company car in 2000/2001. They all had major problems with them. It was so bad that Alfas have now been taken off the list of allowed company cars.
I woudl not recommend one. I drove a few & they are fun to drive & a good looking car, nice seats etc.
Still my opinion is stay away.
Click to expand...

Same with the co I work for.
 
Piece of junk. Made by fiat and have the same bad reliability.
I personally wouldn't buy one and would recommend that you steer clear.
 
Don't mind them Maverick 1983... I LOVE my Alfa, had no trouble at all with my 00 1.8 156 - or any of the previous Alfa's I've owned, (yes, honestly). They're a pile of fun. Great second hand value too, just make sure you:
1. follow RS2K's advice
2. that it's at least late 99 model
3. has had the TBelt changed already (between 50-50K)
4. has had no mods (spoilers etc added on...)

Engine wear can be a problem - they're oil thirsty - so a lease model with FSH might be a good idea.

Best of luck!
 
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