Hyundai coupe vs Alfa 156 (from bangeromics)

166man

new topic created, moved from bangeromics

RoverJames wrote: »

..... Theres always something better out there

Yeah , good point. A nice 156 could be had for half the asking of that Hyundai and be vastly superior in nearly every way..

CianRyan

Those cars are meant to be a fantastic drive, I wouldn't knock it.
I've always thought they looked well too.

166man

CianRyan wrote: »

Those cars are meant to be a fantastic drive, I wouldn't knock it.
I've always thought they looked well too.

Define fantastic?

With a Korean 1.6 I doubt there's much go in it, add in the cheap crappy interior (I would know I have been in one) and I'm just not a fan. I'd say their reliable enough though and if raw power isn't your forte than I'd say it does the job as a stylish reliable coupe.

CianRyan

There's more to the drive than just the engine, man. They're supposed to handle well, very chuckable.
I don't pay much attention to the materials the far end of my dash or of radio are made of once I'm driving tbh.
Pedals, wheel, gear stick and I'm happy.
The 2.7 V6 came with a nice interior anyway, I tend not to judge cars on Paddy Spec.

This looks awesome.

166man

CianRyan wrote: »

There's more to the drive than just the engine, man. They're supposed to handle well, very chuckable.
I don't pay much attention to the materials the far end of my dash or of radio are made of once I'm driving tbh.
Pedals, wheel, gear stick and I'm happy.
The 2.7 V6 came with a nice interior anyway, I tend not to judge cars on Paddy Spec.

This looks awesome.

When I said ''define fantastic'' what I meant was that I have never heard of them being good to drive, never heard they were poor but never fantastic. I'm a sucker for a nice interior as it's where I spend so much time.

Couldn't imagine getting the 2.7 though tbh, four figure road tax, low 20's mpg and feck all power. Front wheel drive as well.

That white one does look extremely tasty though, something Mitsu FTO about it...

CianRyan

It takes a lot of engine to get there buy its got more power than an EK4, BZR and the likes, which are all also FWD and great drivers cars.
If you spent the same time and money as most do on the above cars AND it looked like that, you'd have a really well sorted, rare and unique car.
Sure, throw in an SR20 and you'd be laughing.

I thought an S15/NSX love child.

JohnBoy26

166man wrote: »

Yeah , good point. A nice 156 could be had for half the asking of that Hyundai and be vastly superior in nearly every way..

Really? A 156 is better looking granted, but for build quality and reliability I think the Hyundai is comfortably superior.

bmwguy

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Really? A 156 is better looking granted, but for build quality and reliability I think the Hyundai is comfortably superior.

Agreed, I had a 156 and it was easily the worst built out of the 8 cars I have had, 3 BMWs, 1 Seat Toledo, 3 Peugeots. I did like it though, but it was flimsy. Its the reason theyre great value on 2nd hand market but they fall apart

166man

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Really? A 156 is better looking granted, but for build quality and reliability I think the Hyundai is comfortably superior.

Hence the nearly in my sentence, I think it's fairly obvious to all that the Hyundai would trump it on the reliability stakes. As for build quality, I'm sure the materials are better in an Alfa, Hyundai probably better screwed together though.

An Alfa 156/147 drives better, sounds better and looks better which are what I want in a car anyway. :D

bmwguy

bmwguy wrote: »

...............the reason theyre great value on 2nd hand market but they fall apart

At this stage most 156s are either [EMAIL="w@nked"]w@nked[/EMAIL] or in scrapyards, not many represent value.

166man

RoverJames wrote: »

At this stage most 156s are either [EMAIL="w@nked"]w@nked[/EMAIL] or in scrapyards, not many represent value.

Sad but true, sift through the crap ones though and you'll eventually find a good well minded one. There's so many wrecked one's out there its sad to see..:(

There was a seemingly nice 147 posted here a few days ago, asking €2000 for a 2001.

dgt

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Really? A 156 is better looking granted, but for build quality and reliability I think the Hyundai is comfortably superior.

Did you ever have a Hyundai or a 156?

People who want a no frills transportation device for a-b get a Hyundai
People who like driving get an Alfa

dgt

dgt wrote: »

...........People who like driving get an Alfa

Plenty of people buy Alfa based on the looks alone, for people who like driving there are many other options

dgt

RoverJames wrote: »

Plenty of people buy Alfa based on the looks alone, for people who like driving there are many other options

True there are other options... It is one such vehicle people will buy for a driving experience though :P

166man

RoverJames wrote: »

Plenty of people buy Alfa based on the looks alone, for people who like driving there are many other options

Not too many cars I reckon you could buy though for circa €1k though that look as good, go reasonably well, sound fantastic and have decent practicality. Off the top of my head I can't think of too many tbh.

Get a good one and its a serious amount of car for the money IMO of course.

166man

166man wrote: »

Not too many cars I reckon you could buy though for circa €1k though that look as good, go reasonably well, sound fantastic and have decent practicality. Off the top of my head I can't think of too many tbh.
.............

You won't find too many 156s fitting that description either.

Since when do they (apart from the V6s) sound fantastic?

Saab Ed

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Really? A 156 is better looking granted, but for build quality and reliability I think the Hyundai is comfortably superior.

Korean cars seem to be fine until aronud their 6/7 th birthday and then they just seem to press the self destruct button. They feel so old and tired so quickly. Knocking cams, crunchy gearboxes, lifting carpets, dicky sensors popping lights on the dash everywhere.

CianRyan

This having it's own thread is hilarious.

I got to drive 166man's 156 today and it really did feel sweet. The engine sounds great too, much better than mine anyway.

Just to go out and find a Hyundai to drive now.

Eoin

bmwguy wrote: »

Agreed, I had a 156 and it was easily the worst built out of the 8 cars I have had, 3 BMWs, 1 Seat Toledo, 3 Peugeots. I did like it though, but it was flimsy. Its the reason theyre great value on 2nd hand market but they fall apart

I've also owned 8 cars; three of which were BMWs, 2 of which were Alfas. One of them required a couple of minor fixes , the first one needed absolutely nothing but standard servicing in just over 2 years.

I think their build quality reputation is somewhat overstated - the reverse of the "bullet proof" Golf I had for a year, which was second only to an original mini in the amount of time it spent in the garage.

RoverJames wrote:

Since when do they (apart from the V6s) sound fantastic?

"Fantastic" might be pushing it, but even the 4 pots sound good when they're pushed. But I've a feeling there's little to be said that's going to change your mind.

dgt

CianRyan wrote: »

This having it's own thread is hilarious.

I got to drive 166man's 156 today and it really did feel sweet. The engine sounds great too, much better than mine anyway.

Just to go out and find a Hyundai to drive now.

Get testing his car in the corners?

bladespin

RoverJames wrote: »

You won't find too many 156s fitting that description either.

Since when do they (apart from the V6s) sound fantastic?

Even the diesel sounded good when you put the foot down.

CianRyan

dgt wrote: »

Get testing his car in the corners?

You did a wonderful job.

I'll let you tackle my CV joint next. :pac:

mooman

166man wrote: »

Sad but true, sift through the crap ones though and you'll eventually find a good well minded one. There's so many wrecked one's out there its sad to see..:(

If you're in the market for one I'm selling just the car for you my friend:)

166man

RoverJames wrote: »

You won't find too many 156s fitting that description either.

Since when do they (apart from the V6s) sound fantastic?

You'll find plenty like that one I posted in the bangernomics thread recently. 1.8 petrol, fresh NCT and black leather. Asking €1200 if I remember correctly.

As for the noise if you're trying to claim that a Korean 1.6 sounds better than a twinspark then I have no words really tbh.

CianRyan wrote: »

This having it's own thread is hilarious.

I got to drive 166man's 156 today and it really did feel sweet. The engine sounds great too, much better than mine anyway.

Just to go out and find a Hyundai to drive now.

She's a right yoke to go for a car with the smallest engine in the range..;)

Glad you liked it, I really enjoyed the 'Mera, surprisingly quick and I really liked the heavy steering...:D

dgt wrote: »

Get testing his car in the corners?

That is key....;) You'd feckin well know tearing around Navan...:pac:

bladespin wrote: »

Even the diesel sounded good when you put the foot down.

It does, I can vouch for that...:cool:

dgt

bladespin wrote: »

Even the diesel sounded good when you put the foot down.

I'll second that

This 156 sounds fantastic for a diesel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RziFoQeic0Y

RoverJames

RoverJames wrote: »

...............

Since when do they (apart from the V6s) sound fantastic?

166man wrote: »

You'll find plenty like that one I posted in the bangernomics thread recently. 1.8 petrol, fresh NCT and black leather. Asking €1200 if I remember correctly.

As for the noise if you're trying to claim that a Korean 1.6 sounds better than a twinspark then I have no words really tbh. ............

I'm not claiming that at all so you can hop down off that soapbox you're on and answer what I asked if you want


You'll find plenty yet eventually after sifting through the crap you'll find a well minded one, bit of a contradiction there Fred..........not to mention that anything in an add could well be a bucket when inspected.

................

RoverJames wrote: »

At this stage most 156s are either [EMAIL="w@nked"]w@nked[/EMAIL] or in scrapyards, not many represent value.

166man wrote: »

Sad but true, sift through the crap ones though and you'll eventually find a good well minded one. There's so many wrecked one's out there its sad to see..:(

Eoin

Eoin wrote: »

............



"Fantastic" might be pushing it, but even the 4 pots sound good when they're pushed. But I've a feeling there's little to be said that's going to change your mind.

Well considering I don't think the 4 pots sound fantastic I'm hardly going to change my mind due to anything people post on here am I?

CianRyan wrote: »

This having it's own thread is hilarious............

Indeed, how a Hyundai Coupe gets compared to a 156 is beyond me, fair enough if he was speeling on about a GTV.

166man

RoverJames wrote: »

Well considering I don't think the 4 pots sound fantastic I'm hardly going to change my mind due to anything people post on here am I?

I think the point is is that it's all relative. A twin spark four pot is one of the better sounding engines relative to other four pots is the key point there.

RoverJames wrote: »

I'm not claiming that at all so you can hop down off that soapbox you're on and answer what I asked if you want


You'll find plenty yet eventually after sifting through the crap you'll find a well minded one, bit of a contradiction there Fred..........not to mention that anything in an add could well be a bucket when inspected.

................

I didn't exactly mean plenty, more just a phrase. An example of a well minded Alfa could well be that 156 and I'd bet that it is too...;)

166man

166man wrote: »

......... An example of a well minded Alfa could well be that 156 and I'd bet that it is too...;)

Well unless you get someone who knows their beans to check it out you'll never know

166man

RoverJames wrote: »

Well unless you get someone who knows their beans to check it out you'll never know

Why would I be checking it out? Not really following you here....

In the same way as every other car on the bangernomics thread you have to view each one with a pretty open mind. I read ad's on the thread and make certain assumptions about ad's I see.

If I see a well written ad with good details and good pictures etc, I'd wager the car is reasonably straight.

Sure half those Nissan Maximas you seem to have a thing for could all be w@nked completely too.






Edit: I'm just gonna bow out not and accept this thread as it is. Moving on

166man

166man wrote: »

Why would I be checking it out? Not really following you here....
.............

Sure half those Nissan Maximas you seem to have a thing for could all be w@nked completely too.



.........

Unless you check it out you'll never know if it's decent or an average 156 (ie POS).

A Maxima is less likely to be w@nked than a 156 of course.

I don't really like Maximas tbh, they're ok and all, just think they satisfy bangernomics criteria

166man

RoverJames wrote: »

Unless you check it out you'll never know if it's decent or an average 156 (ie POS).

A Maxima is less likely to be w@nked than a 156 of course.

I don't really like Maximas tbh, they're ok and all, just think they satisfy bangernomics criteria

Ah I'll say no more. It's just going to end up like previous threads.

Agree to disagree.

Chris_Heilong

the Hyundai coupe is a normal everyday car in a sporty body, not really a performer at all but I cant argue that it is a nice looking car. Did it come with leather as standard? the V6 I heard is nothing but trouble.

ottostreet

This kinda thing is the reason you win fanboy awards...

The 156 is a decent but average car. As is the Coupe. Neither are in any way special.

166man

ottostreet wrote: »

This kinda thing is the reason you win fanboy awards...

The 156 is a decent but average car. As is the Coupe. Neither are in any way special.

Have to compare to it's competition too though. A well specced minded 156 is a very special car IMO, because clean one's are becoming few and far between.

Not sure I'd agree with a 156 not being special either.

Tragedy

I drove my sister's 1.6 Coupe for about 6,000 miles. There wasn't really an engine note, but it had quite a loud induction noise that sounded nice (as all induction noises generally do). Ditto for exhaust note, not much happening. Handling was bland as in - you never really noticed that it was good or bad. Interior was all horrible cheap plastics, (optional) leather seats were ok, but I could never get comfortable in the car.

For what it was (a no pretensions lifestyle coupe), it was an honest and a good enough buy.

Hellrazer

Heres a completely unbiased (mostly) opinion.

A lot of you know that I worked for Hyundai for 8 years and have been lets say biased towards Hyundais for the sole reason that they are as reliable as anything.Ive almost always driven Hyundais (last car was a 00 coupe) but recently I picked up a 156....

Why??Because I drove a friends one and had to get one despite all the talk about how unreliable they are supposed to be.

The one I picked up is a cracking car.Full history on it and was previously owned by Gerry in TI autos and after that by one of the Alfa owners club members so its a well looked after car.

The difference between the coupe and the 156 are miles apart.

The Alfa wins hands down overall in my opinion.

Both are 1.6`s
The Alfa has more power when you need it.Put the foot down in the Alfa and it never stops putting a smile on your face even for a 1.6

The coupe is better on petrol but not as "fun"

The Alfa styling and comfort has me won over.

Reliability I cant say yet since Ive only owned the Alfa for 4 weeks but in saying that I got it fully checked out and it wants nothing.Timing belt is due in 10k and since Im in the trade Ill get the belt and water pump done for around 150 euros.
Most other repairs Ill do myself if needed.

Reliability in the coupe was second to none.All it wanted was a service every 10k and that was it..owned it for almost 18 months.

Would I buy a coupe again?
Probably purely for reliability.

Would a buy another Alfa??
Definitely. Im already looking out for a GT.

As I said in the other thread and I agree with Roverjames on this--do your homework. There are some bad Alfas out there but there are also some bad coupes.

If the Alfa has no history on it--don't touch it with a bargepole.

If the coupe has no history it wouldn't put me off as theres very little that goes wrong on them that cant be repaired cheaply.

colm_mcm

CianRyan wrote: »

This having it's own thread is hilarious.

3 pages in

bobin fudge

I find 156s are starting to look dated these days, or maybe ive seen to many bangers on the road representing them

ottostreet

166man wrote: »

Have to compare to it's competition too though. A well specced minded 156 is a very special car IMO, because clean one's are becoming few and far between.

Not sure I'd agree with a 156 not being special either.

Went with a friend to pick up a 156 three weeks ago actually. Even bigger Alfa fan than yourself, I'd wager (he drives a Spyder). Gorgeous 156, genuine TI, everything you could ask for, great condition, and three weeks later, it's almost in concourse condition.

Even he will admit that, while it's a lovely car, it's in no way a 'special' car. He's keeping the Spyder under lock and key to keep it off the road as much as possible, while using the 156 as a daily. It's a bit mad to suggest a 156 is 'special'.

coolisin

This thread is deserving of a jackie chan WTF meme.
But I'm just not as dedicated to the cause to go look for it.

Eoin

bobin fudge wrote: »

I find 156s are starting to look dated these days, or maybe ive seen to many bangers on the road representing them

In fairness, they came out 15 years ago, so that they've looked fresh for so long is pretty impressive.

166man

bobin fudge wrote: »

I find 156s are starting to look dated these days, or maybe ive seen to many bangers on the road representing them

They came out in 1998. That they look dated now is fairly irelevent tbh. Take a look at other cars that came out in 1998 for comparison, a Toyota Avensis maybe...;)

ottostreet wrote: »

Went with a friend to pick up a 156 three weeks ago actually. Even bigger Alfa fan than yourself, I'd wager (he drives a Spyder). Gorgeous 156, genuine TI, everything you could ask for, great condition, and three weeks later, it's almost in concourse condition.

Even he will admit that, while it's a lovely car, it's in no way a 'special' car. He's keeping the Spyder under lock and key to keep it off the road as much as possible, while using the 156 as a daily. It's a bit mad to suggest a 156 is 'special'.

Those facelift TI's are seriously nice and I may well look to pick one up at some stage.

When I say special btw, I'm more referring to finding a really clean well minded one. To go out and find a 10-12 or even 14 year old car that has been minded and still looks good and drives good makes it a special car, IMO. Not all 156's are special obviously, quite a few are total bangers but for me, there's something 'special' about a really clean one. :D

Mine is very special to me anyhow and always will be. I can't see myself ever parting with it.

RATM

I'm enjoying this thread as my next choice of car is an Alfa or the 1.6 coupe.

I'm leaning towards the Alfa but potential high maintenance costs are putting me off a bit.

snaps

Speaking from an Alfa perspective, I've owned 3. Touch wood I never had any major problems. Kept them serviced, changed the belt and pump when needed. The last 156 1.6lusso I had was miles apart from anything I had ever owned. High spec and so comfortable. I brought her new in 2004, done 90,000kms in it. Drove her twice around Europe in 2006 & 2010 (I mean around Europe, France, Corsica (so much fun mountains), Italy, Austria, Germany, Czech rep, Poland then home via UK) drove to Monaco 3 times for gp to. Clocked 202kms on autobahn by gps with her. Most trouble I had was a sticky caliper, leaking air con and the usual wishbone. Changed belt and pump twice in that ownership. Had to change it last year and saying goodbye was emmotional.

H3llR4iser

Depressing thread really, we're comparing apples and oranges. I really wonder how everyone would have reacted if it was "Hyundai Coupe' Vs. BMW 3-series".

As for the claims about reliability and the likes, I frankly find them a little bit ridiculous and firmly suspect most people just talk without direct experience. Most of the cars that are considered "avoid at all costs" here, are perfectly fine everywhere else.

A lot of "falling apart" and "unreliable" Fiats and Alfas still go perfectly fine in Italy, thousands of "horrible" Renaults, Peugeots and Citroens drive around France with very little trouble. Most of these cars live well past their 10th and sometimes even 15th birthday.

I don't mean to be offensive, but the bulk of Irish drivers are totally careless. Maybe very observant of the rules of the road and "safe", but they threat their cars as if they were pushing a wheelbarrow carrying the lifeless, decomposing body of their worst enemy.
Name something bad for a car, you'll see plenty of it on any Irish road: from pushing a cold engine to jumping over foothpats and kerbs at speed, going through refusing to slow down on a potholes ridden road, the catalog is comprehensive.

A special mention is deserved by speed bumps: Irish drivers simply don't acknowledge their main function and think it's a free rollercoaster ride instead. Watching cars go over the couple of bumps outside my main gate like watching a episode of Dukes of Hazzard in which the american muscle cars were replaced by Corollas and Avensis': drivers approach them at speed, the front of the car shoots up and then comes down the other side with a loudish "thump", the front lip of the bumper crashing down on the tarmac on lower riding cars. I can swear you can actually see the front wheels coming an inch off the ground in the case of particularly "aggressive" drivers.

Last but not least, what lies beneath the bonnet is simply mystery; I always chuckle a bit when I'm performing a simple oil-water-brake fluid check and one person after the other asks "oh, what's wrong with your car?" - you see, you don't need to wait for something to go wrong to lift the thing up and have a look.

There are a lot of completely banjaxed '04 or '05 cars on Irish roads, and that's not even remotely supposed to happen; The fact that most of them are Japanese is quite telling of the attitude - most people buying a "reliability" reputation because they really want to feel entitled not to have to carry any maintenance, nor preserving the mechanics through proper driving (sure it's a Toyota/Honda/Nissan, it's gonna go forever!).

166man

OSI wrote: »

We had a facelifted '04 156 Sportwagon Ti at home at one stage. Will admit, it's probably the best looking car that's ever sat in the driveway. And the leather seats will insanely comfy, they put the ones in my Dad's '12 A6 to shame.

It's not hard to see why tbh..



:cool:

ottostreet

Make that sport wagon a saloon and that's exactly what's in my friends driveway now.

He's a boardsie, I'm sure he'll post a few pics eventually!

CianRyan

I kind of want an Alfa now.

CianRyan

CianRyan wrote: »

I kind of want an Alfa now.

Plenty of good ones out there for 1000/1200 apparently.