2009 Alfa 159 or 2009 insignia

Nailer1986

Looking at changing car and have been looking at insignia's but came across a lovely Alfa 159 both have just under 100k on them.

Does anyone have any advice on which one is a better car and less problematic, and what to look out for when buying one. I think they both have the same engine and dual mass flywheel can be an issue,
The Alfa will come with a new flywheel fitted.

Thanks for any help.

George Dalton

If you are into cars it has to be the Alfa.

If you aren't then forget about either and buy an Avensis.

JohnBoy26

Gearboxes can be problematic tol. Out of the 2 though the 159 is the nicer car but if you don't want anything that will be problematic I don't think id choose either.

bear1

Diesels I take it?
The 159 in the right colour combo is just sex.
A cherry red ti with black leather or black with red leather would be my choice.
Diesel 159s are fairly reliable, the engine itself is used in quite a few cars.
If you are looking at a petrol then 2.2 jts

kay 9

bear1 wrote: »

Diesels I take it?
The 159 in the right colour combo is just sex.
A cherry red ti with black leather or black with red leather would be my choice.
Diesel 159s are fairly reliable, the engine itself is used in quite a few cars.
If you are looking at a petrol then 2.2 jts

What's the 2.2 petrol like reliability & maintenance wise?

bear1

kay 9 wrote: »

What's the 2.2 petrol like reliability & maintenance wise?

OK I suppose, I choose it over the 1.8 any day but there is also a 1.9 jts
the 2.2 isn't great mpg wise and there are reports it's low end grunt is annoying but people sort it with a remap.
Upgrade the exhaust and you're laughing.
Checked the alfa forum and people are saying it's a revvy engine and that they find it a more drivers car than the diesel version as the engine is lighter so the car handles better.
They are 185 bhp so not a slouch

wotswattage

kay 9 wrote: »

What's the 2.2 petrol like reliability & maintenance wise?

The timing chains are notorious for stretching. The 1.9 and 2.2 have chains and the 1.8 which has a belt is a dead duck of an engine so I'd say straight up avoid all the petrols...

*I used own a 1.9 which was slow, thirsty and had chain issues :rolleyes::pac:
They are a heavy, solid but very nice car to drive my one just needed serious winding up to go anywhere. It had 160bhp I can only imagine how slow the 1.8 with 140bhp was....

bear1

wotswattage wrote: »

The timing chains are notorious for stretching. The 1.9 and 2.2 have chains and the 1.8 which has a belt is a dead duck of an engine so I'd say straight up avoid all the petrols...

*I used own a 1.9 which was slow, thirsty and had chain issues :rolleyes::pac:

The v6 didn't suffer from this.

wotswattage

It did, just as troublesome but a much rarer engine so less publicised. Still loads of threads about stretching chains in all the JTS petrol engines in the specialist Alfa forums.

Shame because they are such nice cars and not a decent petrol engine to choose from.