BANGERNOMICS (sub2k) of the week/day Part 6

26000 Elephants

Interslice wrote: »

Big end bearing roulette is the bigger gable with them. At least it will limp home if you lose thay bet.. Lovely car for the money. Says 695 in the ad now.

In all my years of buying/driving/fixing fiats and alfas i have NEVER heard of that on the pratola sera engines. Where did you get that from? If they have had any proper care and feeding in their lives they should be fine.

Interslice

26000 Elephants wrote: »

In all my years of buying/driving/fixing fiats and alfas i have NEVER heard of that on the pratola sera engines. Where did you get that from? If they have had any proper care and feeding in their lives they should be fine.

The 16v twin sparks combined with the typical irish motorists approach to checking the oil would be a known issue. 1.6 and 1.8 engines in a 120k mile bangernomic alfa is big end roulette. If you buying a 1 owner proper enthuasiast car it may be different. 2 litre engine is tougher also. Still and all for 500 quid you can't go too far wrong.

alias no.9

Interslice wrote: »

The 16v twin sparks combined with the typical irish motorists approach to checking the oil would be a known issue. 1.6 and 1.8 engines in a 120k mile bangernomic alfa is big end roulette. If you buying a 1 owner proper enthuasiast car it may be different. 2 litre engine is tougher also. Still and all for 500 quid you can't go too far wrong.

My understanding was that the 1.8 and 2.0 were the same lump with a different bore / stroke and the addition of a balance shaft on the 2.0, the 1.6 is not related apart from the "Twin Spark".

26000 Elephants

Interslice wrote: »

The 16v twin sparks combined with the typical irish motorists approach to checking the oil would be a known issue. 1.6 and 1.8 engines in a 120k mile bangernomic alfa is big end roulette. If you buying a 1 owner proper enthuasiast car it may be different. 2 litre engine is tougher also. Still and all for 500 quid you can't go too far wrong.

You're now equating the failure to engines that arent maintained - which is true for any engine - BMW, VAG, etc. Any Alfa engine that is working well at 120k miles should continue to do so with normal care. There are plenty of things to go wrong with an alfa, but honestly, i havent seen bearings being one of them.

the 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 are all the same modular design, differing mainly in bore/stroke dimensions and balancer shafts, etc. You can put alfa TS 2.0 heads onto Fiat 1.8 blocks, etc.

26000 Elephants

alias no.9 wrote: »

My understanding was that the 1.8 and 2.0 were the same lump with a different bore / stroke and the addition of a balance shaft on the 2.0, the 1.6 is not related apart from the "Twin Spark".

No, the 1.6 is the same engine. Oddly, the fiat 1.6 ( in Multiplas, Mareas, Stilos, etc) was a different one entirely.

CharlieCroker

I had one of those 1.6's with 180k miles in a 156. Once they're maintained properly, they'll run and run

Sir Galahad

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/alfa-romeo-147-twin-spark-1-6/26722451

.

Picture 6. Airbag deployed ? 🤔

Mini850

Sir Galahad wrote: »

Picture 6. Airbag deployed ? 🤔

Nope.


Well probably not.

The airbag cover on those was notorious for popping off. not sure whether its the dash or the cover that warps over time but they eventually go that way.

I remember replacing the clips on mine as it has popped off at the bottom.


I actually miss my 147. had the worst gear linkage I've ever experienced in a car, but the steering was quick....once you had decent suspensions bushings.

wonski

Same in gt that I now drive. Slightly out of alignment the passenger airbag cover is.

Other than that reliable enough. Not a car for perfectionists, though. Noise here and there now and again.

If you can live with it, fine. If not, look elsewhere

Winter always is a good test of reliability.

bear1

Never drove a twin Spark but heard they love being revved

26000 Elephants

Mini850 wrote: »

I actually miss my 147. had the worst gear linkage I've ever experienced in a car, but the steering was quick....once you had decent suspensions bushings.

I had a 156 with terribly sloppy gear change too- but i found a kit on ebay for about a tenner with 4 plastic bushes and a metal clip - absolutely transformed it. Fiddly to fit, but was worth it. It was the first thing i did to the next Alfa.

As for the airbag covers, you should see what the sun in the south of Spain does to them after a few years. Nearly get your hand in behind them.

bear1

26000 Elephants wrote: »

I had a 156 with terribly sloppy gear change too- but i found a kit on ebay for about a tenner with 4 plastic bushes and a metal clip - absolutely transformed it. Fiddly to fit, but was worth it. It was the first thing i did to the next Alfa.

Jesus I had the same. You had to pretty much guess and feed the gear change.
Never bothered repairing it as I got used to it.

CoBo55

bear1 wrote: »

Jesus I had the same. You had to pretty much guess and feed the gear change.
Never bothered repairing it as I got used to it.

Dial a gear, reverse was a nightmare, was great crack seeing someone else trying to drive it:pac: (Fiat 128)

ek motor

bear1 wrote: »

Never drove a twin Spark but heard they love being revved

Had a 2 litre 1998 156 , the redline was 8500ish rpm
. Fun to drive

TigerTim

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/seat-leon-1-4-nct-and-tax/25823634

Clean looking Seat Leon NCT end of Feb & tax end of April. Don't know much about these but if bought for around 500 , it would tide you over. Will the Covid extension apply to the NCT?.

T.

TigerTim

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2009-ford-fusion-1-4-petrol-taxed-amp-nctd/25756872

2009 Ford Fusion, NCT Jan 2021. €1950. Alloys are in sh!te. Been watching this car for a while & price has been dropping. Might be still too dear. Bought Mrs T's current Bangernomics Ford C-Max from this dealer just over a year ago.

T.

Upper end of Bangernomics budget for basically a 12 year old car with no NCT doesn't seem like great value.

fonecrusher1

Wheels are in bits, gutless 1.4, nct due in a few weeks time and its one of the more ugly cars Ford have made in the last 20 yrs imo.

If it had to be a 10+ yr old cheap Ford I'd rather go for a Focus. Something like this https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/ford-focus-2009-1-4-new-nct-1-22-170km-taxed/26733207

selectamatic

ek motor wrote: »

Had a 2 litre 1998 156 , the redline was 8500ish rpm
. Fun to drive

They're a grand revy engine but they'll not do 8500rpm. I think limiter is around 7k or a bit below.

wotzgoingon

selectamatic wrote: »

They're a grand revy engine but they'll not do 8500rpm. I think limiter is around 7k or a bit below.

I was thinking this but never said anything. 8500 seemed awful high touching ek9 territory.

scottigael

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

fonecrusher1

scottigael wrote: »

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

I'm more of a Jap car guy myself so i've never actually owned a Focus but as far as I know that 1.4 is a bit under-powered but simple and reliable. You'd probably get it for a bit less that the asking price too. You could do a lot worse for the money.

I'm sure someone here has owned one of them so hold tough and you'll get some better advice.

DeepBlue

scottigael wrote: »

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

Bear in mind that the annual tax for that Focus is a €570 and not the €385 listed in the advert.

scottigael

Thanks for feedback lads sneaky on that car tax bit alright.Thoughts on this Focus 1.6 tdci ? Is the mileage too high?

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2008-ford-focus-tdci-style/26738440

Was also considering an i10 or i30 maybe but don't see too many on DD

TigerTim

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Wheels are in bits, gutless 1.4, nct due in a few weeks time and its one of the more ugly cars Ford have made in the last 20 yrs imo.

My bad, for some reason I thought it had 1 years NCT. 2021 just a few weeks away

T.

punisher5112

scottigael wrote: »

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

See what you will get insured on 1st.

Go onto donedeal, pull a few cars and reg put in and see.

I'd recommend either small such as Yaris or Aygo or similar like i10/20,

Renault Clio or megane it all depends on your driving needs such as city or long commute etc etc.

1.5 DCI is 200 on chape tax. Cars can be picked up cheap and reliable cars even though people will say otherwise bug that was the older stuff.

the_syco

scottigael wrote: »

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

If you mean this one;

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

If it had to be a 10+ yr old cheap Ford I'd rather go for a Focus. Something like this https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/ford-focus-2009-1-4-new-nct-1-22-170km-taxed/26733207

It was purchased by a dealer on 22/10/2020, but is selling it on DoneDeal as a Private Seller. Have someone look at the car before you buy it.

=-=

Check with mates on who they're insured with, and ring their insurance companies to see what you can get insured on.

wotzgoingon

scottigael wrote: »

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

That Seat Leon on the last page looks decent. Nice starter car anyway.

theoneeyedman

scottigael wrote: »

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

Kot very powerful, but my lad had one as a first car like yourself a year or 2 ago, and wss ideal - was (relatively) easy to insure, good deal less than an Auris or Golf of similar age. Simple wagon, reliable enough too.

scottigael

scottigael wrote: »

In the market for a starter car lads as just recently passed my full licence, have 1 year no claims bonus as named driver under my belt so any banger recommendations? Would that focus posted above be worth it?

Foci tend to be cheap to insure but honestly it's a crapshoot. When I passed my test it was cheaper to get insured on Saabs than Pandas, makes total sense right? I also went for the 1.8tdci Focus instead of the 1.6 because it was way cheaper to insure. Came back to bite me because it's a piece of **** engine as it turns out. :pac: The specific model (bit of chrome trim) on certain cars can double a quote for some reason as well. Also anything over 10 years tends to shoot up in insurance price so bear that in mind.