Alfa 147's any problems?

L5

Really like the look of them ,and am in the market for a used 2002/2003 model. Is there anything dodgy about them/alfas in general. I know some people here seem to advise people to stay away from alfas, is that a general opinion in the motor trade?
thanks

Villain

I was looking at an Alfa 147 myself, I'd heard all the error story's but thought that was just an old tale. However after doing a bit of research i.e. reading reviews and talking to a few owners I decided against buying one.

The new 147 seems to have improved in some area's but still suffers from reliability issues, I was particulary interested in the SeleSpeed version with the eletronic gear change on the steering wheel but every single review by an owner I read said it had failed, including one guy who said he was trying to overtake a lorry and every time he tried to change gear it went into neutral!!.

Nice car and reasonably priced but need to be careful.

bmoferrall

Alfa's are all...blah blah blah...glorified Fiats...blah blah blah...Italian style...blah blah blah...touch with bargepole...blah blah blah...dodgy electrics...blah blah blah...Italian flair...blah blah blah...JD Power surveys...blah blah blah...sexy...blah blah blah...build quality...blah blah blah...wishbones...blah blah blah...Ferrari-esque engines...blah blah blah...dealer network...blah blah blah...

dceire

I was eyeing one a my next car, they really are a beautiful car but my head won over my heart and now I've settled on a 02 Hyundai Coupe, their more expensive & I'll have to wait awhile before I can afford one but I just couldn’t take a chance on the 147 after all the stories I've heard about alfa's.

Really its down to how important reliability is to you!

69 mustang

A half Italian mate of mine has an 05 one and no bits have broke or come off yet like his last two new Fiats. Its seems to be mostly the bigger rep type with the hidden rear door handle (157?) seen on the back of many AA trucks.:)

$lash

These aren't a bad car by any means once you avoid selespeed models ... I worked for Fiat and we had very few problems with these:cool:

alanlouthzzr

An Alfa is like a blond with a short skirt, you can bring her out for a test drive, but don't bring her home to your mother!:eek:

ZENER

Buy one with a dealer warranty if possible to put your mind at ease. That said I've had 3 Alfas over the last 4 years (2 x 156 and 1x 147) without any problems at all. I currently own a 147 1.6TS - lovely to drive and behaves well on all road conditions.

If you do decide to opt for one I'm selling mine with only 7000 miles on the clock and warranty intact.

ZEN

ZENER

dceire wrote:

. . . . but my head won over my heart and now I've settled on a 02 Hyundai Coupe . . .

Sounds to me like your head needs a service !!!

ZEN

Dcully

Sounds to me like your head needs a service !!!

because he chose a more reliable car than alfa muck??
Hyundai trounce all over Alfa in every department.

ZENER

Have you ever owned an Alfa ? Have you ever owned a Hyundai ? Or maybe you're just basing you "facts" on here say and urban myth !

ZEN

unkel

Dcully wrote:

Hyundai trounce all over Alfa in every department.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Especially in style / design, engines and driving characteristics, amongst others...

Dcully

Yes i did own an Alfa but never again.
My sis in law owns a Hyundai and never had issues with it where as i had no end of issues with my 156.
Alfas look better ok but thats it.
Alfa/fiat all the one ,both are pathetic in reliability stakes.

Especially in style / design, engines and driving characteristics

Atleast a hyundai is reliable.
You have your so called style,design,engine.
Give me a car that wont break down
Alfas are consistently year in year out bottom of the pile of customer satisfaction along with fiat,nuff said.

btw L5 asked if alfas were dodgy,he didnt ask about so called "style / design, engines and driving characteristics, amongst others..." as you put it :rolleyes:

unkel

Dcully wrote:

Give me a car that wont break down

Dcully wrote:

Yes i did own an Alfa but never again

Who advised you to buy an Alfa? They should be shot. If you are only interested in reliability, you should have bought a Toyota

Dcully

I did buy a toyota after it

unkel

Dcully wrote:

I did buy a toyota after it

LOL, fair play

leeroybrown

My father has a '04 147 2.0 manual. It's given absolutely no problems whatsoever apart from an unquenchable thirst for fuel - and that can be explained by the way he drives it. I've driven it and thought it was a great car to drive but having sung it's praises I'd still have to think twice about buying one in case I got 'a bad one'.

greglo23

alfa 147 problems are ; rear suspension links and swinging arm bushes, front wishbone bushes, front swinging arms and generally anything else you care to mention.

Cyrus

ah all the usual well informed alfa posts about time we havent had one in ages

If you want a beautiful car that will bring a smile to your face when driven and you are prepared to look after it properly

If you are concerned with reliability buy a honda or toyota and make sure not to nod off at the wheel

Squirrel

Buy one that's been looked after and with a warranty and you should be fine. Personally I wouldn't touch one, then again this is based completely on word-of-mouth, my dad had a Fiat 124 and had never been fitter then when he had tht car, he was constantly running and walking into work.

And since I was born we've only had Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Hyundai. Only problems were an alternator dying after 10 years on the MR2, and the alarm messing up the electrics on a brand new Spacewagon in 99.

If the car doesn't feel right, or the seler seems unusually keen to get rid of it, walk away

lomb

aib have banned them as company cars due to unreliability meaning none of the people who had them showed up for work

greglo23

Cyrus wrote:

ah all the usual well informed alfa posts about time we havent had one in ages

If you want a beautiful car that will bring a smile to your face when driven and you are prepared to look after it properly

If you are concerned with reliability buy a honda or toyota and make sure not to nod off at the wheel

i think the likelyhood of nodding of at the wheel would be more likely in a fiat/alfa than in a japanese car as you would spend so much time at the side of the road waiting for breakdown assistance. style is'nt going to get you to work on time!!!

ZENER

It's odd that when one bad car is reported then they must all be bad. Every marque has it's bad days, for example I know one Hyundai Coupe ('03) owner who's car had a mind of its own when it came to steering when it almost killed him !

I have 2 personal friends who have owned Meganes and swore never again after the first - a '99 Coupe 1.6 fractured a camshaft after just 25,000 miles which Renault point blank refused to replace on warranty even though their garage serviced the car (cost 900 punts), and another where one by one the ignitor coils died leaving him stranded on 4 seperate occasions - I have heard countless other accounts of similar problem with Renault yet they are higher in the league than Alfa ?! Fiats by the way are rated higher than Ford yet they are always criticised.

I have personally owned 3 Alfas and have had no problems what so ever with any of them and they were not all new cars either.

In contrast I have owned 3 Hondas - '89 Civic - 91 Integra XSi and I still own a 90 Prelude Si4WS. The Civic needed the carbs replaced, the Integra dropped a valve into no. 3 piston destroying the engine (Cost 800 punts) and I don't know where to start with the Prelude (4 grand so far - but then I didn't buy it for it's reliability) yet Honda are top of the league !!

The Volkswagen Polo Fox I owned put me off them for life, f*****g wouldn't start on the winter mornings . . ever ! Needed to be pushed. A Mazda 323 I had was like driving a mattress - had the pulling power to boot.

Truthfully though you don't buy an Alfa when reliability is your prime criteria, just like Audi, Renault, Saab, Mercedes and several other better percieved brands.

If you are interested in a car that looks great, performs like a dream and is great to drive - i.e. if you want to enjoy it - then don't buy a Toyota buy an Alfa. If your prime criteria is resale value and cost to repair then buy a Corolla.

My 2C !

ZEN

bazz26

Cyrus wrote:

ah all the usual well informed alfa posts about time we havent had one in ages

If you want a beautiful car that will bring a smile to your face when driven and you are prepared to look after it properly

If you are concerned with reliability buy a honda or toyota and make sure not to nod off at the wheel

Maybe Alfa Romeo's reputation for terrible reliability is about as true as noding off at the wheel of a Honda or Toyota.

Cyrus

maybe

Eoin

lomb wrote:

aib have banned them as company cars due to unreliability meaning none of the people who had them showed up for work

and BoI have banned Volvos from their fleet. What does that mean?

stratos

I had a 147 loaner, I found it not a good drive.
The torque steer was awful, under hard acceleration it was all you could do to keep it in a straight line.
It understeered in a woefully leany way around corners.
Looked nice though.

prospect

If you want a car that you love to drive, that looks great and performs wonderfully buy a 147. But beware, it may need a few more bulb replacements than your average Jap car.

If you want a car that has less chance fo giving you some trouble, but will bore you to tears and is as comfortable as a dublin bus, buy a Toyota Corolla.

QED.

Once again:
An Alfa 147 that has been looked after properly will be 10 times more reliable than any Jap car that hasn't been looked after properly.

skyhighflyer

My dad used to own an Alfa 146 1.6TS before he bought his Focus. These have basically the same motor as that in the 147 1.6TS and it did 80,000 miles no problems, except for a screeching belt that just needed tightening at the cost of €50. Just get it serviced and look after it and you'll be fine!

because he chose a more reliable car than alfa muck??
Hyundai trounce all over Alfa in every department.

The Hyundai Coupé is only parallelled by the Suzuki Vitara in terms of gayness... a hairdresser's car if there ever was!

prospect

Dcully wrote:

because he chose a more reliable car than alfa muck??
Hyundai trounce all over Alfa in every department.

Cause ALL hyundai coupe's are great:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=317614

And ALL 147s are not:
http://www.carsurvey.org/model_Alfa+Romeo_147.html

:rolleyes:

maidhc

These threads are great!

Always watch the taxi drivers; has anyone ever seen an Alfa Taxi?

I am contemplating a new car at the moment (Octavia or Corolla), and I find certain comments about Toyotas amusing. The 147 looks nicer than a corolla (subjective), but there its benefits seem to stop. I think though the new corolla is a nicer drive, and a more comfortable car. It also holds its value, and the engine doesnt have to be removed to do the cam belt.

Nodding off at the wheel has more to do with the road to work TBH. I have great fun with my 1995 Mondeo TD with lovely twisty windy roads every day!!!

prospect

maidhc wrote:

These threads are great!

I think so too It will steam roll on for a while, someone will loose it, and then a mod will lock it.

maidhc wrote:

Always watch the taxi drivers; has anyone ever seen an Alfa Taxi?

Actually, yes. I recently saw a 166 taxi going into Wyeth on the nangor road!! But this is also subjective, as taxi drivers do not normally opt for 'drivers cars' just purely reliability. Also, they look after their cars properly as they are their livelyhood.

maidhc wrote:

I am contemplating a new car at the moment (Octavia or Corolla),

Octavia, deffo.

maidhc wrote:

and I find certain comments about Toyotas amusing. The 147 looks nicer than a corolla (subjective), but there its benefits seem to stop. I think though the new corolla is a nicer drive, and a more comfortable car. It also holds its value, and the engine doesnt have to be removed to do the cam belt.

I have driven both aswell. I know nobody that would say the Corolla is nicer looking.
I found the 147 to be far nicer inside, handled and performed WAYYyy better. But i must admit that the ride on the straights was more refined on the toyota.

It is simple:
If you want higher resale value, and a better chance of reliability, buy the Toyota/honda etc.
If you want a drivers car, that will give reliability as long as you pay a bit more attention to it, buy the Alfa.

Eoin

prospect wrote:

Actually, yes. I recently saw a 166 taxi going into Wyeth on the nangor road!! But this is also subjective, as taxi drivers do not normally opt for 'drivers cars' just purely reliability. Also, they look after their cars properly as they are their livelyhood.

I saw a 156 taxi a while ago - couldn't really understand it as a choice for a taxi because
1) The 156 is not the most spacious in the back (though, I also saw a Pug 206 taxi :eek:)
2) I don't think that Alfas tend to have a great MPG
3) The recessed rear door handles meant he had to put signs up and neon coloured tape on the back door showing how to open the rear doors!

prospect

I'll be perfectly honest with you guys, I am a HUGE alfa fan, but I would NEVER consider one if I was going to be a taxi driver....
Likewise I wouldnt use a spoon to dig the garden.

ds20prefecture

No you shouldn't buy a 147. You should buy something dull and worthy like an Octavia or Corolla and then just admire 147s from a safe distance. If you don't take any risks at all and make sure you do exactly as everyone else (particularly taxi drivers) do then you won't get burned.

Do you know, now that I think of it, you'd probably be far better off on public transport, it is statistically much safer and less prone to breakdown than any car. You won't have to worry about depreciation, or parking, or servicing costs or any of that dangerous independant thought nonsense that motorists have to do.

On second thoughts, public transport can be risky enough, so maybe you should just walk. The reliability of your legs should be pretty good provided you service them regularly. Watch out for motorists though (particularly Alfa drivers). Their reckless independance is bound to cause one of them to spin wildly out of control and they might hit you. Of course if it's an Alfa, you'll only sustain minor damage because they are made of tissue paper and rust and will vapourise when they touch anything.

Still, maybe you'd be better off staying at home altogether and lining the walls with reflective foil to stop them stealing your brainwaves for use in Alfa-sponsored experiments.

Buy the 147 - enjoy life for a while. Don't buy new, and make sure you get the common things (Front wishbone bushes, timing belt, variator, semi-auto) checked out by someone who knows before you buy.
Once you get it, make sure it is serviced regularly at an alfa specialist (e.g. TI autos in Dublin 7) and don't scrimp on parts.
Mostly, just enjoy it. They're a fine car (although personally I prefer the 156) and exceptional value for money.

BTW: I had an Alfa 156 for 3 years & 45000 miles, not 1 problem. I replaced it with a 1972 Citroën DS 3 years ago, and you know what? not 1 problem. I have a Skoda Octavia for 5 years and 60000 miles without a problem. It might seem obvious, but if a car is cared for properly you won't have problems.

bmoferrall

lol DS. Funniest post in a long time.

ciarsd

DS, I applaud you. Your post sums it up - and some great buying advice

maidhc

ds20prefecture wrote:

Do you know, now that I think of it, you'd probably be far better off on public transport, it is statistically much safer and less prone to breakdown than any car.

You must be joking, an Alfa is probably even more reliable than Bus Eireann!!!