Alfa JTDs

[Pillock]

I've got a semi-lob on for an Alfa.... 147, 156, somewhere round there.

It's gotta be a diesel though due to the mileage I do every day so I'm looking at the 1.9 and 2.4 JTD models.

 

Are these as scary as the petrol models? I know there's a long list of stuff to make you walk away from an Alfa but how much of this applies to the diesels? I'm hoping they just robbed a fairly reliable engine from elsewhere.

Example, 2003 156 1.9JTD, 130k, £1695 from a dealer.

[clarkey]

the diesels are exactly the same apart from the added smoke and are much heavier to push onto the curb

[pompei]

I had a 2.4 auto hire car a couple of years back. I love Alfas and wanted to love this. The auto was dreadful and spoiled the whole driving experience. Wouldn't change up properly and almost cut out when you tried to kickdown. It didn't perform any better than the 150 brake 1.9 Saab I now drive although it was much less smokey and much better appointed.

 

The diesel engines are a joint Saab/GM/Fiat affair and although there are thousands out there, there are known issues including alternator failures, inlet manifold problems and the auxiliary belts can go.

 

You'll have the same suspension issues as the petrol Alfas and the early ones can corrode. One of the motoring mags (Car Mechanics IIRC) did a monthly feature on a 156 they bought in recently and they ended up changing virtually everything. I guess it's a question of buying a good 'un that has been looked after.

[wuvvum]

I had a Fiat Marea with the 2.4 JTD engine - went like the clappers when it was running right (almost as quick as tRoD) and sounded lovely, but did have its share of issues.

 

Personally I have a problem with the entire concept of a diesel Alfa - for me the whole point of an Alfa is that it's so much fun to thrash the hell out of that you forgive it all of its little* foibles. With a diesel you'd lose much of the thrashability and you'd also gain some nose-heaviness, which would spoil the thing a bit in my view. The only reason why I haven't scrapped the 156 yet (1.8 TS with a week's test left and a terminally ill water pump) is that it's SO fugging brilliant to drive when it's running right (or for the ten minutes until it overheats when it's not), and that's purely due to the agility and the revvy, snarly petrol engine - both of which you'd lose (at least in part) with a diesel.

[fiatdaft]

The diesels are not a joint gm/fiat unit,they are fiat engines,gm did use them though with some gm modifications.

[Spiny Norman]

Personally I have a problem with the entire concept of a diesel Alfa - for me the whole point of an Alfa is that it's so much fun to thrash the hell out of that you forgive it all of its little* foibles.

This.

 

Diseasel Alfas are just wrong.

The whole point of an Alfa is spanking that growly twin cam round towards 7000rpm. Take that away and you might as well be drive a Mondeo or something equally inferior.

[Cavcraft]

Sporty Shite is your man here, he knows stacks about Alfas and has a couple in his fleet.

[ProgRocker]

Personally I have a problem with the entire concept of a diesel Alfa - for me the whole point of an Alfa is that it's so much fun to thrash the hell out of that you forgive it all of its little* foibles.

This.

 

Diseasel Alfas are just wrong.

The whole point of an Alfa is spanking that growly twin cam round towards 7000rpm. Take that away and you might as well be drive a Mondeo or something equally inferior.

 

An Alfista on another car related forum also dislikes the concept of diesel Alfas (he currently drives a 147 GTA & a 1965 Giulia Sprint GT).

[hhhugues]

I also once owned a 2.4 JTD marea. The thing went pretty well and to be fair the engine was pretty much the only worry free part of the car. However, it was smokey, noisy, and not particularly economical for a diesel, so in an Alfa, i could see it being a little pointless.

[Pillock]

Cheers chaps.

Hasn't totally put me off one ( ) but I think they need a decent test drive first.

I need a diesel but also want something slightly different, given that I keep looking at Passats/Golfs/Mondeos and remain unexcited by them all.

 

Currently the biggest plus for the Alfas is that the instrument needles start at the 6 o'clock position..... and I like that.

[flat4alfa]

I have a 2.4 JTD Sportwagon late-2002 as my daily. It is not smoky or noisy and does 42 mpg avg for urban and belting down the M1 40 miles each day. Had it 3 years now, for over 30k - just needed lower arms, couple of rear bushes, front dampers and is now at 135k - still on original clutch and DMF. Everything works, nothing is broken, I trust it to get me from A to B any time of year, and so does the Missus. If it wasn't, I wouldnt have just spent out on getting the belts done.

 

Before that, it was a year in an earlier saloon 2.4 JTD, which was leggier, but cheap. Again, it wasn't noisy or smoky, but it went really well as it had been remapped. Only sold it to get the wagon.

 

Compared to 156, the Marea 1.9 I borrowed rolled plenty with an interior of Palitoy plastics and poor seats. 156 is a much better car to drive - you wouldn't think they were sisters. The 159 is bigger, heavier and plodds with it.

 

All lot of 'ollocks is spoken about these by folks who've never owned one but a friends sisters boyfriend's mate did and he wouldn't buy another. Then they all drive off in a Renault or Peugeot equivalent.

 

Buy it

[sporty-shite]

I'm going to go against the conventional school of thought, here. I think diesel Alfas are good.

 

Mrs S's 156 wagon (1.9 JTD 16v 150bhp) is ACE. You can still have loads of fun in it, you just don't need to rev it as hard, as long as you realise, like all diesels, that the powerband is narrower and lower in the revs.

 

It may be more nose heavy than the petrol equivalents, but it still handles like a dream, turns in just where it should and goes around corners much quicker than a family estate car really should. I have read that the 2.4JTD is more unbalanced due to the extra weight of the 5 pot diesel, but TBH, I wouldn't bother with a 5 pot, myself. The 16v 4 pots can be remapped to 200bhp, which is plenty for a daily. Although if you want to go balls out, the 20v can, apparently, be remapped to give more power than a v6 petrol.

 

I know it may sound like self-promotion, but I'd try to get a multivalve JTD. The 1.9 16v gives the same power as the 2.4 10v IIRC, but without the extra weight.

 

Everything still works on ours, despite the stories of electrical doom which do the rounds. It's well specced, and I'd trust it to go anywhere. It's done two trips to France where the only drama has been a speeding ticket from a handgun-eqipped Gendarme.

 

Ours is now for sale, but only because we no longer need a big car, and we need some spare cash

 

Linky \/