Alfa 147 info?

[pandamonium]

My brother in law is thinking of dumping his Renault Megane for an Alfa 145/6/7Is there anything he should look out for? He would be going for a lower powered one to keep the insurance down, and has around £3k to spend.Any thoughts?

[Dead_E23]

Sounds like he'll be looking at the twinspark engines, so check that the cambelt has been changed at 36k mile intervals and that the temperature settles at 90C - if it gets hotter than that it needs a radiator, and if it runs cooler it has probably had a new one and now wants a thermostat. Diesely clattering noises at startup mean the variator (variable valve timing thingy) is on the way out - about £400 to fix, but that includes a new cambelt. The variator on my 156 is getting noisy, but I'm ignoring it until the next belt change and don't expect anything terrible to happen as a result. Twinsparks have a reputation for using a bit of oil, so check the level. However, mine uses very little between services and has done 146k.Listen for clonks from the front suspension over bumps - they're most likely to be from worn wishbone bushes which are easy to fix, but could be the anti-rollbar bushes which are supposed to be a bit trickier.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

My brother in law is thinking of dumping his Renault Megane for an Alfa 145/6/7

Frying pan - fire?

[VWPowered]

head gaskets to rust

[pandamonium]

Frying pan - fire?

Thats what I thought! But he won't see sense and get an older car.

[outlaw118]

Surely a 147 at that money?Sold my stepson's 146Ti 1.7 to a mate oof mine, within 3 months it went " Nom Nom Nom gearbox...."Cracking motyor before that tho'

[Mr Lobster]

£3k will get him into a 147 now. 145 / 146 will be a lot cheaper unless he wants a really really good 145 Cloverleaf / 146 Ti. They can be good, reliable cars but they really do need to be properly looked after and even then can become a good way of spending a lot of money.Alfa parts can be eyewateringly expensive. He'll need to keep a bit on money in the bank for the inevitable big repair bill.

[Betaphile]

Go for it - I'm on the verge of persuading my dad into a 156 which is pretty much the same mechanically, it's just a question of finding a decent manual.

 

Which brings me on to Selespeeds. This was an incredibly popular option when these were new here; unfortunately for my levels of choice, it is also the only thing to really avoid at all costs - it will go wrong at some point, and it will be expensive. Besides which, most of them (especially earlier versions) are rubbish anyway.

 

Personally, I would only buy with FSH. Braver people than me have gambled and lived, but to me it's not worth it - there's plenty of good, historied cars out there that you can avoid the dodgy stuff. As mentioned, cambelt needs to be done at 36,000 miles (this is not-negotiable if you value your valves); my suggestion would also be to go for a 2.0, as the 1.6 is OK but a bit underpowered really. The other thing to note is that apart from checking the oil level, you MUST use the oil viscosity as recommended in the handbook - a few dealers here skimped and didn't, result, a brace of destroyed top ends due to oil starvation. Top work.

 

In general 147s are better than the Alfa reputation suggests - it's pretty much a case of just making sure you don't buy a pup. That will mean big bills (as it will in any car), but a good one should prove a faithful companion.

[Pete-M]

As someone said, the variator and cambelt are very important.

 

If you go for a 156 DO NOT buy a Selespeed one. I know a chap who bought a house just from the proceeds of rebuilding Selespeed gearboxes- the book time to do them is something like 12 hours, he can do a full rebuild of one in less than half that, but he's done hundreds if not thousands.

 

Unfortunately, the 'normal' manual box tends to throw synchro rings if even slightly abused from cold so watch for graunching from the box. 2nd and 3rd are the usual culprits.

 

If it has AC, make sure it works.

 

Front upper wishbone bushes can wear with monotonous regularity and they're a bit of a pig to change. Not terrible, a BFO hydraulic press and a bit of stud-iron can be helpful.

 

Clutch slave cylinders on the 156 / 147 are inside the bellhousing and seem to fail at 60k mile intervals on average. Ball-ache to do. 155s have the same 'box, but the slave is on the outside and a 20 minute job.

 

There's a gorgeous metallic blue called, IIRC 'Nuvola' which you really don't want to scratch if you don't want to pay a frickin' fortune to get sorted.

 

Momo leather is gorgeous in 'em, Recaros are nice, but the Momo interior is the one to go for. Cloth isn't really the done thing.