Yin-yang, Beauty & the Beast or just a match made in heaven? I tried to come up with a suitable thread title for the addition of the Alfa 156 Sportwagon to compliment my Soarer, but failed.
The 156 (‘the Alfa’ from here on in) was delivered last Friday and promptly stuffed away in my industrial unit for a few days. I taxed and insured it on Wednesday. That means only two days and about 100 miles use so far to report on.
It’s a 2.0l Twin Spark. First registered 2002. 97000 miles.
Proteus Red (sort of dark cherry Red) with Tan leather (my first choice would have been Alfa Red) It really does look good in the sun.
It has a full service history, Mangoletsi for the first few years then an Alfa specialist until now, all backed up with invoices. In the last 2 years/15k miles it’s had a replacement radiator, Front Discs and Pads, battery, Cam belt kit and some suspension work. Other than the Radiator, the history shows no signs of anything other than standard servicing.
The tyres all look fairly new, although budget, they will certainly do me over the summer and I’ll put some decent ones on for the winter. It came with a brand new MOT too.
I bought it as a ‘trade sale’ from a small independent trader, apparently traded in by a guy for a Giulietta. That he stuck with the brand I’ll take as a good sign!
Caveat emptor – The Temperature Gauge wont rise and the heater never gets above lukewarm. First job will be the seemingly common, problematic thermostat. Not a difficult job by the looks of it. I’m also getting a bit of knocking from the front Offside – that’ll be why there is an advisory on the MOT for an upper suspension arm!
Condition wise, both inside and out, it’s fantastic, even the alloys (5 hole tele-dials, my favourite Alfa wheel!) are perfect – much better than many 6/7 year old cars I looked at and beyond what can be expected of a 13 year old sub £1000 car. Lets face it, in monetary terms, it’s a shed!
Other than the knock from the front corner, it drives very well. I've been somewhat spoiled by the 6 cylinder JZ engine in the Soarer – silky smooth and sounds fantastic, and while the Twin Spark is very obviously a 4 banger, it has a great sound of its own.
I’m very much enjoying (and get used too again) the NA engine. Brisk enough, but can’t help feeling it needs just that little bit more….we’ll see. Very comfortable, compliant ride and makes you want to ‘drive’ it. Can’t wait to take it a run over to the Trossachs.
Updates and further reports to come as/when it’s driven more.
s1000.photobucket.com/user/Chris1JZ-GTE/media/IMG_0438_zpspptvzto3.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1
I'm not sure if that link then lets you look at the rest of the picture? If not, let me know and I'll post more links.
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That 2 litre Twin Spark engine is a solid Alfa gem. I remember it in the rwd Alfa 75, another great car with the same running gear as the latter-day wedge-shaped Giulietta.
Clumsy or hurried drivers need not apply... that very long gearchange linkage in rough hands leads quickly to a broken gearbox and transaxle, horrible noises and very expensive.
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Good to hear all about it and see the pics. Like you I prefer the true red (as mine was) but the tan leather is my favourite (well that or cream)... drivers seat edge looks free from the unsightly wear many have. In fact overall it looks damn smart.
Which model... Veloce?
Mine had low temp gauge readings all the time but heater was fine so I didn't have to do stat... after the stat there is a secondary issue in the temp gauge sensor faulting to give low readings.
If you have half the fun I had with mine it will be worth every penny of the grand-ish.
Joined the Alfa forum yet? Loads of help there... and the odd bit of bad advice!
www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-and-gt/
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 3 Apr 15 at 14:57
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>> Which model... Veloce?
Yes, that's the one.
>> Joined the Alfa forum yet? Loads of help there... and the odd bit of bad
>> advice!
Not yet, but will do, cheers.
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I'm sure DP will be along soon to compare notes ...
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All quiet on our Alfa front at the moment. It is currently at a friend of a friend who is welding it up for the MOT, but lack of time and commitment on all our parts has meant very little has happened since the MOT ran out back at the end of 2013.
They are a nice car to drive. Very fast, direct steering, and very tidy handling indeed, even on the budget tyres ours wears. The general build quality of ours is good too. Even at 100k nothing rattles and all the bits and pieces work (air-con aside).
The Twin Spark engines are far from bulletproof, so you need to keep an eye on things. It's not a weak engine as such, but an old school engine that really doesn't cope with modern service intervals and owners who don't lift the bonnet between services. It's basically an "old school" engine that needs a lot of care. The 12k Alfa oil change interval is half as frequent as the engine design requires. Likewise the recommended 72k cam belt change. The variator on the inlet cam needs changing at the same time as well. If maintenance is skimped, they spin bearings, throw rods, get clattery, and start burning a lot of oil. Well cared for, they will do 200k without any trouble.
What doesn't help is that the 156 simply wasn't designed with any consideration for maintenance. It's not hard to see how old ones simply stop getting maintained or fixed, as labour costs or effort simply outweigh the value of the car both intrinsically and sentimentally, as far as its owner is concerned. My comments are based on the V6 which is a tight fit under the bonnet, but the same use of seemingly random bolt sizes, routing of pipes over the top of bolts (which are made of cheese) instead of 2cm around them, and other frustrations will no doubt apply to the TS models too.
I still think though that if you get a good one and keep on top of it, you will be smiling a lot. They are driver focused in a way most cars of the same class simply aren't. You just can't treat them like a "modern" car though.
Last edited by: DP on Tue 7 Apr 15 at 13:03
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>> if you get a good one and keep on top of it, you will be smiling a lot. They are driver focused in a way most cars of the same class simply aren't. You just can't treat them like a "modern" car though.
Yup yup yup.
The Japanese and Koreans have a lot to answer for. As for today's owner/drivers, cretinous is a flattering term for them.
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>>As for today's owner/drivers, cretinous is a flattering term for them.
And today, you are both an owner and a driver? Still, who am I to disagree.
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>> who am I to disagree.
Who indeed? But what are you disagreeing with FMR? I was just pointing out that thoughtless owners may have been misled by the very long service intervals and great reliability of modern oriental jalopies.
I'm not one of those. I've been around since the days when cars needed a lot of attention and fettling, and for a long time I neglected them terribly.
Of course many here are quite young, and many of those know what they are doing, clearly. Just think of all the others though.
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>> that very long gearchange linkage in rough hands leads quickly to a broken gearbox and transaxle, horrible noises and very expensive.
Those wedge Giuliettas were good-looking and very cheap for a while. Fancied one myself almost but was in love with Skodas at the time.
I do remember seeing a very nice white Giulietta making those ghastly death rattles and kangarooing a bit on the way into the Harrow Road underpass at Paddington. Some black youths in it looking worried. I felt for them and the Alfa in more or less equal measure.
I like to think I could have coped with one, but I didn't have the bottle to try.
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>> Those wedge Giuliettas were good-looking and very cheap for a while. Fancied one myself almost
>> but was in love with Skodas at the time
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Wedge shaped? Do you mean the Alfetta GTV?
tinyurl.com/qypogvj
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No, he means the early-80s four-door saloon with the short, high boot that looked like a turned-up tail. All presumably rusted away by now but it looked good to my Top Gear-aged self back then.
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WDB is right.
Anyone remember the Italian fuzz movie La Scorta, about a politician's squad of bodyguards? One of the squad's cars is one of those Giuliettas, another is an Alfasud. The driving is stylish too.
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Whilst hitch hiking in Belgium in the late 70s we had a ride in a GTV. Director of BL (Belgium) - says it all in a sad little way
He did give me an XJS brochure he had with him - must be worth something that
Last edited by: R.P. on Mon 6 Apr 15 at 13:04
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>> the Italian fuzz movie La Scorta, about a politician's squad of bodyguards?
It's very good. Elite gun-toting plainclothes Carabinieri, most of whom are out of sympathy with the leftish Sicilian politician they have to protect. But they are sort of Samurai types, dedicated to fulfil any contract they have entered into come hell or high water. It's a bit like a Japanese movie actually.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 6 Apr 15 at 15:03
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>> No, he means the early-80s four-door saloon with the short, high boot that looked like
>> a turned-up tail. All presumably rusted away by now but it looked good to my
>> Top Gear-aged self back then.
>>
The Alfa 33 ?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_33
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>> The Alfa 33 ?
Because if so.....
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201502130928915
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 7 Apr 15 at 01:41
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No. Not a 33 or any other Alfasud variant.
A Giulietta.
Geddit?
Probably not.
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>> No. Not a 33 or any other Alfasud variant.
>>
>> A Giulietta.
>>
>> Geddit?
>>
>> Probably not.
>>
This then: www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C554365
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ToMoCo says among other things that a V6 engine is a very tight fit in a 156.
The neglected, unsuccessful Alfa 166 would have a bit more space under the bonnet being slightly bigger all round, while remaining compact enough to be wieldy as it were.
Always fancied one and still do. So did BBD I seem to remember. A man of taste.
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Always liked the look of the 166 myself, partly because, uniquely among recent Alfas, it had the front number plate in the middle. The 156 looks cute with a tiny Italian front plate; with anything else it looks like the designer forgot something.
But perhaps I'm applying Mrs Humph reasoning and I ought to prefer the C-max.
}:---)
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Alfa Romeo 156 - Yin-Yang - Armel Coussine
