Findlay234
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 10:15 AM |
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Alfa GT - your views
Anyone on hear own/owned/knowanyonewhoowns/beenin an alfa GT and can give a personal review.... Ive wanted one of these for a looong time and thinking
about getting my hands on one in the not too distant future. Any points on handling and reliability (being an alfa its not going to be great but i
hear theyve been working hard on reliabilty of their latest models)
cheers
fin
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mookaloid
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 10:56 AM |
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I had one till an idiot drove into the back of it and wrote it off.
Great car - loved every minute of it!
My daughter didn't like the back seats - (too cramped) as she is 5'10" tall. Hence my current 159.
loads of room in the back with the seats folded down. I used to tow my Indy to hillclimbs with it and it held all the kit I needed including the easy
up awning!
The diesel engine is great if a little thirsty compared with say a BMW
Handling is good (on the firm side) and if you can get one go for the Q2 diff (LSD)
Reliability wasn't a problem for me with only minor stuff being sorted out under the warranty
I would have another one tomorrow if I didn't need a full size back seat.
Cheers
Mark
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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zetec
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 10:58 AM |
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Buy in the knowledge that it will not be as reliable as other mainstream makers. We had an older GTV which would go through suspension parts and some
engine parts very early and that was pampered car. Guy had work has just traded his Alfa in after one year and that too was showing wear on the
suspension. I think secondhand prices are always a good indication of how well a car will take the miles and Alfa dont fair too well, and it cant be
that they are ugly! But if you like it and can do work yourself why not...I mean a MK is hardly a level headed purchase.p
" I only registered to look at the pictures, now I'm stuck with this username for the rest of my life!"
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morcus
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 01:32 PM |
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I had a ride in one, It was comfortable and went well, Its also a truely beautifull car in a way only a company like Alfa seems capable of.
If I had the money I'd by one, I personally think its also better looking than the brera.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 02:31 PM |
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All I know about recent Alfa's is that timing belts and tensioner should be changed every two years/24,000 miles if you don't want to
risk massive trouble, and cam shaft variators don't last much longer.
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Marcus
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 03:06 PM |
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24000, that's news to me...The belts are recomended for changing at 36000, down from 60000 due to most of them failing at 50000!!!
This was a service buletin from Alfa on the twin spark engine. Not sure about the later JTS engines, but I'd stick with that figure. My variator
lasted 75k before giving up the ghost, makes the engine sound like a diesel, but very rarely fails catastrophically.
Modern Alfas are no worse than most european cars nowadays for reliability, although dealers are still a bit on the crap side (not to mention pricey).
My 156 has got through 2 sets of upper wishbones in the 3 years I've had it, but nothing else. I'd have a GT, Brera or 159 over almost
anything else on the road.
Marcus
Because kits are for girls!!
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eznfrank
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 03:12 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Marcus
24000, that's news to me...The belts are recomended for changing at 36000, down from 60000 due to most of them failing at 50000!!!
This was a service buletin from Alfa on the twin spark engine.
Tell me about it!!!! I had a 147 with the 2.0 TS, I bought it 2nd hand and it was a minter but it didn't have the update noted anywhere. My
cambelt let go at about 46K if I remember rightly taking all 16 valves with it. Garage wanted £2k to do it so I bought the tools and did it myself
for about £500 but I was never confident in it after that.
Apart from that I've had two Alfa's with no real bother at all.
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zilspeed
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| posted on 15/10/09 at 04:05 PM |
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I'm currently driving a 156 Sportwagon on what you might call an extended test drive. I still have the golf GTI which is a fine thing indeed.
Although I haven't made my mind up yet, the Alfa is verrrry cool indeed.
I never seem to drive very fast in it.
When a car looks this good, why would you want to drive fast ?
The people need time to soak in all of the Alfa loveliness.
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