Alfa 159 Sportwagen: are Alfas as crap as they say?

[Gibbo]

It is beginning to look like the insurance will be unable to source a new replacement car for me to the same spec as the one that was stolen as Mazda have stopped taking orders for leather trimmed 6 TS2 estates..so I've been looking around at a possible replacement.

I like the look of the Alfa 159 Sportwagen 2.4JTD Lusso. It's a bit pricier than the Mazda but looks great, is reasonably specced and I'm sure it'd be loads more fun to drive and loads of torques []

I am struggling to find anywhere offering a discount though and am somewhat put off by the Alfa reputation of poor reliability and lack of longevity.
Resale value probably won't be too much of an issue as I intend to keep it, as long as it's reliable, for many years.

Do any of you have experience with modern Alfas?
Are they still as poor a buy as they once were?

Yep I could live in there!

[Lowe]

Yes they're unreliable, the build quality isn't as good as other similar cars and the dealers in general are poor.

However, it's an Alfa. If you love and 'get' cars, you'll love the Alfa and you'll forgive it it's faults.

[Barakka]

Alfas are more reliable than Audis *ducks* (True though)

The main problem with Alfas is the residuals, but check out here to save about £5k on the retail...
http://www.autolusso.co.uk/alfa_sportwagon.htm
The 159 is a new model as well, and the new models are holding their value much better than previous ones

The 2.4 JTD is a fantastic engine with 200 bhp as standard, and they can even "upgrade" it for you - with warranty -taking the 2.4 from 200bhp to 270bhp

IMO The 156/159 is one of the only cars which look as good, if not better, in the estate (sportwagon) variant.

[SHare]

The new Alfa's seem to be alot better now, my parents had a 147 for a few years and had no problems until the dealer forgot to refill the engine with oil when they done a service :/

It'll be a risk if your keeping it for a long time, but if its new and used under dealer warranty all you need to do is make sure you find one of their few good dealers.

[J4MES]

Alfas are more reliable than Audis *ducks* (True though)

[davidstone28]

The new Alfas such as the 159 are vastly superior that the Alfas of old. Nowhere near Lexus or Honda in build quality or reliability terms but you won't break down on the way home or anything as extreme as that. Every new model Alfa have brought out has improved on previous generations in terms of build quality and reliability 164 > 156 > 159.

http://www.topgear.com/content/carsu...ures/08/2.html

Given that they're trying to capture the BMW/Audi executive saloon brigade with the 159 that's hardly unexpected.The 159 is simply too new for any problems to have shown up especially when every single one will still be under warranty. You'll have your fingers burnt in depreciation though.

Have a look here:-
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/searc...earchid=920085

Consider a lease:-
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/gener...ire-rates.html

[Stephen B]

"modern alfas are much better than old"

yeah right, I remember all that twaddle just before I bought my 156 JTS Lusso

my advice, run a mile

the only saving grace on modern alfas are the diesel engines and thats of limited use when the electrics, dealers and bodywork have let you down repeatedly

that was my 4th Alfa and unquestionably my last

[Zak33]

"modern alfas are much better than old"

yeah right, I remember all that twaddle just before I bought my 156 JTS Lusso

my advice, run a mile

the only saving grace on modern alfas are the diesel engines and thats of limited use when the electrics, dealers and bodywork have let you down repeatedly

that was my 4th Alfa and unquestionably my last

that is the best advice.

But if you fall in love.....you'll do it anyway

[Gibbo]

The insurance Co has found me a replacement Mazda6 instead - it's slightly higher spec but i'm not complaining so the Alfa is on hold....

[madmaca]

The new Alfa's seem to be alot better now, my parents had a 147 for a few years and had no problems until the dealer forgot to refill the engine with oil when they done a service :/

They did the same thing to me and my 146! When I tackled the dealer over it and asked how a car that had had a full service just 2 weeks before could now have so little oil in it that the dipstick was completely dry, the reply I got was "that oil loss is within expected specs"

over 4 litres in 2 weeks!?

They then lost my red master key, failed to solve any of the electrical gremlins, the clutch went, the gearbox failed, the exhaust rotted, the brakes constantly froze solid in the winter yada yada yada - all on an Alfa "Approved" used car...

My advice if you are considering buying an Alfa? Take a large cardboard box - fill it with around £8K in cash, then throw it in the river. Then go and buy a bike/season rail ticket - as you will spend most of your time using it either way...

[SHare]

To be fair they did replace the engine FOC after they had discovered the damage that had been caused without too much trouble, although, I wouldnt expect that sort of service from every dealership seeing as the total work ended up costing around £5k.

[madmaca]

To be fair they did replace the engine FOC after they had discovered the damage that had been caused without too much trouble, although, I wouldnt expect that sort of service from every dealership seeing as the total work ended up costing around £5k.

When they finally owned up to losing my red master key - they did replace the locks, alarm and ECU on the car FOC, but I was without the car for 8 weeks - it is the sheer inconvenience caused by totally imcompetant dealers, on top of the a inherantly unreliable car that really makes owning an Alfa a painful experience.

Let's face it - if the dealers were able to fix the car problems quickly without fuss, we would all forgive the Alfa's habit of breaking a lot more easily....

[SHare]

But they are so pretty