Thoughts on Primera GTs

[Lowe]

150bhp from what I gather from a 2.0l lump.. looks a smidge bland but that's goo in my books. Anyone driven one?

They seem fairly cheap (about 2k) so I could nab one..

Found an Alfa 156 V6 as well just up the road for £2300... Hmm..

[menthel]

Hmm indeed. Alpha's are very unreliable. The nissan will keep on going and going though.

[Lowe]

Yeah but it's a 2.5l V6 which will sound.... delish. 96k miles, loaded with all the goodies including a carbon dash.. even Parkers put's it a grand under price...

[menthel]

Eveyone I know has had nothing but grief with alfa's, especially after they have clocked up a few miles. It may sound good, that will only be when its not in the garage!

[kushtibari]

Drove one a while back. Decent car, not a bad bit of grunt from the engine, wasn't all top end iirc and was very smooth. Handled not too bad either. Not got the image of the Alfa (parked on back of car transporter or at the side of the road with the bonnet up).

[Barakka]

An alfa is as reliable as any other car, people have pre-conceptions about them that's all. It's never gonna be as reliable or well built as a VW or Audi, but neither will you pass 20+ identical looking ones every time you go out in it.

The best 156 to get would be a 2.4 JTD, 136 BHP as standard and can be re-mapped to 190 BHP with 300 lb/ft torque, sub 8 secs 0-60 and still with the MPG of a diesel.. an insurance friendly monster

[weebroonieuk]

those jtd engines are superb blocks !

if its the old primeras your talking about then they always got a good write up for there handling so cant complain there , and offcourse its a jap mobile so is blessed with eternal life

however haveing had a go in a mates alfa with the v6 the sound is superb and nicely torquey u wont get that with the nissan it depends what u want really

the alfa has a flexible engine and the looks and also the stigma it has earned from being related to alfas of yester year ......

nissan is a nice allround car good family car / taxi cheap running costs i assume . good handling etc

neither are bad cars i would say , hell for all they cost u could by both

[Lowe]

The scary thing is they're both about the same to insure for me.. 700 quid.. same as an S13

[Shad]

The Primera and 156 are worlds apart from an S13 though.

[Zak33]

/\ he's right......an S13 will kill both...

but I like Primera eGT's a lot.

Have you thought about a Sunny GTi.....not an R unless you have lots of dough to spend on it....but a 2.0 GTi ?

But smaller than a Primera?

And ...sorry....really sorry to say it....

an Astra GSi 16v about a J/K reg...and original Mk3 red top. They really ARE superb. and then you're talking a HUGE parts bin, and real turbo power just round the corner....a good upgrade ladder.

What does Doll think of them? and Trig?

[schmunk]

The Primera and 156 are worlds apart from an S13 though.

Aye, they're much better...

[Butuz]

An alfa is as reliable as any other car ......... It's never gonna be as reliable or well built as a VW or Audi,.

Makes sense Maybe what you mean is an alfa is as reeliable as any other italian car? Thats probably true

Primera GT's are very good. They have the SR20DE engine which is basically the same as mine but without the turbo. I wouldnt dismiss it out of hand, probably wouldnt be my choice mind.

Alfa's - yes they have soul, the engines sound awesome, and they handle well but they DO fall apart. They have a reputation for being unreliable because they were unreliable! New ones are better yes, but we aint talkig buying a new one are we so the point is still valid.

Im not sure how we can help you Lowe as you dont seem to know what you want. On the one hand you seem to want extreme fun (Turbo Clio, 200SX Turbo) or you want a good overall car thats very reliable (Primera GT) or you want a car with soul that will fall to bits (Alfa). I recon your just gonna have to put some thought in to it. If all the cars your looking at cost the same £700 odd to insure, then get the S13, but i would say that wouldn I

Butuz

[Russ]

If all the cars your looking at cost the same £700 odd to insure, then get the S13, but i would say that wouldn I

Butuz

Yes you would, cos since you got it you seem to think its the greatest car known to man cos the back wheels turn and its goes "ptsch"

[Moby-Dick]

only if you fit a BOV

Lowe I hear Paul was ill at the weekend - there is a bit of a queu for people to buy his S13

They are great cars , but the tuning bug is addictive.

I'm about to start saving between 2 and 3 K for a big old rebuild of mine - its going to be quite a beast

[Lowe]

Right... I *do* know what I want. The fact is, I know it's unreasonable on my wallet. In a few months time I'm moving in with my g/f which means I won't have a wodge of money to be able to throw at the car each month. This means something old (S13, Astra GSi) which has potential bodywork issues is a risk.

I cant afford to buy a car for it to let me down like the Clio has, a year down the line. Overall reliability isn't that much of a concern. I won't be living too far from work (I'm talking walking distance) so with a bit of luck any breakages or mechanical let downs wouldn't be a *huge* issue, unless it costs a small fortune to fix.

2nd fact, I'm not going to be able to buy anything that's as break neck as the Clio for 2k. End of discussion.. yes an S13 is quick, but it's RWD and wouldn't inspire half the confidence the Clio does - so I know I'd drive it slower. I know I can get in the Clio, point the nose in the direction I want to go and the rest will follow. Only the talented can do that with confidence in a 200SX. I'm not going to say I'm one of those for an instant.

So, I had a nosy on Autotrader today and found that the quickest things for about 2k (which I found) which wouldn't cause me *too* much grief are that one off Alfa and the Primera. Yes, the Alfa has a reputation for breaking but for every person that says they're junk you find someone else who loves them. I don't know much about them, so I'm looking into it.

The Primera was found just because I remember them being bloody nippy in the BTCC. Nice revvy engine which has a fair bit of poke (150bhp iirc) and they handle pretty well from what I've read. I doubt I'd find another 5 year old car with a 150bhp engine that'd be as reliable....

Unless you guys know better? More than willing to listen...

[weebroonieuk]

lowe , u will always find its owners of jap cars who slate italian cars plain an simple

they hark back to the days when alfas fiats etc were very poor cars im talking about 20 30 years ago

these days car companys just couldnt get away with have build qualitys like they used to owner safety being one reason and consumer power the other as the likes of tv watch dogs and motoring publications have fairly put a boot in their ass in terms of getting things done and safety recalls etc.

when buying your car mate read the facts and visit forums of each car u like , dont listen to fanboys or brand snobs as your aswell going to the manufacturer and asking them if your better of buying the competitions cars .

i bought my car knowing fine well about fiats shocking history in the past but then i didnt really care im car mad and love tinkering and prefer to do my own serviceing and fixing things as i know exactly whats being done to the car and its being looked after better !
i checked the forums and theres very very few car wont start situations out of thousands of owners over the last few years ive been useing the coupe forum

and i have never had any issues with my car except which i mentioned before which was when accelerating in ftih from 70 when i approached 140 i would get a loss of boost and the injector light would come on i would lift the throttle and floor it once again and it would keep on going way past 140 , other than that not a single reliability problem

dont get me started on my mates s13 and his bottom end .....
or my other mates imprezza .... god that car turned out to be a dog lol

i say use your own oppinions to buy a car mate too many fanboys will sway u too somthing because they have it
i know it sounds like i might be trying to defend my car a little but im not i bought it for me to drive not for anyone else

happy hunting !