Am I Mental..?

[Cameron 16]

Ugly!

 

Excellent car, but a brick, and that spoils them for me!

[BlueBolt 156]

Saab Aero

[muddatrucker 125]

That car is sexy.

[Cameron 16]

Saab Aero

 

Saab 9-3 estate was very high up my list, it's a very good looking car but it's not exciting enough.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Cameron

[GLPoomobile 958]

Then you, sir, are the ideal person to answer this question!

 

Would you choose an equivalent car over it?

 

Thanks for the heads-up on the exhaust, makes me want one even more now!

 

Not sure what you mean Would I choose an equivilant car over the 166, or are we still talking about the 156 Sportwagon, and whether I'd choose that or another high performance estate?

[Cameron 16]

Well you can answer both if you want! But I meant what made you get an Alfa in the first place when you could have got something much more economical?

[BlueBolt 156]

 

 

Saab 9-3 estate was very high up my list, it's a very good looking car but it's not exciting enough.

 

9-3 Aero will blow a lot of cars out the water with a few small tune ups, but like you say, they're so good at what they do it makes them a little boring, rear wheels that kink at high speed cornering and weird suspension setups and such... But bloody quick and extremely capable, and a good amount of space inside the estate...??

[welshpug 1,666]

9-5 got the more powerful versions of the 2.3T,

[GLPoomobile 958]

Well you can answer both if you want! But I meant what made you get an Alfa in the first place when you could have got something much more economical?

 

Well I'd wanted to experience a V6 Alfa for years. You know all the hyperbole about how you're not a true petrol head if you've never owned an Alfa, and how the V6 Busso engine is a work of art blah blah blah. I really wanted a GTV but couldn't afford one. When I crashed my 9-3 I was actually looking for a 9-5 Aero estate, and then randomly found out about the 166 and how ridiculously cheap you could get them for, and how much equipment they came with. So I got one (incidentally, I travelled all the way the Leicester to get it, when I could have got a 9-5 Aero saloon locally at the time. Kind of regret that to some extent).

 

So why did I buy the Alfa? For the engine.

 

Thing is - and this is pretty much the case for all of the 2.5, 3.0 and 3.2 Busso V6s - in standard form the engine is somewhat disappointing IMO. My main criticism is that it doesn't rev freely due a} the heavy DMF and b} the fly by wire throttle. I'm not sure if the GTAs have the a DMF though or if they have a lighter single piece flywheel. I know you can get much lighter single piece flywheel's for the V6s. The throttle could probably be massively improved by some ECU jiggery pokery (my 166 has a button that sharpens throttle response, but it's still no where near instant). You also can't heel and toe with them, but again this could possibly be changed with ECU remapping.

 

Then you've got the noise. You really do need to ditch the resonator box from the inlet and put a decent exhaust on them if you want to experience a busso engine as they should be.

 

It's an incredibly flexible engine, as I said on here quite recently. You can potter around at 20mph in 6th gear (even in my fat bastard!) and still accelerate without changing down and without any pinking. But I do find with mine (and again this will be different depending on which engine - GTAs have different cams - and the weight difference between models) that you really do have to thrash the engine to make the best out of it. For a 3.0 V6 it is torquey yes, but to really punt it forward for motorway overtaking etc, you do have to drop it down to 3rd.

 

As I said before, with the price of petrol getting f***ing ridiculous, you need to think very carefully about whether you can live with something that is likely to average 18/19mpg. And don;t think that is a result of thrashing the lovely V6 either, as you won't get much improvement from driving like a nun. Trust me, I've tried. It actually doesn't seem to make much difference how you drive it. Sitting at traffic lights is the worst thing you can do, as it gulps away at petrol.

 

Would I consider a 156 GTA 'wagon? Absolutely! I think the 156 GTA is a cracking looking car in both saloon and wagon form. The interior is not quite as nice as the 166, but it's a huge load better than most other cars of that age. Then you've got the engine and the sound. So it really all boils down to running costs at the end of the day.

 

There are so many other options. Volvo 850/V70 - not as nice to look at, but can sound equally cool with a decent exhaust (5 pot burble). 300 bhp not to difficult. Saab 9-5 Aero, lovely looking IMO, but very bland interior, again 300bhp not too difficult to attain, but not as easy as the Volvo, but a 4 pot is never going to sound as good. Subaru Impreza (not that big so not as practical) or Forrester/Legacy. Legnum?

 

All of the turbo'd ones can sound nice to some degree, and they will d*ck all over the NA V6 Alfa's, but they will never sound as good.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Wizard exhausts

 

Start with these....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvSNC8BweTc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmKwwCwGrVg

 

And some more...

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e3swNkupSY&feature=related

 

 

Youtube search results here

 

http://www.youtube.c...l515l2j1j1l4l0.

 

http://www.youtube.c...l1014l6j4l10l0.

[Anthony 1,003]

Ohhhh... that sounds rather fruity

[Sinbad 16]

Terrible reliability and terrible,utter terrible nasty ball ache to do a clutch on one.Theres a starter motor bolt that is nigh on impossible to get at

[BlueBolt 156]

Terrible reliability and terrible,utter terrible nasty ball ache to do a clutch on one.Theres a starter motor bolt that is nigh on impossible to get at

 

My mate has a saloon GTA and his advise is that pretty much every job is an engine out job!! Even to the extent of a radiator change?? Not sure on the accuracy of that though as he may have just been trying to get a point across lol

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Are you mental? Absolutely not! On the rare occasions I see an Alfa estate I think to myself how amazing they look, simply gorgeous!

 

And that V6

[Justin 9]

Yes. Mental. Do it.

 

Lovely places to be and a truly lovely V6, with just enough grunt IMHO, if crap body control. After an all too quick 6 months with a 156 which was faultless apart from the obligatory pedal rubbers falling off, we ended up with a 166 Ti 3.2, which was equally fabulous but managed to get through three gearboxes in 60,000 miles.

 

Do it if you can. Everyone should own an Alfa V6 at some point.

[harryskid 193]

I can get my own back now in answer to the title , for sure you are but you can't help it !

[Cameron 16]

GLP - thanks for the info and videos.

 

I went to see it yesterday and it's even more awesome in the flesh! I had to try very hard to play it cool.. she's had an offer on it already but it was too low, so I've told her I'll have a think then get back to her. In reality my mind is pretty much made up, so I'm going to concentrate on getting my Mondeo sold then if it's still up for grabs I can hopefully hammer the price down a bit, otherwise I'll hope another blue one comes up between now and then.

[feb 47]

No, looks good and it should tick all the boxes as you say.

Do it!

 

Edit:

The design/looks and engine sound is something else!

There's another one but the blue one is more rare and looks more aggressive IMHO!

http://www.pistonhea...les/3616895.htm

Edited March 26, 2012 by feb

[Wallby 47]

Only now seen this topic, I have a 147 GTA and I absolutly love it! I use it every day and easily get 27mpg on my commute and even low 30s on a longer, constant speed run!

 

The inside is such a nice place to be and it makes every journey a little bit special. I sometimes think I should get rid and get a sensible diesel but then I put my foot down, hear the noise and think why would I want anything else.

 

Mine has been very reliable so far and only needing a new thermostat which cost £35! It now warms up much quicker and has slightly improved fuel economy. I also like the fact that you don't see many at all on the road and not many people know what they are!

[Cameron 16]

Awesome!

 

I'm absolutely convinced it's the car I want, I'm just not quite sure how to play it. Part of me wants to get on the phone immediately and put a deposit down but the more sensible (and therefore much smaller) part wants to hold on until I have my Mondeo sold and somewhere to put it. The car needs some work (cambelt) and the woman lost the service booklet when she recently moved house, which is a little off-putting. On the other hand that blue is the definitely the colour but it seems to be pretty rare, I don't want to have to wait ages for another one to show up, likewise I don't want to buy the wrong car just because I'm impatient.

 

It's a tough decision..

[Wallby 47]

Have you been on the alfaonwer forum? Lots of advice and usually a few GTAs for sale. They recomended a cambelt change after every 32k miles on there!

 

This is mine from when I bought it, really need to get out and get some nice photos now we have some nice weather!

 

[Cameron 16]

Looks gorgeous!

 

I just got a text from the seller, she had an offer a few days ago for under £5k and is considering going with it. I reckon I could snap it up for 5, get the cambelt done for £800 then have a nice low mileage blue sportwagon for under £6k! Thoughts? I've told her I'll take the afternoon to think it over.

[Wallby 47]

Go for it! Although I am slightly biased!

 

Give Duncan at Alfanet a ring about the cambelt, think he was a bit cheaper than that and knows them inside out! Ill pm you his number.

[Cameron 16]

Thanks for the PM and advice, I'm going to go with the place local to the seller though for my own piece of mind, I'd hate to risk driving it somewhere and have the belt break on me!

 

Have put in an offer of 5k on the proviso that she takes it to the garage to have the work done, will see what she says!

[GLPoomobile 958]

It's obvioulsy a risk with the cambelt, but I wouldn't worry too much. I'd rather take the gamble and drive to a reputable specialist, than have it taken somewhere local who may not do it properly. Someone on AO had their belt done recently and used a pattern tensioner, which failed within 30 miles! And the manufacturer will not accept any liability and is claiming that the tensioner is fine, even though it's blatantly failed.

 

Can she give any assurance of when it was last done?

 

IIRC you can get it done for £550-£600, but then you've got to factor in the petrol cost if you are going for a specialist.