Why are alfa romeos cheaper than other cars?

roundcrisis

HI there:

thinking of buying a car, I been in all the websites and the alfas look cool and cheap, for example
Alfa Romeo 147 2000 1.6, low millage goes around 9000EUR, what's the catch?

Cheers

silverside

mainly because they are less reliable than similar cars

jhegarty

roundcrisis wrote:

HI there:

thinking of buying a car, I been in all the websites and the alfas look cool and cheap, for example
Alfa Romeo 147 2000 1.6, low millage goes around 9000EUR, what's the catch?

Cheers

cheap to buy / expensive to run

jackbhoy

.....they're Italian, and being Italian they may look great but the build quality/engine/electrics are not so hot! You could get lucky but anyone I know that had one ended up spending a fortune on maintenance. Also, if you are ever unlucky enough to lose keys, it can cost up to €1000 to get replacements. I'm sure lots of Alpha owners will come along and say they never had any problems but they are not one of the highest depreciating cars for nothing!!

mloc123

Things that put me off buying a 156 were:

-Parts are expensive to buy
-Dealership servicing/work is meant to be very expensive on them
-Timing belts, apparantly most local garages don't like doing them and I've heard figues around €1k to get them changed in an Alfa dealer

That put me off and I'm sure other people have similar hang ups making it though enough to move them.

colm_mcm

Yup, mine was a complete heap (146) real fun though!

crosstownk

Great cars to drive but they do give lots of problems - lots.

As a result the trade offer poor trade-in values as they know they will be difficult to shift on unless they are cheap.

A mate of mine bought one 4 months ago (ex lease)- a 2002 156 with 48,000 miles on the clock, sunroof, air con, nice alloys etc, for €7750 and it hasn't given him a moments trouble and he loves it. Personally I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole!

bazz26

It's been a while since we had an "Alfa Romeo: good v bad" type thread on here.

unkel

colm_mcm wrote:

Yup, mine was a complete heap (146) real fun though!

How come you owned an Alfa? Was that before you started to sell Toyotas?

Eoin

bazz26 wrote:

It's been a while since we had an "Alfa Romeo: good v bad" type thread on here.

I was thinking it's been quiet. Not even a peep from our Doctor friend about getting a UK license or something similar in quite some time.

OP, check this thread - there are several links there to Alfa related threads, nothing new is likely to surface in this one.

Mr Magnolia

bazz26 wrote:

It's been a while since we had an "Alfa Romeo: good v bad" type thread on here.

True, true

Linky: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054876833&referrerid=59211&highlight=alfa

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

roundcrisis wrote:

HI there:

thinking of buying a car, I been in all the websites and the alfas look cool and cheap, for example
Alfa Romeo 147 2000 1.6, low millage goes around 9000EUR, what's the catch?

Cheers

because they are crap

Nuttzz

\m/_(>_<)_\m/ wrote:

because they are crap

i suspose skodas are cheaper than VW's because they are crap too :rolleyes:

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

Nuttzz wrote:

i suspose skodas are cheaper than VW's because they are crap too :rolleyes:

no because VW are way overpriced...:D

roundcrisis

wow thanks
I keept looking for other cars, but they looks so ugly and under equiped when compared with a 147, dont know what i ll do.
Thanks again

prospect

Alot of cars are priced because of public perception about their image.

Example, a basic VW is a very expensive car compared to similar models. They are fine cars, but they are, imo, not worth the extra money.
Similar with BMW, they drive well, are reasonably reliable, but is the price difference between a 3 series and a Honda Accord for example, worth it. No.

It cuts both ways, Alfas have a bad reliability image, there is no two ways about that, therefore is reflected in the price.
As an Alfa Fan, I hope they always have this image, that way I can buy a quality & brilliant car for very little money, and with a little extra TLC, it'll serve well for many years.

redman

prospect wrote:

Alot of cars are priced because of public perception about their image.

Example, a basic VW is a very expensive car compared to similar models. They are fine cars, but they are, imo, not worth the extra money.
Similar with BMW, they drive well, are reasonably reliable, but is the price difference between a 3 series and a Honda Accord for example, worth it. No.

It cuts both ways, Alfas have a bad reliability image, there is no two ways about that, therefore is reflected in the price.
As an Alfa Fan, I hope they always have this image, that way I can buy a quality & brilliant car for very little money, and with a little extra TLC, it'll serve well for many years.

I concur, as a current and past Alfa owner , who also drove an Opel, a VW, a Ford and two BMW's in the past, my experience is there are just as reliable as most other brands.

roundcrisis wrote:

wow thanks
I keept looking for other cars, but they looks so ugly and under equiped when compared with a 147, dont know what i ll do.
Thanks again

Most of what you hear is crap and hearsay from people who have never driven one themselves. Of course some have their problems but so have all other cars.

Just use your commonsense when buying one, keep it serviced, treat it well and you can get a real bargin. Some of us are happy for this impression of Alfa's, as we save €€€ while enjoying them and the others can pay their extra dosh for overpriced brands that are supposedly more reliable for their "Peace of mind".

SonOfPerdition

educate yourself on alfa's before making a decision and know what to look for. There a few dedicated forums if you search in google.

couple of points.
timing belts .. ,make sure it's not due as they can be expensive (depends on where you go . .dealers will charge about 700Euro .. but specialists will do it for around 500 i belive).
make sure to look for a full service history.
keep an eye out for the extra's, sunroof, leather interior, alloys.

Alfs's do need TLC, they are not for the typical japanese car driver who doesn't know how to refill the windscreen wash. The earlier selespeeds tend to give more trouble than the manuals so keep that in mind also.

If you spend a little time researching the 147 before you go out looking you'll make a more informed decision.

Depreciation. . . is perfectly fine by me, as prospect said, it means that we'll pick up a perfectly good car that look sand drives great for a very reasonable price.

happy hunting.

Blue850

I worked in a Fiat/Alfa dealership in 2000 and they were giving trouble coming off the transporter. We had one 156 customer who bought a 80's Golf GTi as a second car because the 156 wouldn't go down some side roads without the sump scraping the tarmac.

SonOfPerdition

Blue850 wrote:

I worked in a Fiat/Alfa dealership in 2000 and they were giving trouble coming off the transporter. We had one 156 customer who bought a 80's Golf GTi as a second car because the 156 wouldn't go down some side roads without the sump scraping the tarmac.

Sump or undertray?

Henry Ford III

I knocked 2 undertrays of a 156 Sportivo (lowered suspension?). Admittedly on a country road going quite quickly both times.

I loved driving the car however.

Nuttzz

have a look at the forum at www.alfaowner.com and ask some questions there

Eoin

Henry Ford III wrote:

I knocked 2 undertrays of a 156 Sportivo (lowered suspension?). Admittedly on a country road going quite quickly both times.

I loved driving the car however.

Don't think so, just a different interior trim + side skirts + 16" alloys. Never had that problem myself, but was on pretty good roads 99% of the time.

Blue850

Sump, undertray lasted about 2 weeks, and we had a 2.4 JTD demo get 3 sumps in 6 months!!

testicle

Oh here we go again...

First of all it couldn't be a 2000 147 you're looking at, as they only come out in 2001.

They are a great car, tarnished by it's owners previous reputation. With the advent of the 147, and the facelift 156 in 2002, Alfa reliability has shot up, and is now on a par with other manufacturers.

Whoever said T-belt replacements cost about a grand, you are talking out your arse, try less than half that.

Fantastic car, you won't regret it. Make sure it has a FSH, and if it's around 35k or more, make sure timing belt is done.

miju

prospect wrote:

Alot of cars are priced because of public perception about their image.

Example, a basic VW is a very expensive car compared to similar models. They are fine cars, but they are, imo, not worth the extra money.
Similar with BMW, they drive well, are reasonably reliable, but is the price difference between a 3 series and a Honda Accord for example, worth it. No.

It cuts both ways, Alfas have a bad reliability image, there is no two ways about that, therefore is reflected in the price.
As an Alfa Fan, I hope they always have this image, that way I can buy a quality & brilliant car for very little money, and with a little extra TLC, it'll serve well for many years.

here , here i LOVE my Alfa 147 so I do , have been eying up a few 02 - 03 156's recently cos I love the new shape

sumps are low on alfas all right but if you bear that in mind when driving them then you shouldn't have any problems with them (i mean seriously after your 1st ESPECIALLY 2nd sump being replaced you should have learned your lesson) but suppose your an example of someone who doesn't give the alfa some tlc and evidently drove the arse out of it

SonOfPerdition

Blue850 wrote:

Sump, undertray lasted about 2 weeks, and we had a 2.4 JTD demo get 3 sumps in 6 months!!

So .. the undertray was damaged after driving down a bad road .. someone removed the undertray and decided to continue to drive down the bad road and jaysus .. wouldn't you know it . .the ould sump gets damaged.

... and yet the reliability of the 156 is put into question?

.. alfa's aren't meant for idiot drivers.

maidhc

miju wrote:

your an example of someone who doesn't give the alfa some tlc and evidently drove the arse out of it

Why buy a car supposedly fantastic to drive and then mollycoddle it like a Fiat Uno?

The back roads are where the fun is, and also where you will find hump-backed bridges.

Lex Luthor

I have a 156 since new (2000) reg and has been very reliable. However, the cost of the timing belt to be replaced is about €600 from an independent like TI Autos every 36k miles is reflected in their poor resale. Also, suspension parts don't last as long as other cars on our roads.

The Sportivo has a lowered suspension.

However, 9k for a 2000 reg seems a bit steep. But as one poster said, the 147 didn't come out til 2001. Make sure the service history shows timing belt changed if the mileage is > 36k