Oh no, gf has eye on 146 1.4.

Kersh

:eek: , she is getting her first car, and has fallen in love with the idea of a 146, preferably silver.
From what I have heard off people they can be a lot of trouble. Are they?
If we go see one, apart from normal stuff to check, is there anything particular to concentrate on??
It would have to be a 1.4, and cost less than 4k.
I have bought some pretty nice cars recently for me , but the thought of her first car giving any trouble terrifies me.
Come on people, advise me..........

flanzer

Should this not be in the Personal Issues forum!!

I'd say dump your girlfriend, it'll be less hassle now to get rid of her, than the hassle you'll get in the future trying to get rid of a 146!!

......Just kidding....Obviously try to get her to go Jap. My Girlfriend bought a '96 Colt with 80000 miles 2 years ago for €2000. Kept it for a year and put up another 22000 miles, and sold it for €1800. Almost free motoring while reliable too

jayok

Not another Alfa thread...

Ok my missus had a 00 146 Sport Pack and here's what I noticed:

Pros
----
1. Very comfortable car - could do a long drive on it and still feel refreshed
2. The 1.4 T-spark was great fun, a hoot to drive!
3. Economy wasn't bad given the DOHC of it.
4. Alloys and Spots were standard on this

Cons
----
1. It didn't seem that well put together - honestly
2. Visibility out the rear window was poor
3. Wiper's weren't great
4. The A-pillar was a huge blind spot
5. Expensive to service at a main Alfa dealer (twice the sparks!)

Ok, now for the other bits experienced, that are not necessarly cons of the car but this specific car we had (not an Alfa bashing thread). Seperately from the above we suffered three failures of the car within the 24 months of owning it:

1. Coolant Leak @ 13k,
2. Gearbox Failuire @ 18k
3. Oil seal leak @ 27k

All on a car 24 months old with 27k miles a bit much. Again, it could be that we were unlucky with the particular car, maybe not all 146s are like that, but during the case with Alfa, ended up speaking to other 146 owners who were suffering similar problems. Maybe we were just all unlucky So the question is: "Do you feel lucky?"

Anan1

A friend of mine was the same about 3 1/2 years ago - wanted a red 146 and couldn't be talked out of it. I found her a 99 1.4TS with 40k and she's been driving it ever since. She loves it, and nothing major has gone wrong with it since.