Share your Alfa 156 horror stories with me

BeardyGit

Hey Wes,

Check out the US based insurance broker 'Clements'. You need to tell them you're coming here on assignment for 12 months to get their overseas policy issued in the first place. They'll have an insurance policy issued by a local insurance company/broker here in Ireland, then once you're here a couple of months, you can call them and tell them you're going to have an extended stay here.....They won't load your policy or increase your premium at renewal. Don't tell them you've moved here for any more than 12 months in the first place though, or they won't issue the policy....I think it's the local insurance companies that refuse to lose their excessive premia to a US insurer, so they won't play ball with Clements if they know you'd be long stay initially....

Hope that makes sense and helps some. BTW, I know probably half a dozen Texans all insured with Clements this way - They all pay the same kind of premium - US$770 or thereabouts, fully comprehensive, on pretty much anything up a 3 litre BMW X5....

Cheers,

Gil

PS: We had a new Alfa GTV JTD diesel coupe this last weekend in Italy - Awesome car - I'd buy one if I had the lids to spend....

galwaytt

cjt156 wrote:

Alfa 156 electrics are by Bosch; so its obviously the Huns' fault...

....whereas the dash electrics in a TT are Italian...........and they're definately bogus...........

Mitch Connor

ned78 wrote:

There's one of these pootling about Cork, the driver has a permenant smile on his face. I can understand why!

There is one like it in Gorey - driver is a ****. Dangerously overtook myself and my bro, and 3 other cars, before hammering the brakes so he could cut another driver up and get back into lane before he hit a artic... idiot.

Sound out of it is unreal though - when it accelerated past us we though someone had actually crashed are we checking to see what had happened.

ciarsd

Gil_Dub wrote:

PS: We had a new Alfa GTV JTD diesel coupe this last weekend in Italy - Awesome car - I'd buy one if I had the lids to spend....

GT Gil? Interesting hire car - was it anymore expensive to hire out versus others in its class?

C_Breeze

red broken down alfa 156 on the m50 just before the red cow exit cauing a bit of a delay yesterday evening , :rolleyes:

10-10-20

SAAB broken down on the hard shoulder of the M50 the other day... turbo?
Who cares! All cars break down.

siralfalot

blue Audi A4 broken down on the M4 on Monday afternoon..............

as said, all cars break down

10-10-20 wrote:

I wish. I replced these. I then noticed that the roll-bar was loose when not under tension. It's a pig of a job to do - have to drop the engine frame...!

thats a pisser, it is a pig of a job alright, I replaced my front ARB with a 156 GTA spec ARB while I had the car torn apart for some major suspension and drivetrain upgrades and modifations, it made a massive differance to the handling, it goes like its on rails now

BeardyGit

ciarsd wrote:

GT Gil? Interesting hire car - was it anymore expensive to hire out versus others in its class?

You lot are going to think I'm taking the mickey with this one...but...They gave it to us as a 'free upgrade' from the Lancia Y we'd booked!!! Europecar charged us €109 for the 'Y' from Sunday morning 'til Tuesday morning with comprehensive insurance, no excess etc. We turned up to collect the nasty little Y at around 10:30am....I can only guess they'd run out of 3 door hatchbacks by then, or the guy fancied one of the women.... Feck it, who's complaining - Not me!

Couldn't get over how economical it was too - We did 470km on 24 litres, with the air-con keeping it down at 20 C the whole time.... If it wasn't for the mass depreciation on Alfa's, I'd almost consider finance to buy one - It was a real beauty of a car.

Marcus.Aurelius

Great thread guys. It's a piss-contest between alfa-ites. Nobody is diagreeing with you. Noboday cares if you love alfas, the rest of us know the score at this stage.

Alfas are sh*te, just like our american colleague indicated originally. And I know from Fleet experience that they are dreadful heaps.

10-10-20

^ flipping Beemer drivers eh? (You'd know their likes a mile away.)

GavMan

Just picked up my 156 tonight. I fecking love it

Hotwheels

Best of luck with it...Another good Alfa Forum

wyk

Poking around the web, i see there are a few chip and intake/exhaust upgrades for the JTD Alfa's, averaging 190 HP or so. Sounds like fun, assuming you can get used to shifting at 3500 RPM, or whatever the redline is in an Alfa diesel...

Wez

astraboy

maoleary wrote:

Great thread guys. It's a piss-contest between alfa-ites. Nobody is diagreeing with you. Noboday cares if you love alfas, the rest of us know the score at this stage.

Alfas are sh*te, just like our american colleague indicated originally. And I know from Fleet experience that they are dreadful heaps.

Maybe we should all go away and buy a 1.6 corolla so? Yes it'll last forever, but if we wanted the worlds most BORING car we would have asked. Alfa's need to be looked after, far more then a "drive it till it stops" toyota. If you are perpared to put up with more maintenance and weekly checks you would not need to perform on a regular saloon, the 156 would be a great car. Performance, styling and handling far better then the more mundane competitors. And as for fleet experience, would'nt most of them have had the arse driven out of them? No wonder they broke down!

ciarsd

wyk wrote:

Poking around the web, i see there are a few chip and intake/exhaust upgrades for the JTD Alfa's, averaging 190 HP or so. Sounds like fun, assuming you can get used to shifting at 3500 RPM, or whatever the redline is in an Alfa diesel...

Wez

3500RPM is roughly where the power literally dies and time to pull another gear!

Angel Tuning, amongst a few others, are very popular for JTDm engine tuning. I've not bothered, I'm happy enough with it from factory, as intended.

Another relatively cheap, but excellent upgrade (GTA & JTDm gearbox only), is the Q2 LSD. No mods needed, direct swap - parts cost €350ish then add labour. :cool:

siralfalot

astraboy wrote:

Maybe we should all go away and buy a 1.6 corolla so? Yes it'll last forever, but if we wanted the worlds most BORING car we would have asked. Alfa's need to be looked after, far more then a "drive it till it stops" toyota. If you are perpared to put up with more maintenance and weekly checks you would not need to perform on a regular saloon, the 156 would be a great car. Performance, styling and handling far better then the more mundane competitors. And as for fleet experience, would'nt most of them have had the arse driven out of them? No wonder they broke down!

couldn't have put it better myself, some people just like to have something a bit more involving, I know personally I couldn't deal with corolla ownership, and the uber reliability and boredom that comes with it, I guess at the end of the day, peoples choice in cars reflect their personality somewhat.

ciarsd wrote:

3500RPM is roughly where the power literally dies and time to pull another gear!

Angel Tuning, amongst a few others, are very popular for JTDm engine tuning. I've not bothered, I'm happy enough with it from factory, as intended.

Another relatively cheap, but excellent upgrade (GTA & JTDm gearbox only), is the Q2 LSD. No mods needed, direct swap - parts cost €350ish then add labour. :cool:

in the 2.4jtd the power drops off at 4200rpm, and in a diesel 700rpm is a lot, 3000rpm in fifth (edited: why did i say third? ) is 100mph.
I for one can vouce for the effectiveness of the Q2 limited slip differential, for such a simple modification it transforms the car, giving grip where once there was understeer.

I know its no "supercar" as some diesel drivers (Golf TDI drivers especially) seem to think their cars are, but it is relatively quick.

wyk

Cool. I was hoping the diesel tech would make the drive a tad mroe itneresting. And as I said before, having a diesle car is a bit of a novelty. One that handles fair and looks good would be a lovely bonus.

My Dodge Cummins Dually has a chip in it. That alone has increased the torque by quite a bit. I don't know of the european cars, but here in the states, most larger trucks basically have detuned heavy truck engines in them. They have a smaller block, smaller turbo, but are very similar to their bigger brethren otherwise. So putting in a chip that changes how much juice can be sent into the chambers and when, make a HUGE difference here since the injectors are nearly identical, if not indentical in an ISB and ISC motor. An ISC Cummins produces up to 1350 ft lbs of torque in a medium duty 6-13 ton rated truck. The ISB version in my Dodge produces 600 ft lbs from the factory. Toss in a chip and suddenly yer seeing 800-1000 ft lbs easily.

Yup, it is an absolute monster. Diesel tech has come a LONG ways.

Wez

siralfalot wrote:

couldn't have put it better myself, some people just like to have something a bit more involving, I know personally I couldn't deal with corolla ownership, and the uber reliability and boredom that comes with it, I guess at the end of the day, peoples choice in cars reflect their personality somewhat.



in the 2.4jtd the power drops off at 4200rpm, and in a diesel 700rpm is a lot, 3000rpm in third is 100mph.
I for one can vouce for the effectiveness of the Q2 limited slip differential, for such a simple modification it transforms the car, giving grip where once there was understeer.

I know its no "supercar" as some diesel drivers (Golf TDI drivers especially) seem to think their cars are, but it is relatively quick.

666bxg

Just to add my experience..... (hope its not too late!)

Brother in law bought a brand new 156 selespeed. Timing belt broke after 30,000km (yes kilometres) requiring an engine rebuild. Usual faults with air con and electrics too....

astraboy

From what I've read the timing belt is a big issue with them, they need to be changed every 35,000 miles. Like I said, if you want rock solid reliability then buy a corolla.

Lex Luthor

I have my 156 7.5 yrs from new and has only failed to start twice and both occasions was due to my kids leaving the interior light on

Change the timing belt/variator every 36,000-40,000 miles which will set you back about €600, keep an eye on the suspension and change the bits when they start to wear and you should have great driving....I have and plan to keep it for another 7.5ys. Up to 87,000 miles now and I've only ever had to replace the rear stub axles bushes once and the rest of the suspension that was checked recently is good for another 20-30k.

Thinking of treating it to a nice Cadamuro facelift in the near distance future

If you do buy one, just make sure it has a service history

ciarsd

siralfalot wrote:

in the 2.4jtd the power drops off at 4200rpm, and in a diesel 700rpm is a lot, 3000rpm in fifth (edited: why did i say third? ) is 100mph.
I for one can vouce for the effectiveness of the Q2 limited slip differential, for such a simple modification it transforms the car, giving grip where once there was understeer.

Maybe I was a little harsh with my guestimates in my previous post there is certainly more power beyond 3500RPM I just prefer to short shift, particularly from 3rd/4th gear onwards, plenty of torque at your disposal there

ciarsd

Lex Luthor wrote:

Thinking of treating it to a nice Cadamuro facelift in the near distance future

If you do buy one, just make sure it has a service history

Nice treat! I did it to my 147 a couple of years back - the fit and finish of their products is top notch. I was very pleased with the results.