Alfa 146- thoughts?

wex96

Thinking of getting an Alfa 146 1.4 t-spark, no nct or tax. good price. any known problems I should be looking for?

Chonker

If you really must!!!

Give it a good test drive, I know they tend to have gear box problems. Its hard to get a good mechanic to look after them with out paying top €€€.
Make sure the belts have been done at proper intervals.

They are beautifull cars..... until they go wrong....and they will. IMO

ninty9er

Is it 99 or newer and less than €1k, cos other than that I can't see it being worthwhile.

If the bodywork is anyway wrong, you'll eventually crack and have to get that done and resprayed too....trust me....Alfa's have to look pristine....there's no other plus on the 146 other than the looks...and it **might** drive okay, but the interior's **** anyway, put me right off even driving one when I went car shopping.

Lex Luthor

The 146 was never one of the more reliable alfas of recent years.

My sis had 2 and had a lot of problems.

There is a lot to look out for. Have a look on www.alfaowner.com in the 146 technical section and you should find a buyers guide there. Get a compfortable seat..;)

The driving position on them aswell was not great...as I remember the seat was very high even at the lowest position. Definitely down there as one of my less fave Alfas

wex96

OK thanks guys, guess i won't be getting an alfa, not woth the hassle

Lex Luthor

wex96 wrote: »

OK thanks guys, guess i won't be getting an alfa, not woth the hassle

I wouldn't go that far....what about the 156?

richardsheil

It's the bit about no nct etc. that bothers me.

Alfas are good if you get a minter and mind it. One with no NCT doesn't sound like a minter to me.

Richard

skyhighflyer

We had an Alfa 146 back in 1998 and kept it 'till '02. It was a rare car in that it was a '96 model which had the 1.6 litre boxer engine (as used in the 33 and even as far back as the Alfasud). Never gave a moment's trouble except for a screechy fanbelt on cold mornings and it sounded fantastic, even though the gearing was too low, pulling about 4,000 rpm in top at 70mph. They went downhill with the T Spark engines with their well known T Belt failures. Also the interior is admittedly a pile of crap. But at the right price I'd go for one.

bitemybanger

Alpha make lovley looking cars, just a pitty about thier reliabillity:(

Lex Luthor

bitemybanger wrote: »

Alpha make lovley looking cars, just a pitty about thier reliabillity:(

what's an Alpha?

bazz26

Alfa Romeo's improved reliability and build quality really started with the 156. You can pick up 7 or 8 year old examples for silly money these days. I would recommend one over the 146.

bitemybanger

Lex Luthor wrote: »

what's an Alpha?

Have you nothing better to do that correct typos or spelling mistakes on the fourm??:rolleyes: get a life

ninty9er

bitemybanger wrote: »

Have you nothing better to do that correct typos or spelling mistakes on the fourm??:rolleyes: get a life

In fairness it's a motors forum.:pac::pac: One would expect that contributors should be able to spell Alfa properly, particularly when it's in the thread title.

kyote00

To be fair to Mr Luthor, 5 typos in a sentence with 11 words....

Alfa's reliability is better than your spelling

Redsoxfan

Never had a 146 so can't comment on that particular model. Would urge against ruling out ALFA's in general based on one model though.....as Lex suggests, www.alfaowner.com is a great source of info, biased, yes, but you still get a feel for the issues.

Even better, if you find a 146 owner on www.alfaireland.ie they may be of great help.

Best of luck.