ALFA 147 GTA

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Sat May 16, 2009 5:05 pm

Just wondering if anyone here has had a good drive of one of these??

I love the look of the car, and in truth love alfa's in general. I know they have reliability issues and horrific resale but looking through car sales can pick up an 05 or later with 3.2 litre V6, leather seats etc etc for around 22-25 grand. This is with less then 50, 000km on the clock.

From memory car reviewers flawed the turning circle and torque steer and that the auto was horrible (but I will only get a manual).

So - has anyone had a good drive of one? thoughts?

Post by **vipfto** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:24 pm

only one thought its an alfa DONT GO THERE

rock_it · Post by **rock_it** » Sat May 16, 2009 9:26 pm

Old mate of mine worked where they deal with all Alfa's and Italian trucks... Like the pre-delivery unit ... Said they were flawed with problems ...

Half assed job on assembly, and really rated them low ... Warned us never to get one..

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Sun May 17, 2009 12:25 am

but they are so pretty.......
heart says alfa.... brain says golf GTI....

Post by **Supplanter** » Sun May 17, 2009 1:31 am

EURO wrote:but they are so pretty.......
heart says alfa.... brain says golf GTI....

Hmmm...

How about an FTO?

J · Post by J » Sun May 17, 2009 1:56 am

EURO wrote:but they are so pretty.......
heart says alfa.... brain says golf GTI....

Gti ftw! My mate just got one and took me for a test drive. Very quick car and quite capable of corners

koolio1234 · Post by **koolio1234** » Sun May 17, 2009 3:22 am

A mate of mine has an alfa 147 and says they are brilliant when their not breaking down and being towed away, etc, etc...

zuihoujueding · Post by **zuihoujueding** » Sun May 17, 2009 11:16 am

I heard alfa is among the worst bulit European cars. But every better built euro cars are much more expensive. Resale value is notoriously bad. I have sat in one and they are pretty quick pockets.
As you know, FTO 2L V6 can be expensive to fix....not to mention a euro 3.2L V6?

For 22-25K, you simply have plenty of choices...other euro choice is maybe Renault sport? But Golf GTi is proven to be among the best built all round hot hatch and is all over the road.

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Sun May 17, 2009 11:36 am

zuihoujueding wrote:I heard alfa is among the worst bulit European cars. But every better built euro cars are much more expensive. Resale value is notoriously bad. I have sat in one and they are pretty quick pockets.
As you know, FTO 2L V6 can be expensive to fix....not to mention a euro 3.2L V6?

For 22-25K, you simply have plenty of choices...other euro choice is maybe Renault sport? But Golf GTi is proven to be among the best built all round hot hatch and is all over the road.

renault gets great reviews....but just dont like the look of them! yeah I dont be getting a GTI fort 22-25.... minimum 30 I would think, but think the extra 5-8 grand might be worth while....

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Sun May 17, 2009 11:38 am

Supplanter wrote:
EURO wrote:but they are so pretty.......
heart says alfa.... brain says golf GTI....
Hmmm...

How about an FTO?

i have one of those

but.... think its time to move on.... and thats probably why I am looking at a five door GTI. Need something a bit more practical with more creature comforts etc etc. In a dream world would put the FTO into my folks garage and leave it there for a few years but I need the cash!

yano · Post by **yano** » Sun May 17, 2009 1:19 pm

My old boss/mate had one of these, bought brand new. These car's are gorgegous. I even had a chance to give it a drive one time. He owned it for around 2-3years and was used as a daily by his partner while at work. These are the pros and cons from what I've seen and experienced.

Pros: Styling is sex, engine note is AMAZING!!!, car goes hard (chopped v8s with ease) 180kws and 300nm from memory & 0 - 100m in 6secs, interior is brilliant, brakes are fantastic (big big calipers), handles fairly good for the weight of the car, under the hood looks like a show engine. 6speed gearbox is pretty damn good too.

Cons: Resale value is really sh*t. Can be a bit cramped in the back. Parts can be expensive and alfa's aren't cheap for a service (keep in mind the services are done by mechanics who pretty much do ferrari's as well, well here in brisbane anyways), some can suffer from electronical problems but I don't t think it's something major. car is fwd and is a bit on the heavy side cos of the interior. Not the most economical car.

Despite what people have said about the car, after almost 3years of ownership my mate never had problems with it but did make sure it was serviced on time. F.y.i. I've heard a lot of bad stuff about renault's reliability as well, but opinions are just like assholes, everybody has one. If you do get a gta, try and get the monza edition in blue. I rate these cars as the hottest hatch around. Only real reason my friend sold his car was to upgrade to a 4 door otherwise he woulda kept it. Hope the info helps mate

Oh forgot to add, research gti's before you purchase and don't fall into all the hype around these cars. They suffer from timing belt issues due to a design flaw

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Sun May 17, 2009 2:03 pm

yano wrote:My old boss/mate had one of these, bought brand new. These car's are gorgegous. I even had a chance to give it a drive one time. He owned it for around 2-3years and was used as a daily by his partner while at work. These are the pros and cons from what I've seen and experienced.

Pros: Styling is sex, engine note is AMAZING!!!, car goes hard (chopped v8s with ease) 180kws and 300nm from memory & 0 - 100m in 6secs, interior is brilliant, brakes are fantastic (big big calipers), handles fairly good for the weight of the car, under the hood looks like a show engine. 6speed gearbox is pretty damn good too.

Cons: Resale value is really sh*t. Can be a bit cramped in the back. Parts can be expensive and alfa's aren't cheap for a service (keep in mind the services are done by mechanics who pretty much do ferrari's as well, well here in brisbane anyways), some can suffer from electronical problems but I don't t think it's something major. car is fwd and is a bit on the heavy side cos of the interior. Not the most economical car.

Despite what people have said about the car, after almost 3years of ownership my mate never had problems with it but did make sure it was serviced on time. F.why.i. I've heard a lot of bad stuff about renault's reliability as well, but opinions are just like assholes, everybody has one. If you do get a gta, try and get the monza edition in blue. I rate these cars as the hottest hatch around. Only real reason my friend sold his car was to upgrade to a 4 door otherwise he woulda kept it. Hope the info helps mate

Oh forgot to add, research gti's before you purchase and don't fall into all the hype around these cars. They suffer from timing belt issues due to a design flaw

thanks for the info yano.
My old man had an alfa 156 for a few years, the later model and an alfa GT and similarly had no problems at all - but then again he did not have them for all that long!
I know resale is horrible, but that sort of makes them a bargain for buying second hand now.... then again may be very hard to get rid of in a few years time! I like the monza but love the black or silver to be honest.

GTI - yeah have driven a few times, read numerous reviews and joined their forums a few weeks ago. Havent heard about this timing belt issue as yet... when are they failing? certain km range or randomly?

yano · Post by **yano** » Sun May 17, 2009 2:35 pm

Yeah, the 147 gta and the 156 gta share the same basic engine but the 147's have been tinkered with. As for the gti's I think the actual design flaw means that the timing belt needs to get changed quite frequently. Failure's been reported to start even around 30,000kms but generally 50,000. Think it's a continuining problem though...

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Sun May 17, 2009 2:58 pm

ok -I am yet to hear of that happening to anyone on the GTI forum.. will do a search on their site though. at least if its under warranty, not such an issue