Hello all….
Just had my Bella in for her 55,000 KM service (about 34K’ish miles) so time for a bit of a report. I bought my Bella in March 2006
The 159 16V JTDm has been an exceptional machine, the build quality overall is very good, but some items, like the center arm rest (the Fridge) I find still get in the way when changing gear. The engine under tray squeaks if not kept tightened up, this can drive you nuts at slow speeds.
I found the standard audio system more than capable of coping with Ian Gillian &Deep Purple, pumping out…
The standard seats are very comfy, even doing long stints, 2hrs+
The 1.9 16V is an excellent engine, but earlier on at about 10K miles fuel economy suffered, I had it back and they changed the MAF. And it seems to have solved the problem. But she is still heavy enough in slow traffic, round town, and whatnot.
I thought the gearbox a bit notchy in the beginning, but don’t notice it know
A few months ago, when I looked in the rear view mirror I was putting out loads of White Smoke, no warning lights etc, I pulled in and had a look and found nothing wrong under the bonnet. While ticking over she was still putting out a lot of smoke.
I drove on to a friends house, and over the space of a quarter of a mile the smoke stopped. His neighbor is good with diesel engines, said turbo was fine etc. And I had her back and they said she was fine. So I’m not sure what happened there? But it has not happened since.
Rear tyre wear is still a problem, I am now on my third set of rear boots, and she’s being tracked again. The thing is, she drives straight, corners excellent, and so, ya got to wonder at this. The garage was excellent when I first brought this to their attention, and replaced the whole set.
Overall my Bella is an excellent car, in spite of the tyre wear, if this is the price you pay for going round corners like you are on rails. So be it!
The folks at Lismard Auto World in Portlaios have been excellent in taking care of the car. Anybody thinking about buying, I’d give john Lynch a call, I’ve found them very good on price.
Roll on next March, when I hope to drive off in a 2.4
