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Should i keep my 156

2K views 48 replies 16 participants last post by  Dilley156 
#1 ·
My car is curently in the the garage and i've been quoted £1750ish to fix up my car (this includes timing belts service mot etc). From what i gather my car is worth around the £2000 mark.

So the question i'm struggling with is if it is economical to fix the car or scrap/trade it?

The garage is a waiting my answer
:cry:
 
#2 ·
Sounds alot for just a cam belt, service etc. Maybe if they are changing wishbones and anti-roll bars etc.

Do you know exactly what they are wanting to do to it?

Your speaking to someone who has changed pretty much everything on their 156 so i'd say get it fixed up and keep it for as long as you can. You have to keep ontop of problems with these cars otherwise they get out of hand.
 
#3 ·
Thats crazy.. have you tried getting quotes elsewhere?
I haven't looked for a 156 online but from what I gather you can get a good 156 for that price. Maybe you should source another car, £1750 is big money :(
Could you list what they will be fixing and the prices?
I think we will be able to cut the price down for you
 
#7 ·
Timing belts on a V6 gotta be around 750ish, and a set of tyres (good ones) can easily be 400 notes, proper wishbones and bolts cost 180 per side (from EB) plus fitting, it don't take much:cry:
 
#8 ·
The most expensive things are (including labour)

New rear pads and discs £166.26
Anti roll bar bushes £171.55
Radiator £297.27
Balance shaft seal leaking and gear box seal (they need to drop the gear box out to get into the engine block) £245.75
Hand break cables split £68.73
Timing belts/ tensioners and variator £350.32

The guys at the garage are top blokes so if it needs done, it needs done.

It's just caught my by surprise
 
#11 ·
Just to make you feel better, here's a list of what I've spent over the last 12 months or so;

03-03-09 - Annual service; Oil, oil filter, air filter, auxiliary belt & rear brake pads replaced.
Mileage -39235
Cost - Oil £20, filters £19, auxiliary belt £23, brake pads £25, labour £30. Total £117

14-04-09 - Airbag light on dash. Connected examiner and read fault – passenger curtain airbag valve too high. Carried out test to wiring & found faulty connector. Repaired & deleted faults.
Mileage - 41800
Cost - £17.25 @ Alexanders

20-08-09 - Four new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric tyres fitted. Four wheel alignment checked and reset.
Mileage - 46850
Cost - £454 @ QST

23-10-09 - 12,000 mile service; Oil and filter replaced. Underside of car wax oiled.
Mileage - 51705
Cost - £140 @ QST (including MOT)

01-02-10 - Cam belt, cam belt tensioner, idler, balancer shaft belt, balancer shaft tensioner, variator and water pump replaced @ 36,000 mile service interval. Spark plugs replaced @ 60,000 mile interval.
Mileage - 57950
Cost - £500 @ QST
It'll be going in for an oil change, some suspension work and another 4 tyres shortly. :(
 
#14 ·
Okay, some slightly more realistic prices if you can do some of the work yourself:
Pads and disks (all round i might add) £85 - an easy DIY job
Radiator £70 including new coolant - a fairly easy DIY job
Handbrake cables - often quoted as being broken and needing to be changed but in reality still work perfectly.

The other other items seem reasonable (unless they are plus VAT in which case they are excessive!!)

Oh and the prices I have quoted are what I paid for the bits to do the job myself on my own 156 about six months ago.
 
#24 ·
Does it knock going over bumps then?

To be honest most of the things listed are the usual wear and tear 156 parts.

You could buy in the parts yourself (including that radiator listed above! very good price) and get your garage to fit them.

I know its not what you want to hear but I'd also change the wishbones now as the subfame etc will be dropped for the arb anyway. The wishbones start to go around that mileage.

No point in buying another car as badboybird said, you might have to start all over again.
 
#25 ·
True, it's the math really. Car value = £2000 Repairs = £1750, i'm mentally struggling to justify it :(.

I'm trying to get hold of the garage to tell them i'll sleep on it.

The car has already had it's service mot Belts etc done on it so i owe £652 already. The rest of the faults appeared when the service was getting done :(
 
#26 ·
Join the club lol.

You have to think of it as a pet....would you put your pet down if it was ill, or pay vet bills and make it better? :)
 
#28 ·
:lol:
 
#29 ·
I just MOT'd my bella today, it scraped through for around 200 quid, only just on emissions though, despite a new cat last time:rolleyes: two tyres (worn out by knackered wishbones, done myself a few weeks ago (180 for 1 top and 1 bottom and carrieage and bolts:cry:) (full set last year btw) new rear tie bar arm (22 from eb spares inc carr Vat etc.:cry:) then some petrol additive to help drop the co reading to a scrape through level, and of course the test itself.
And I keep thinking about changing it for a small diesel car:tut:, but I'm buying parts, not losing depreciation...there is no one answer, but to me, doing work yourself is always an option if you have an older car...and older Alfa's need a lot of cash n tinkering IMHO, but mine had more spent by the previous owner looking at his reciepts, prolly seemed OK when the car was newer (and more valueable)

My honest opinion is better the devil you know, to change cars now will waste all the cash you've already spent on it (am I convincing me or you?)
 
#30 ·
not only that but as people have already said you might get another one then find out it need stuff doing anyway, i paid £2500 for my 156 02 plate facelift interior, rare colour and only 53,000 miles, but not long after i got it i had a £300 bill to replace upper wishbone and ARB bushes, so you may as well get yours fixed up
 
#31 ·
I just went through exactly the same thing. For reasons I won't go into on here I was hiving a 72k service on my 05 JTS done at a dealer - cam belts etc and got an almost identical bill. I too had already spent for the cam belt and service when other things arrived.

I actually traded the car in (valueation of £3500) on a Mito 130 Veloce and declined to have the other work done. Got my car back and drove off - got home and cancelled the order. The Mito was great but my 156 had a whole new lease of life. I still have two new tyres to do and some suspension stuff eventually - but I am really glad I kept it.
 
#34 ·
Doesnt help when your neighbour and his brand new BMW Z4 tells you that your car isnt worth the price of a new gearbox in scrap value :mad::mad::mad:
 
#35 ·
Glad my neighbours got a 1.4 megane scenic then:cheese:
 
#41 ·
I think £1750 is very steep to be honest . I've got a V6, just had cambelt , water pump, clutch, plugs, filters, new brake pipes and they even valeted it including shining yhe engine and engine bay for £1300, and that was at an excellent Alfa specialist.
Cambelt and clutch are 2 of the biggest jobs on a V6 too.
 
#45 ·
Great news :thumbs:
 
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