Having had the car for a couple of weeks I thought I'd better get a photo or two up, having never driven an Alfa before let alone owned one I'm amazed how quickly they get under your skin. One of the best decisions I've ever made. It's hard to believe it's 11 years old. Anyway, here it is
Nice!
I especially like those wheels - definitely the best of the early 156 wheels IMHO.
Seat looks good too doesn't it - considering as you said, 11 years old.
Looks the same spec as mine and maybe the same age reg Oct 1999. Always looked good in Silver...!
I also changed those wheels though because although they look great i wanted something a little wider with less rubber. Went from 195 60 15R to 225 45 17RZ The handling has improved massively.
I think the colour is the same as mine, and thats 612A. Silver but not sure of the name.
How's the condition of the sunroof rubber seal? Mine has shrunk in the corners and ive had to fit weatherstrip to stop it howling when going over 40. Its also bubbling slightly in the front centre join but its not to noticable. Aside from that it still works great and is a real joy on a summer evening.
Thanks for the comments folks, my last couple of cars have had 18's with low profile tyres and they were a nightmare on the battle scarred roads near me, I've still got the 530d (for the moment, it's going soon) and the potholes have eaten two tyres in the last 8 months, my next door neighbour has his own wheel and tyre business so I get the OE runflats at a very nice price but it's still a hell of a lot of money.
So my 156 with the 15's and nice Pirellis with a decent sidewall give such a fantastic ride quality that it only makes me love the car more. I've just got back from dropping the children off at nuresery and school and caught one of the other Dad's checking the car out in the nursery car park. Looked like a 'what a lucky (insert own expletive) he is' moment. Then I started it up....and gunned it on to the ring road.
Oh and yes, my sunroof has wind noise above 40 but I've just put a new Sony bluetooth head unit in that sounds fantastic so it kinda cancels it out, or I tip it very slightly unless it's wet. It is 612/A silver.
Ok it wouldn't let me upload any photos yesterday but I wonder whether they were too big so I'm trying now with some phone pics that will be far smaller files.
Fair point. The BMW has served its' purpose for getting us, three children and the pooch around the country but now that the youngest is out of the wide hard shell car seat and on a booster I don't need all that space. So the 5 is going very soon to be replaced by whatever my wife wants as I've run the larger and more expensive cars for the last few years. At the moment it's looking like a Honda CR-V or a Toyota Rav 4, big enough, comfy ride and more importantly, it's what she would like. After all, I've got my Italian rocket.....
99 was a good year for silver with standard wheels...
I was selling them back then and I've always liked this colour scheme on the standard cars. The original promotional material had the same car so it just looks right. Love the wood, love the wheels, would like some blue momo to finish it off...
forgot to mention, I've had it 2 yrs now, cost £900 as a part ex taken in against new A4. The tragedy is, if had come in 12months later it would've been cubed on scrappage.
Yep although scrappage got some right old heaps of the road it also meant that precisely these sort of cars would have ended up as a big block of metal.
Thing that gets me is that I'm now running an 11 year old car that seems to have lots of life left in it, how much more environmentally friendly can you get? Where's the real comparison between some soulless box and this gorgeous shape with a (comparatively) massive engine up front.
I could have ended up with an A4 or similar myself, I'm SO happy I sidestepped that and got a proper car with soul.
Came in on wednesday scrappage - not everyone's cup of cafe au lait but when did you last see a tidy one? Can't be that bad, it was driven from Surrey to Swansea!
And don't get me started on it being greener to crush this than put a new A3 on the road....
As part of my election manifesto, anyone who chopped in what I consider to be a decent car on some plastic lined Korean heap of turgidity will be forced to watch whilst former employees of the British car industry smash their new car to pieces with sledge hammers.
Guy I work with runs a deax cheveaux on the Isle of Wight, classic bit of kit. When I think of someone firing my Alfa in on scrappage bearing in mind I paid just over half what you'd have got if it qualified (owned for a year etc) it makes me shudder, and that's before I get to my 19 year old Golf Gti.........
I don't think Audi are building them in Korea (yet) but i take your point. You can't move near me for Picantos and Getz's where there used to be old but tidy Puntos and Fiestas... Seems crazy to throw money at a scheme that benefits overseas car makers.
99T BMW 523se touring couple of weeks ago. mint. crushed.
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