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1st alfa - 147 1.6 ts lusso - few questions

17K views 47 replies 18 participants last post by  alfa_147_lusso 
#1 ·
hi all,

i have just made a purchase on a 03 plate 147 1.6 ts lusso. its done 73k miles and only had 1 owner. will be picking it up next weekend.

what i wanted to know is a few answers to some questions and concerns i have

1 - i am not rich person and have only ever owned small cheap to run cars, the last car i owned was a kia and although a cheapish car, i never had any mechanical problems or any faults for that matter in the 5 years i owned it, only usual service costs, which again was only £100 a year. have i made a mistake by getting an alfa as i have learned that they can be expensive to maintain, is this true? a few people started putting me off as they said it will break down a lot or have faults all the time and when it does it will cost you through the roof to get fixed. will i have lots of problems with it that needs constant fixing?

2 - i understand the cambelt was replaced at 44k miles and therefore i have about 5 -6k left before the 36k mark again. i thought i could just take it to the local garage to get done as it cost £100-£150 to do on cars i have had before, after reading on here it seems that most people won't take it to a local garage and needs to go to a 'specialist independant' which again is going to cost a lot isn't it? whats peoples opinions on this and what sort of price am i looking at to get done with say the service included e.g. oil/filter change etc.? if people do recommend 'specialist', i live in swindon area and have heard that there is a decent garage nearby (optima) i think its called, anyone know the rate if it was taken there?

3- i have also read that with owning an alfa, the oil needs to be checked all the time, as i have bought 2nd hand and do not know which type of oil is in it, can i just top up with new oil? also what does people recommend, i have heard 5w40 or 10w40 is best?

4 - as previosul mentioned, the car has done 73k miles but it looks like its been looked after well and has lots of service receipts going back to when the car was new, how long do these 1.6 twinspark engines last, have i got a lot of miles left on it?

any other tips and help people got for a new alfa driver?

sorry for all the questions, just trying to get a bit of a better understanding before owning one really.

thanks for your help in advance, its really appreciated.
 
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#3 ·
Remember , Alfa's aren't what non alfa owners say they are :thumbs:
Once you drive your Alfa a bit more , you'll realise how unique and worth it ,it is.

It also might be a good idea to do a complete oil change so you know whats in your car.
 
#4 ·
You won't get a cam belt change for less than about £300 plus i would expect your car to need the variator doing as well. I paid £375 for this work, i doubt if your "local" garage would be any cheaper, thats if you could even rely on them doing the job correctly! Alfa's need a few special tools to do a cam belt swap that a normal garage may not have and you can't just bodge it like you can on many older cars.
 
#6 ·
thanks for your quick responses - so with the oil would it definately need a whole change or would it be ok to top it up with the 10w40 oil?

ah thats what i was dreading £300+ for a cam belt change seems quite expensive, what is it that makes it cost so much? also when i am due for the change could i get service and cam belt change from specialist for under £400?

smaky? is that the Optima garage in wootton bassett, what sort of prices would i be looking at from there?

thanks again

ps the car only has 1 key, how easy and expensive is it to get another key so i have the 2? would i need to go to alfa dealership to get it?
 
#8 ·
I've cut and pasted a bit about Smaky below.
Someone clevere than me on here will be able to tell you how to PM him.

Smaky's Avatar
Smaky Smaky is offline
Status: YFSWM, GSOH, FTGH.
Club Member
Membro Premio

Club Member Number: 592
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: United Kingdom
County: Wiltshire
Posts: 8,221
Images: 5

Member car:
146, 155V6 + 159Ti rip
 
#9 ·
I've cut and pasted a bit about Smaky below.
Someone clevere than me on here will be able to tell you how to PM him.

Smaky's Avatar
Smaky Smaky is offline
Status: YFSWM, GSOH, FTGH.
Club Member
Membro Premio

Club Member Number: 592
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: United Kingdom
County: Wiltshire
Posts: 8,221
Images: 5
Member car:
146, 155V6 + 159Ti rip
Stalker!!! ha ha:lol:
Just joking:)
 
#10 ·
Hi,
you don't need to be a rich person to own an alfa, but you can't be a cheap skate either.
Clean oil is key to keeping engine in good health pref 2x oil changes every year.
Might be a cheap car 2nd hand for what it is but it still needs good maintenance to keep running well.
If you are worried about cost youre buying the wrong car, alfas deserve to be looked after properly.
Good luck
 
#11 ·
Hi there - welcome to Alfa ownership and Alfaowner!
Please see below - I just posted this in response to someone asking about the annual ownership cost of their Alfa - please note this is my experience and I'm hoping not spend this sort of money again any time soon!

Got my 147 just over a year ago for the same sort of budget you are talking about - 1.6 TSpark Lusso with red leather (easy wipe clean for the kids!) and 16" sport alloys. Despite overall good condition and low mileage (57000 at the time) I still spent about £1800 in the first few months of ownership!! Full service, cambelt + tensioner, water pump, sump(!), spark plugs, 1 tyre, wiper motor/linkage + new arms and aero blades, exhaust mountings, battery........!!
Having said all that I love it and it drives really well - this year it passed its MOT with no problems at all and I just gave it a lubrication service for its interim service.
Can't truthfully say in my experience it is cheap to look after - but that is only based on my first year's ownership. Good luck with finding the right one!

Good luck and enjoy! :)
 
#12 · (Edited)
Hi.
The cambelt does require a few special tools and a bit of specialist knowledge to do it properly. Probably best to take it to someone who knows what they're doing to avoid catastrophe!
The 1.6 TS does use more oil than most modern egines and will require topping up in between services. I would only use a good quality 10w40 fully synthetic (Selenia is the Alfa recommended brand) and yes, it's a good idea to do a change in between normal service intervals. An oil change can also quieten down a noisy variator (diesel-like noise when first started).
I haven't tried it but I guess you should be able to get a 2nd hand fob off e-bay and then just take it to Alfa to be programmed: I think it's just a case of getting the ECU to accept the key.
I had one of these for 3 years and it was a great car, fantastic to drive. My girlfriend had a £25k BMW at the same time and it was a far better drive than that. Guess what car she's got now...
Enjoy!
 
#13 ·
So far my 147 with 103k has had a new battery (this morning) and had a clutch and will be getting 2 new keys off my key insurers. Fair enough its going need a cam belt by end of the year which could be £400 but....... I will know that the clutch should be good for a good few years at least the battery is good for at least 3yr's (guaranteed for 3yr's) and when cam belt is done that's good for at least 3yr's going on present mile per year. So if we keep it for 3yr's if nothing else needs doing apart from general maintenance that's less then £300 a year on keeping it on the road. Not a bad cost really for the fun and admiration we get for it, iv'e never known a 9yr old car get called posh by so many people
 
#15 ·
thanks again for all your replies.

i fully understand this car needs to be looked after regarding oil and cam belt changes etc and i knew that before making the purchase. but i'm just a bit worried i am going to be hit with bills such as Jesamel, was he just unlucky that he had to spend £1800 in the first few months or is it quite common for users to spend that? where were these repairs done at Jesamel, were they local specialised garages or the main dealers?

is smaky the owner of the garage in wootton bassett, named optima?

as for the oil, yes this is all fine, i will ensure oil is always topped up, if i don't know the brand of oil in there now is it safe to top up with 10w40 oil on top of whats in there already?

any more ideas on the duplicate key, £180 seems a bit steep, anyone had any luck to get one a bit cheaper - if not, does the £180 include everything e.g. key itself and the programming of it?

anyone know of a site where i can get hold of a free 147 owners manual, just want to start learning a bit about the car before i pick it up?

thanks again everyone, sorry if i'm being a pain just want to make sure i know what i am doing before actually collecting car - as previously mentioned, only ever had small cars that didn't really require any maintence at all so its good i've found this forum as its really helping me to get an understanding of what i should be doing etc :)
 
#21 ·
There is guy who advertises on ebay and is also on AO who repairs keys for a fraction of the cost of a new one - worth doing a search on 147/156 key repairs.....

I got a manual on CD from ebay - haven't used it much but quite good for reference for a couple of quid.
:thumbs:
 
#18 ·
Smaky is a guy who looks after Alfas in his spare time....he knows what he's doing, no doubt about that, he has plenty of experience, but he isn't a full-time Alfa mechanic - so he'll help you if he can but don't expect him to be on call at a minute's notice.

He isn't the owner of a garage in Wooton Bassett:)

I've been running cheap Alfas for many a year now - OK, I'm able to sort out most issues myself, but I certainly haven't spent vast sums maintaining them, They aren't really cars to run on a "service once a year and forget" basis, however.......they do give rewards that a Kia won't, on the other hand :)
 
#19 ·
I went to local clutch specialist and it was £450 for clutch slave cylinder and flywheel machining as it was badly marked. This was cheap compared to a national place that wanted £700+ just for clutch. As for your key issue get key cover on your insurance (about £20 a year) then claim on it after a while, mine doesn't have any excess so not cost me anything for 2 new keys.
 
#20 ·
"i fully understand this car needs to be looked after regarding oil and cam belt changes etc and i knew that before making the purchase. but i'm just a bit worried i am going to be hit with bills such as Jesamel, was he just unlucky that he had to spend £1800 in the first few months or is it quite common for users to spend that? where were these repairs done at Jesamel, were they local specialised garages or the main dealers?" -

Hi there - this wasn't meant to be scare tactics as I was in the same boat as you just over a year ago. My wife bought the car for me (lucky me!) and she chose well. Without going into huge detail I had issues with the independent dealer we bought it from. The £1800 was 3 separate visits using 2 independent garages that I've used for years (neither Alfa specialists but very competent) - part of which was the very unexpected and expensive replacement sump (Something like £250/350 for the part alone if I remember rightly from Alfa). It was cracked and I believe should have been replaced before we ended up buying the car and putting right other peoples botch jobs...
Anyway, since we've made the investment in the car and all the subsequent repairs it not only drives superbly but I have the satisfaction of knowing what was done and when. As stated yesterday, I'm hoping I got off to a very expensive start but hope to be spending far less for some time to come. The recent lubrication service and MOT was done by Alfa main dealer Allams of Epsom for about £125.00 which I thought was very reasonable. The next job is brakes which I hope to do myself.......:thumbs:
 
#22 ·
thanks again for the help and advice - really looking forward to picking up my car the weekend, just hoping its a good one and not one that i am going to have endless amounts of trouble with, fingers crossed.

anyone know how long the twinspark engine lasts on average if maintained well - 150k or less?
 
#24 ·
really?? i have been looking round for a few weeks around the south of england e.g. bristol and couldn't find anything for much less than £3500 that had less than 80k on clock.

i paid £3400 in the end, not leather just cloth, full service history etc.

why the high prices down this way?
 
#31 ·
right picked up car and all seems well, all electrics are working etc.

clutch pedal is quite squeaky though - anyone know of a way to stop it squeaking?

when reading through mot and previous service there were just a couple of things that maybe you can help with on here.

1. couple of stone chips to windscreen - i will contact autoglass to get done through insurance

2. advisory on mot says "exhaust shows signs of deterioration" - if and when the exhaust rusts more, will it be expensive for replacement?

3. on service notes it says "cracked heat shield, causing rattaling" - again is this something that can be left and also how much would it cost to fix?
 
#38 ·
2. advisory on mot says "exhaust shows signs of deterioration" - if and when the exhaust rusts more, will it be expensive for replacement?

3. on service notes it says "cracked heat shield, causing rattaling" - again is this something that can be left and also how much would it cost to fix?

Just got my back box on 2002 147 2.0 replaced today mate. Mines was rusty and the outer box had cracked too, but when I took that off I found it was dented (must have been when the previous owner reversed into a kerb or something!)

It cost me £60 from a local spares/autoparts store but I was going to order one from here:

Car Parts and Car Accessories - Buy Parts By

AR233J Box+Tail Pipe Cost : £37.43 + vat


You'll have to select make etc. then click on more info. This part is identical for both the 1.6 and 2.0 and part number is AR233J

By the time I would have paid the wee bit extra P&P to N.Ireland I wouldn't have been saving much anyway. I've read somewhere that this part goes for £110 at the stealers!

Again you might want to leave it but its good to replace it even for the look of it!

I've noticed a nicer note since getting her on, more of a quiet purr now!

-Phil
 
#33 ·
All 147's have rusty back boxes and they are picked up at every MOT. Unless its got a hole in it don't worry about it, ditto the heat shield, they always appear to crack. If you get a new one it'll just crack again.
Also the MOT people often pick up marks on the windscreen - I was lead to believe that repairs are not very effective if they are not done quite soon after the damage happened so the cracked glass gets contaminated.
 
#34 ·
ok so both back box and heat shield will be fine to leave and won't cause me any problems? as for window, i have contacted autoglass who said they will need to replace windscreen, not too expensive as most of it will be covered by insurance, just a pain. hopefully once done, i'll be lucky enough to not need another window any time soon :)
 
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