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09-01-2008
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#26 (Post Link)
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AO Gold Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Bridgend, South Wales
Posts: 11,999
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
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09-01-2008
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#27 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Gloucester
Posts: 239
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
More, actually. I paid £3,300 last year. The box and clutch were done under warranty, The exhaust, Q2 and suspension work was £3,000, and the MAF/Cambelt was £1,000.
The theory goes that every thing that needs doing is done and uprated to last longer. I'm planning on keeping the car for another 4 years.
Also, the equivilant 5 series was about £7k. That's the only other car that I was considering when I bought the 166. Untill the 159 comes down in price (2.4 SW Ti in black with tan leather, please  ), there's nothing else that interests in my price range. |
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09-01-2008
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#28 (Post Link)
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AO Gold Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Bridgend, South Wales
Posts: 11,999
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Set myself a budget of £8K for an exec saloon, nothing else came near when I bought mine !
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10-01-2008
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#29 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bray, Ireland
Posts: 323
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Same here Howell. I was looking at the Volvo s80 t6, the bmw 840 v8, the Audi S6 quattro, but nothing came close.
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11-01-2008
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#30 (Post Link)
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AO Gold Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Bridgend, South Wales
Posts: 11,999
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by klapanciusz
Same here Howell. I was looking at the Volvo s80 t6, the bmw 840 v8, the Audi S6 quattro, but nothing came close.
Glad you bought it though ?
............
Know I am !!!  |
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11-01-2008
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#31 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Gloucester
Posts: 239
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Put me in the "Glad" catagory, too.  |
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11-01-2008
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#32 (Post Link)
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Club Member
Club Member Number: 266
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: South Lanarkshire
Posts: 2,129
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by minch
Put me in the "Glad" catagory, too.
Put me in the extatic category then.
Pomro |
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15-01-2008
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#33 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Krokstadelva, Norway
Posts: 96
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by minch
More, actually. I paid £3,300 last year. The box and clutch were done under warranty, The exhaust, Q2 and suspension work was £3,000, and the MAF/Cambelt was £1,000.
What's Q2? |
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15-01-2008
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#34 (Post Link)
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AO Silver Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Central Scotland
Posts: 2,521
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
£450 bolt on LSD.
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15-01-2008
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#35 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Gloucester
Posts: 239
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by Addey
What's Q2?
As Dougie said, it's the Alfa Romeo Limited Slip Differential that bolts straight onto the 6 speed gearbox. I paid £260 for mine, £40 for the bearings.
Or alternatively....
Fun! |
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15-01-2008
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#36 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bray, Ireland
Posts: 323
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
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15-01-2008
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#37 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: N.Ireland
Posts: 78
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Just to make you feel better about the ECU issue. A good friend of mine tried to sell me his 3 year old Audi A4 Avant 1.8T
(circa.£11,000). A very nice car in red, S line with great wheels. Coming to the end of his lease deal. Two days before he collected his new 5 series, the Audi parks its self with a failed ECU, £2,000 to fix by his reckoning. And it had been seviced like clockwork! Sh1t happens, even to the Germans ..
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15-01-2008
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#38 (Post Link)
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AO Silver Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Dundee
Posts: 3,892
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
most of the electrical gremlins on alfas are caused by german bits anyway!
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15-01-2008
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#39 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Falkenberg
Posts: 121
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
niallmoran, I totally agree with you! All this crap talk about italian cars having poor electrics isn´t quite true since most of the electric parts come from Bosch, or even some japanese brands like Denso. The Magneti Marelli stuff seems to work alright in my opinion. At least on the bunch of italian cars I´ve owned.
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15-01-2008
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#40 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 185
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
My girlfriend spent a year in Germany for her degree, and I visited her loads of times there.
I know now all those German stereotypes are all wrong, inefficiency is the norm.
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16-01-2008
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#41 (Post Link)
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AO Silver Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Berlin, DE
Posts: 1,047
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by King Rikard
All this crap talk about italian cars having poor electrics isn´t quite true
I think that goes back to the 70s and before, when the electrics really were crap on Italian cars. Unfortunately, just like the rusting and reliability concerns during the same period, people's views haven't changed, even when the facts have.
Originally Posted by SteK
I know now all those German stereotypes are all wrong, inefficiency is the norm.
Agreed. I've been in Germany for several years now and I have no idea where the efficiency stereotype ever came from! They are quite inefficent in comparison to the UK. That's why the economy is in trouble! They can produce very high quality work but, boy, does it take them a long time to get there! A UK company could have done the same thing 4 times, cocked it up the first 3 times, yet still have it finished before them  .
Everybody stay calm. Don't panic. It's just the end of the world. It'll be all right, as long as we all keep chanting.
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16-01-2008
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#42 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 185
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Where in Berlin are you Tony? We stayed in Charlottenburg, off Kantstrasse. We loved Berlin, real sense of history there even though most of it was wiped out during and after WW2.
We're thinking of relocating back there after the summer, if only Berlin wasn't so crap for jobs.....
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16-01-2008
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#43 (Post Link)
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AO Silver Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Berlin, DE
Posts: 1,047
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by SteK
Where in Berlin are you? We stayed in Charlottenburg, off Kantstrasse.
I'm in Lichterfelde, the green area southwest of the city centre. It's very quiet and pleasant, yet only 7 minutes from Potsdamer Platz and 10 minutes from Hauptbahnhof, by Regional Express (train).
Originally Posted by SteK
We're thinking of relocating back there after the summer, if only Berlin wasn't so crap for jobs.....
Yes, I think there's something like 15% unemployment in the city and it's the reason why there are so many empty apartments and generally such good value for money here (£15 for a week of unlimited travel on buses, trains and trams throughout the city, for example!). The up-side is that, if you can get a good job or contract, you can live like a king  . |
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16-01-2008
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#44 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: ITALY - MILAN
Posts: 795
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
just turned 96k miles (155.000km) without no big problems  |
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16-01-2008
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#45 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 185
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by Tony Rome
I'm in Lichterfelde, the green area southwest of the city centre. It's very quiet and pleasant, yet only 7 minutes from Potsdamer Platz and 10 minutes from Hauptbahnhof, by Regional Express (train).
Yes, I think there's something like 15% unemployment in the city and it's the reason why there are so many empty apartments and generally such good value for money here (£15 for a week of unlimited travel on buses, trains and trams throughout the city, for example!). The up-side is that, if you can get a good job or contract, you can live like a king .
Potsamer Platz is great - Sony Centre and English Language films. We took a stroll round the back of Vossstrasse to look at the bunker site, past the Jewish memorial, Brandenburger Tor ending up at Soviet War memorial what with the gf being Russian...
I've been sniffing around for a contract, in the two places we've lived, Berlin and Hamburg, I guess your in IT, I'm Solaris and Directories, LDAP-dood! Trouble is I'm in contract now and not ready to go till she finishes her uni - she's fluent in English, German and Russian so she should be ok! |
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16-01-2008
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#46 (Post Link)
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AO Silver Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Berlin, DE
Posts: 1,047
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
Originally Posted by SteK
I've been sniffing around for a contract, in the two places we've lived, Berlin and Hamburg, I guess your in IT, I'm Solaris and Directories, LDAP-dood! Trouble is I'm in contract now and not ready to go till she finishes her uni - she's fluent in English, German and Russian so she should be ok!
Hamburg is also very nice but smaller and more expensive! There aren't many recruitement agencies in the city but I can keep my ear to the ground for you. If you send through a brief CV, I can check with a few people I know, just to see if there are any possibilities for the future. I don't think your girlfriend is going to have any problems here with English, German & Russian language skills . |
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16-01-2008
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#47 (Post Link)
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AO Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bray, Ireland
Posts: 323
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Re: How long can a 166 last?
I've been in Berlin only once for the Wall concert in 1990(?). The Potsdamer Platz was all gravel and full of concrete pieces back then..
I hope my car will last as long as I do:-)
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