GTA Reliability Facts

Following on from the rubbish being spouting in 147gtaiwish's for sale thread I thought it might be a good idea to reassure any potential purchasers that GTA's are reliable and not that expensive to maintain considering its a performance car.

In 18 months of ownership & covering 24,000 miles i have spent.

1. Basic Service £175
2. Two new tyres + alignment check £230
3. New heated seat switch £22.50
4. Oil for top ups £70
5. 60,000 mile service £400
6. Replacement front discs and pads £185 (no labour charge)
7. ARB drop links £34 (no labour charge)
8. New bonnet badge £15
9. Cam belt & ancillaries £600 (few weeks time)

Total £1731.50

IMO not a bad price to pay for this car

I'll add to this...
In 18 months and about 9k miles all I've had done is servicing, a new battery (as a precaution) and 2 new tyres (again replaced early)
Servicing has been expensive 'cos I had an early 72k with belts at a main stealer.
She has never let me down!

edit - spent money on upgrades instead

I don't think the point of the comments in that thread was that GTA's were unreliable, only that when the went wrong it tends to be very expensive. If you shed a belt in a T.S. you can get a recon engine fitted for £1200 with a warranty. In a GTA, it would probably be triple that, if you could get hold of another engine in the first place. Same with gearbox, bacon would have paid £2600 for the gearbox alone if he hadn't got that one from the GTA AutoLusso is breaking..

I think GTA's are more reliable than the TwinSpark, but there's no denying that if something major goes wrong it is a financial catastrophe.

Originally Posted by Pud237

I don't think the point of the comments in that thread was that GTA's were unreliable, only that when the went wrong it tends to be very expensive. If you shed a belt in a T.S. you can get a recon engine fitted for £1200 with a warranty. In a GTA, it would probably be triple that, if you could get hold of another engine in the first place. Same with gearbox, bacon would have paid £2600 for the gearbox alone if he hadn't got that one from the GTA AutoLusso is breaking..

I think GTA's are more reliable than the TwinSpark, but there's no denying that if something major goes wrong it is a financial catastrophe.

Well said that man; you got it dead right.

Originally Posted by barryrs

Following on from the rubbish being spouting in 147gtaiwish's for sale thread I thought it might be a good idea to reassure any potential purchasers that GTA's are reliable and not that expensive to maintain considering its a performance car.

In 18 months of ownership & covering 24,000 miles i have spent.

1. Basic Service £175
2. Two new tyres + alignment check £230
3. New heated seat switch £22.50
4. Oil for top ups £70
5. 60,000 mile service £400
6. Replacement front discs and pads £185 (no labour charge)
7. ARB drop links £34 (no labour charge)
8. New bonnet badge £15
9. Cam belt & ancillaries £600 (few weeks time)

Total £1731.50

IMO not a bad price to pay for this car

Attachment 38071

Agreed, but you're mising the point entirely whereas Pud picked it up corectly.

Also, please refarin fron the terminology "spouting rubbish". I saw a 147GTA with a burst gearbox at 40k - fact, not rubbish.

Originally Posted by swanny

I'll add to this...
In 18 months and about 9k miles all I've had done is servicing, a new battery (as a precaution) and 2 new tyres (again replaced early)
Servicing has been expensive 'cos I had an early 72k with belts at a main stealer.
She has never let me down!

edit - spent money on upgrades instead

In comparison, ask poor Bacon how much he's going to have to spend.

A cambelt snapping is unlikely to need a recon engine unless you're very unlucky, headset, a bunch of valve, valve guides, cambelt, tensioner, idlers probably about £500 in parts and then labour. Maybe £2k if you pay someone to do it for you, is that a financial catastrophe I don't know. I think the same brush could apply to any car, your gearbox busts or cambelt snaps and you're gonna be pretty miffed. Maybe the comments should actually be directed at V6 owners in general, rather than specifically saying that the GTA is unreliable, since they're the same engine with a few mods. I'd be more worried about a belt going in a TSpark.

I will be getting an AA warranty with this car.

Originally Posted by Mr_Caine

A cambelt snapping is unlikely to need a recon engine unless you're very unlucky, headset, a bunch of valve, valve guides, cambelt, tensioner, idlers probably about £500 in parts and then labour. Maybe £2k if you pay someone to do it for you, is that a financial catastrophe I don't know. I think the same brush could apply to any car, your gearbox busts or cambelt snaps and you're gonna be pretty miffed. Maybe the comments should actually be directed at V6 owners in general, rather than specifically saying that the GTA is unreliable, since they're the same engine with a few mods. I'd be more worried about a belt going in a TSpark.

Yeah your right actually, I think the comments apply to V6 owners in general rather than specifically GTAs.

Although the only difference I think in expense is the gearboxes, you can pick up a V6 gearbox in a scrappy for a hundred quid. GTA ones are very rare, and hence very expensive.

Originally Posted by OperationAlfa

I will be getting an AA warranty with this car.

My experience of insurance backed warranties -

check claim limit, also they tend to exclude alot of items, you'll need to have it serviced at a VAT registered garage regularly, they generally exclude diagnostics and often the labour rate is very very low so finding a garage to do the work can be a problem.....

GTA gearboxes aren't that expensive . A recon only cost me 1300 Euro from a Alfa main dealer (turned out to be new).
At the time that would only have been 900 Sterling or so.
It arrived one day after ordering from England.

Hardly overly expensive for the type of car..

In the two years that my car was standard the only thing I had to pay for was standard servicing and one set of tyres.
A rear window motor was replaced under warrenty.
Nothing else went wrong - it was a really well put together car

I saw a 147GTA with a burst gearbox at 40k

Not even 40k, it was 27k (or 28k, i have no memory).

it would appear that i am still unable to use the quote function thing properly. oh well.

Rosso 145.... I think you are going a little over board with this.

You keep mentioning the GTA is unreliabe and a money pit.

The v6 in the GTA is basicly the same engine as in all 24v Arese engined cars. And basicly the same block as the V6's from around 1980.
These engines are well proven and widely regarded as very reliable units. Although as you say can be very expensive to repair if you need an engine rebuild which is a fair point. But the same goes for any other V6 and esepecially a Rotary/wankel engine (as found in the RX8)

The main issue which is specific to the GTA is blown diffs. Just need to fit a Q2 diff.. problem solved

I think others are going overboard too.

Anyway.............

The End.

Originally Posted by Pud237

I don't think the point of the comments in that thread was that GTA's were unreliable, only that when the went wrong it tends to be very expensive. If you shed a belt in a T.S. you can get a recon engine fitted for £1200 with a warranty. In a GTA, it would probably be triple that, if you could get hold of another engine in the first place. Same with gearbox, bacon would have paid £2600 for the gearbox alone if he hadn't got that one from the GTA AutoLusso is breaking..

I think GTA's are more reliable than the TwinSpark, but there's no denying that if something major goes wrong it is a financial catastrophe.

Ah...Didnt read all of the other thread, I just set about defending GTA's.
Glad Bacon's box drama seems to be heading for a happier ending. Got me thinking Q2 again though...

Originally Posted by swanny

Glad Bacon's box drama seems to be heading for a happier ending. Got me thinking Q2 again though...

Cheers swanny, things are indeed looking up. i kind of expect things to go titts up though when fixing/modding. Regarding the Q2 though; i drove pablos's the other week and oh my word, what a revelation. i couldnt believe wot was happening, it was like magic. i cant wait to get mine back fully Q2'd. inabit

Originally Posted by bacon

Cheers swanny, things are indeed looking up. i kind of expect things to go titts up though when fixing/modding. Regarding the Q2 though; i drove pablos's the other week and oh my word, what a revelation. i couldnt believe wot was happening, it was like magic. i cant wait to get mine back fully Q2'd. inabit

feck...better get saving.

Fitting the Q2 would also prevent the diff failure that caused the gearbox failure in the first place. I think Alfa should be subsidising the fitment of these Q2 differentials.

I have got to say and every one knows it, the 147 GTA diff is a big issue me thinks.
My first 147 GTA diff went at 23,000 miles ,my 147 GTA i have now has all the service history up to date,but i phoned the dealership where the car as been serviced and mine also had a new gearbox at 22,000 miles that is why i had to get the Q2 in asap.

My car as only 27000 miles now,but other than the diff's they are fantastic cars to own ,look after them and they will look after you.

i'm keeping this car for ever ,if they were not good cars why did i buy another after the diff failure on my first GTA,
i could of spent the money trying another brand ,i new when i bought this car i was going to have a Q2 diff,so put a bit of money to the side when you buy a 147 GTA regarding the diff and everything will be fine.
every one needs to try one of these cars sometime in there life including the 156 GTA ,i'm sure very soon they will be a classic.

Originally Posted by Pud237