Just test drove a 147GTA, some questions...

Went out and test-drove this 147GTA this afternoon:

Clicky

YY04 HLN had been around for a while, and not sure if anyone here is familar with it? It wasn't exactly in great shape.

Firstly, the front end was very badly stone chipped and very badly resprayed. Looked around at other Alfa's, none of the others looked quite this bad - and for a 35k mile car, I didn't expect it to be that susceptable?

Also, the sills on both sides were badly scuffed at the edge, where the door seals had rubbed the paint away - the guy said he could sort it, but it would probably re-occur. Also, the plasic on the sills had started to crack on one side.

Finally, the backbox was rotten right though, and wasn't long for this world. Again, I can't believe that after 2.5 years it would be quite that bad?

All these, plus the fact it was £15k, put me off. Options were BOSE and leather. Standard 305 brakes (plus no spare or goo). Awesome to drove though, totally different to my current ITR. Now I just need to find one thats in a little better nick!

Cheers,
Matt

nice one matt..bare in mind that it is advisable to change the cambelt and tensioners every 36k or 3 years, which ever is sooner...circa 250-300 from an indie and upto 500 and above from a dealer...budget this is when making an offer...

happy alfa hunting

^^yeah 250 quid cambelt change on a V6. hmmm.


anyway, hi mate,

I'm in west mids area too, got a 147 GTA. sounds like a it hasnt had much looking after, the door sills shouldnt be cracked and as for rubbing....are the doors out of skew? front air dam is fairly low, so may account for some of the chips.

back box on these cars look rotten on the outside, but should be sound enough.

Originally Posted by mikebrown

nice one matt..bare in mind that it is advisable to change the cambelt and tensioners every 36k or 3 years, which ever is sooner...circa 250-300 from an indie and upto 500 and above from a dealer...budget this is when making an offer...

happy alfa hunting

GTA's cambelts are every 72K not 36K so no worries there. As for the stone chips, I think most modern Alfa's gain chips quite easy, but if its been sprayed already I would walk away.

There are planty of 147GTA's for around 15K or less with similar mileage, have a look in autotrader.

Bose is standard by the way in the UK, leather is an option.

Have a look at my 147 GTA website for tech specs etc, and email or PM me if you have any Q's.

Happy hunting...

Mark

Alfa says three years or 60000km for all engines including the GTA in Australia. Beware.

Yep, the GTA uses the same cambelt & tensioners as the other 166/156/147/GT/GTV/Spider 24v V6 engines, so it is not immune from needing changing well before 72000miles...

Hi Matt, there is a nice GTA fir sale in Weston Super Mare on the autotrader.

Its a 2004, 20,000 miles on the clock, in grey, 1 owner and its up for £13,990

Ive been to see it and its a tidy car with just a couple of car dings.

Thanks all

I don't think the doors on it were out of alignment, it was happening on both sides equally, and both doors seemed to shut fine and didn't seem out of line.

As for servicing, my local specialists Horizon Motorsport have recently become Alfa specialists - they used to service my Elise and do my Honda, so I'm hoping to avoid the Alfa network If anyone's in the West Mids, they have fanastic reputation.

Green Serpent - do you have a Silver GTA? I've seen one a couple of times in the Sutton/Great Barr area. Was sitting right next to it at the lights the other week....looked fantastic.

To be honest I'm really after a Nuvelo white one like Marks I know there's one for sale but I'm really not in a position to buy quite yet, so I'm not going to waste the guys time.

Barry - why didn't you buy the one in Weston?

How long would you plan to run it ?
If it doesn't look in good shape now what's it going to be like in a year or two ?
I've now done 48K miles without any of the problems you describe so suggest you look out for a better example.

Originally Posted by MattyB

Barry - why didn't you buy the one in Weston?

I got a better trade in value from another dealer Matt.

If i could have sold the 206 and had cash im sure i could have got a better deal but for some reason it just wouldnt sell.

Heres the one in Weston.

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if the car is littered with stone chips on the front bad enough to warrant a respray 36k then it was probably used as a motorway car, what are the headlamps/indicators and grille like as they would suffer the same treatment. However thinking about it, it would have to be going up and down a very dirty road to get that bad surely?
However if the back box is bad too that would point to short journeys I believe?
The side cills on mine show signs of being scuffed by shoes etc when entering the car (kids on my car really) but that should be it really I'd say, as mine easily polish out.
As for the spare, it should be there for a 305 disc car. So sounds like one to avoid IMO.

Good luck with the search, they are excellent cars, but thirsty.

Those are all reasonably common if occasional Alfa issues - finding them all on the same car at that price makes it one to walk away from, IMHO. A trawl around this forum shows how many obsessively careful owners there are out there, no need to buy a poorly resprayed example with ill-fitting door seals and without the big brakes or spare.

Parkers values all GTA's a bit under what they often sell for, but rate an 04 147 GTA at £11-12k. It's well overpriced.

All the pre-GM 3.2 V6 alfas are utter classics IMHO, buy carefully then look after it.

Matty

Got mine from Black and White garage near Newbury who are excellent, and I really looked around. You might pay a bit more but the peace of mind is worth it - they repaired a few scuffs on the bumpers in the price, valet, full service (if its at the mileage), MOT etc. Had it for 3 months now and love it - thirsty but I don't use it everyday. They put on an Autodelta exhaust for me as well...well worth it for the noise!!

Last time I looked they had a red one on their site for about £14.5K I think.