[jomper]

Alfas aren't overly common here in Sweden, but after reading way too much about Alfas (especially on this nice forum) I'm in love with the designs. At first we were looking at the 159's, but the ones we'd like are a bit steep at the moment.

So a 2004 156 popped up, looks great, 3 owners, ~90k miles, leather interior, black, xenon. In other words it's everything we want. It's advertised for just under £3000, which is steep for a 156 here, but I reckon it will come down. Full history, just replaced timing belt / water pump and xenon lights. Has passed the MOT-equivalent every year without having to redo it. No advisory this year. In other words, a very cared for car, and the owner sound like a good one.

But the selespeed scares me, I'd love to try one, but I don't want too much trouble. I've read all I can find, and as always with Alfas it's a lot of second och third hand accounts of all that can go wrong, but that it boils down to how well it's been taken care of, and if the owner is willing to get diagnostic tools (which I am).

I don't like normal automatics, but the selespeed concept sound like a cool combination, and it'd be nice to try something new for once.

So the question is, should I just wait for a manual one, since this will be our only car, or is the risk worth taking if the price comes down?

 

[AussieAlex]

Hej Jomper,

I'm assuming you are looking at the car located in Helsingborg?

It definitely sounds like a good car from the advert and looks really good in the photos. The price actually doesn't seem too bad since you are getting winter and summer tyres included and looking at the service records it sounds good, especially with the timing belt service just done and decent time left on the road tax and inspection.

Where are you based? As the best thing you could do is get down there and give it a drive. Read some of the selespeed fault guides and go in knowing what to look and listen for and I'm sure you will be able to make a good decision. Plus I'm sure you could haggle down to around 30k SEK or less and then you would be getting a pretty good deal I think. I paid 17k for my '00 156 SW 2.0 TS in February and that one is much nicer than my car xD

 

[jomper]

Yep, that's the one.
Yeah around 30k would be what I'd try to get it down to. I'm located in Malmö, so it's not too far away to go see it (which I'll probably do). I've read pretty much everything I've found about the Selespeeds at this point. They seem very nice when they work, but what worries me is the availability of parts, especially here in Sweden. Getting diagnostic tool is a must, but a cheap way to keep it in good trim as many faults seem to be related to the clutch rod not being calibrated properly (which in turn can wear the gearbox syncros).

Thanks for the input.

 

[AussieAlex]

Yep, that's the one.
Yeah around 30k would be what I'd try to get it down to. I'm located in Malmö, so it's not too far away to go see it (which I'll probably do). I've read pretty much everything I've found about the Selespeeds at this point. They seem very nice when they work, but what worries me is the availability of parts, especially here in Sweden. Getting diagnostic tool is a must, but a cheap way to keep it in good trim as many faults seem to be related to the clutch rod not being calibrated properly (which in turn can wear the gearbox syncros).

Thanks for the input.

Try checking with the Alfa owner's club for any recommended Alfa specialists in Malmö, especially in relation to selespeeds. There are 2 or 3 here in Stockholm that are highly recommended but I have no idea about Malmö unfortunately.

I can understand the parts availability for a sele putting you off as you say, they are hard to find here in Sweden. If it really worries you I would recommend waiting a bit as 156s do come up every now and then and you will definitely find a decent manual car if you are patient enough. There tend to be a number of cars around the 20-25k SEK area so I'm sure you could find something the suits your requirements if you decide not to look at the 156 Sele in the OP.

But if you can get over to Helsinborg then I think it's definitely worth a look as it has obviously had a lot of money spent on it so it should be in good working order :thumbup:

 

[scooterman557]

Had mine just under 2 years. Done 89k had to put an accumulator on it, replaced clutch at xmass only for piece of mind, old one looked ok.
I have a after market rear box on mine so it gives a blip of throttle when changing down the gears. As long as the clutch is calibrated right they change gear ok

 

[jomper]

Thanks for the input! I'll go see it if it's still up for sale when I have time over (i.e in a couple of weeks ). Who knows, it might not even be my cup of tea.

 

[dgmayhead]

If they salt/grit the road in Sweden then have a good poke around underneath for rust.