001 156 V6 2.5 6-Speed manual Monza- Purchase price

[Evel01]

Hi Everyone, Excited to be here on the forum as a potential Alfa owner. I hope to be participating much more in the future.

I have in the past days driven a 2001 156 V6 2.5 6-Speed manual Monza. Absolutely loved it! Years of expectations fulfilled. The vehicle is listed at $14,990, has 88,000km on the clock, 12 month warranty, excellent interior condition, and exterior paint etc etc, and comes from an Alfa dealer who I have found excellent to talk to. The vehicle has a full-service history, recently having the cam-belt replaced. Test drive went extremely well, however the car did shudder slightly and was low in power at 3-4,000 revs in 2nd etc. Something the dealer said a tune (which he would do before sale) would rectify, plus premium unleaded.

My thoughts at this stage are that as long as the post-tune test drive goes well, that if I were to negotiate the price down a few thousand it would be a reasonably good deal. Allianz provide a market-value of $12,400.

Any advice on what to look for, perhaps a ball-park fair price etc from experts on this forum would be fantastic. While I am very much in need of a vehicle and cannot wait to jump into a Alfa, I also am looking for a good deal, and would prefer to buy direct from an Alfa dealer, understanding that may come at a premium. (Note i am not in a large Sydney/melbourne market).

Any thoughts would be fantastic!

[John Hanslow]

Sounds ok from a dealer as explained.

Was the water pump replaced with the cam belt?  The upgrade here is to replace the plastic impeller with a metal one as the blades fatique, crack & break off rendering the pump useless and causing overheating of the engine.  This is done with a belt change as that has to be taken off.  Sometimes previous owners cut costs and the new owner has to suffer the consequences.

Perhpas with a tune up , request dealer to provide a fuel injection clean & service to assist in problem solving of shit petrol, dirt etc and just age of the car.  Someone comes round and does it and you get a warranty card.  Otherwise throw in a bottle of injector cleaner regularly and take the car for a bit of a run keeping the revs just a higher than usual to clear out the carbon from the engine. On my previous v6 it made a world of difference and on a dyno it did clean out the system.

Cheers.