About to buy - need guidance

[abyssus]

Hi folks,

I'm looking at buying a  2001 156 Alfa Romeo Selespeed (2.0L I think) and after some info on if this is a good deal or not.

The cars specs:

Price: $4,000

KM: 195,000K
Rego: Yes
Road worthy: No
Books: Not up to date
Stock standard: Yes

Engine sounds ok and doesn't seem to be misfiring or making any noises from warped pistons.
The oil and engine looks clean and no oil or liquid leaks.
Gears change fine, but not sure how to test the clutch since its a Selespeed.
Breaks and tires are good, but hasn't had a service within the last 20,000ks.
Timing belt was done 2 years ago.

Its coming up to 200,000k's so I was wondering if it may be coming close to needing an engine rebuild.

So I guess the question is, is $4k a reasonable price for this car, or should we be pushing the owner down further due to risks of not having a road worthy?

Thanks!

[colcol]

It may be a money pit, have it checked out by an Alfa Romeo service provider to find out its condition, and whats required to get it roadworthy, there are plenty of second hand 156's around, its a buyers market, abyssus, what state do you live?, a few Alfa type people who get on this forum may be able to direct you to an Alfa specialist on your state, Colin.

[John Hanslow]

You have raised a few issues and there is no mention of service history - although having done 200,000kms, that is somewhat irrelevant.

It could be a good car but at the end of the day it has high kms and reaching a point where it may not be worth fixing.

The best 'insurance' is to get a prepurchase inspection from an alfa specialist - people that know the cars.

There appear to be better cars with lower kms at a higher price that should end up costing you less and giving you a better motoring experience.

Cheers

[abyssus]

Hi, thanks for your replies.

I've had it checked out by a close mechanic colleague of mine and he's given it the all clear, and managed to push the seller down to $3500, that includes rego until mid next year.

Edit: Next step is to get that alfadiag software I saw linked on here somewhere and the right cable.

[tony8028]

Please dont buy a Selespeed.

Do a quick search on google for the phrase 'selespeed nightmare' and you will see that the 4K you are paying s just a small deposit on what it will cost you to keep this thing on the road.

[colcol]

And find out the cost of getting it roadworthy, it may exceed $3500, get it checked by an Alfa Service provider, to find any faults, and don't worry about beating the price down, find out what you are buying first, and don't forget, a Selespeed is not an automatic, it is a manual gearbox with a auto clutch, with lots of sensors and pumps and relays that will wear out, have it checked out, Colin.

[abyssus]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies and great feedback. I'll definatly get it checked out and may reconsider the Selespeed. I was able to drive it the other day and the gear changes from reverse back to neutral when you're trying to reverse park was pretty annoying.

[colcol]

When i was buying my 156, i found 90% Selespeeds, 10% manuals, so obviously, less choice with manuals, manuals are more fun, automatics are for Camry drivers, Colin.

[Jekyll and Hyde]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies and great feedback. I'll definatly get it checked out and may reconsider the Selespeed. I was able to drive it the other day and the gear changes from reverse back to neutral when you're trying to reverse park was pretty annoying.

You didn't have the door open (or not fully closed) by any chance?  That will cause it to drop back to neutral.  If the door wasn't open (shown on dash), there is something wrong with the selespeed system.  With the exception of the automatic downchanges when slowing down (ie. coming up to a set of lights), it should remain in the gear you put it in.  There is one other exception to this, which has something to do with sitting stationary for 3 minutes, and is mentioned in the handbook.

[tony8028]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your replies and great feedback. I'll definatly get it checked out and may reconsider the Selespeed. I was able to drive it the other day and the gear changes from reverse back to neutral when you're trying to reverse park was pretty annoying.

I know when you find a car you like, you dont really want to hear the bad feedback about it, like you dont want anyone to burst your bubble. But I just think with everything we know about selepeeds, if it did end up failing on you, you'd never forgive yourself.

I notice on carsales that most 147s and 156s seem to be Selespeeds. Not sure if this is because people cant get rid of them or whether Alfa actually sold more of em'.

[abyssus]

Thanks fellas,

We ended up getting it.

I got it checked out mechanically and its fine, just need front disc rotors and 4 tires for roadworthy.
Should be fine, a few mates of mine are registered mechanics and are working on it for $250 for parts, roadworthy and a little labour.

Experienced the kangaroo problem when it was cold and got a OBD2 16pin USB cable on the way to get the Selespeed recalibrated and check the clutch solenoid.

Not a big fan of the selespeed, but the other half cant drive stick

[tony8028]

Thanks fellas,

We ended up getting it.

I really hope it goes OK for you. Some people dont have any issues with the Selespeeds to hopefully you are one of those. I guess unlike most people, you are at least aware that these gear boxes are not set and forget, they require annual maintenance.

I wonder whether it helps  to not ALWAYS drive them in city mode (perhaps another Selespeed owner can tell us). Obviously your wife will prefer to use city mode and perhaps when you drive, you can give the gears a bit of a workover.

[ProvaRacing]

I missed this original post so my comments are a little late however in answer to this I can only confirm it means the micro switches/contacts for the paddles on the steering wheel and the "joystick" will have less wear and tear, this is a normal wear & tear issue and at approaching 200K km I would think likely to need looking at when "selespeed" stops working.

I wonder whether it helps  to not ALWAYS drive them in city mode (perhaps another Selespeed owner can tell us). Obviously your wife will prefer to use city mode and perhaps when you drive, you can give the gears a bit of a workover.

I suspect someone has already done conclusive reasearch with 99.9% dealers getting burnt so I will let that one go through to the keeper. The reality of dealers ending up with so many selespeeds and having difficulty selling them is this. Those of us that have had a history of driving (long term) different cars know that in some cases, alot in european cars, have their peculiar characteristics that only after driving them say for a few weeks do you get used to them and don't even notice. A classic is the offset pedals to steering wheel.

The selespeeds have strange way of putting people off on a first drive in the way they change down gears. Whether in city mode or manual you can be caught out whether it will change down or if you should override it with sometimes the split second differnce being you end up two gears lower, typically in 1st when taking a 2nd gear corner. That and the the slight ease of pressure on the throttle on up changes, that eliminates the jolt, are what I have been told by three dealers (one of which is a wholesaler) are why as soon as young people test drive them they bork at the purchase.

Another cause of the criticism on selespeeds is people having a fault and repairing with secondhand solenoids advertising they just "repaired" things before a sale just to have it fail months under new ownership.

Sorry it's a bit long winded but often the full (true) story has to be.

PS Sounds obvious but for the many guests that read these forums...roadworthy is not a certificate of it's solid mechanical soundness, merely its passing a basic test of legality to be on the road.

[abyssus]

The selespeeds have strange way of putting people off on a first drive in the way they change down gears. Whether in city mode or manual you can be caught out whether it will change down or if you should override it with sometimes the split second differnce being you end up two gears lower, typically in 1st when taking a 2nd gear corner. That and the the slight ease of pressure on the throttle on up changes, that eliminates the jolt, are what I have been told by three dealers (one of which is a wholesaler) are why as soon as young people test drive them they bork at the purchase.

Yeah, this has taken me about 1 week to get used to. Up gear changes are much smoother now, and I just let it down change itself.

I've found manual changes smoother because you can comfortably shift up at lower revs than the auto wants too.

Earlier this week I was worried the selespeed was packing it in on us when the gear fault light kept flashing when in 1st gear and stopped after getting into 2nd. Turns out that its fine and I had just pinched the breather hose (on the gear liquid reservoir) under the plastic cover after I put it back on after changing the low beam light bulb.

Selespeeds are very odd to drive at first, but im starting to enjoy driving it. The biggest challenge so far has been reverse parking in one swift movement so you don't end up looking like a dud when you get switched back to neutral.