156 V6 M/T - thinking of buying...tips?

[Luke L]

I am about to start looking for a daily driver to go along with my 84 GTV6,

Ideally a comfortable/sporty V6 M/T which can fit the kids on the weekends but still provide some driving enjoyment,
ie. corolla/echo's/yaris/tiida/jazz need not apply!!

my short list is either a 156 V6 M/T or a VW Bora V6 4-motion sport 2.8L
-> looks like I could get change out of $15k
-> a GTA would be nice but a little too much $ (or is the extea $ really worth it?)
-> RWD would be nice too but not much around in this size bracket

So I was after advice on what look out for on a 156???
ie. what models? what changed pre/post "update"? common reliability issues/things to look out for?
what was included in the Monza pack? info on this q2 diff thing? engine sensor issues?

also any info on were i can find drive reviews/test info

thanks

[John Hanslow]

Post 2003 and the Giugiaro facelift have the issue with engine management faults.  But the pre 2003 are a bit older but better cars.  There are 2 manual 2002 monza models in Melb for sale on a car sales website and seem low milage with several improvements.

With the prespective purchase, get an alfa specialist to check out the car with factory analyser if you can.  The belts should be changed every 60,000 kms or 3 years. Note with v6, the water pump with plastic impellers needs changing as the plastic blades break off and engine then overheats and fails.  The aftermarket fix is a water pump with metal blades.

Check the service record and that the correct spec oil is used - refer the owner handbook but I think it is 10w-60.

I recon that a pre-purchase inspection gives you the facts and then you can negotiate and minimise risk of any surprises later on.

After purchase get all the wheels balanced and the car fully aligned by a professional as it really makes a difference.  Neglected cars have tyres that have flat spots like a 50 cent coin and it is rather common with FWD cars. 

Good luck.

[wankski]

u will get a heap of change from a pre 02 v6 manual and there are many more of them... and i've seen good examples for sub 10k...

the facelift is really rare in manual 2.5 v6... expect to pay much more as a result...

not sure where it is defined that the older v6s are 'better' than the giugiaro facelift - its basically cosmetic - they are the same cars.... the later models did gain more airbags and VDC tho...

the waterpump on the v6 to be more precise doesn't disintegrate but yes, the plastic impeller carrier cracks and therefore the shaft free-spins on the impeller resulting in water no longer being pumped... and overheating... the metal replacements are indeed a fix and are long lived, and are an oem part... no one should be carrying the plastic pumps anymore - if the belt and pump had been done recently - should be all good...

correct oil is 10w-40 for the arese 2.5l v6.

the q2 things is due to the 'weakness' of the stock diff that is otherwise known to go.. even driving into your driveway or some other such innocent maneuver... your call if you want to preemptively replace it with a much stronger and technically superior... one of the cheapest ways of getting into a torsen diff that i know about, that's for sure...

other than that - cambelt and clutch are expensive items to replace on the v6, but the drivetrain overall is more reliable IMO than the fiat engined 4 banger cars... if looked after (basically has always had oil) the v6 can go for many hundreds of thousands of kms...

[wankski]

the thing about the giugiaro that i will say is that it is indeed cf3 rather than the older cf2.... less cats and lambdas - but that's about it going for the cf2...

i would always opt for the lower km more tidy better history version...

all a moot point as i'm willing to bet you won't find a late model 2.5 v6 in manual anyways... not near 15k and in reasonable nick anyway...

[bix]

I own a Monza twin-spark 2.0L -  I haven't come across a v6 Monza ever but someone tell me please that they do exist. There are some who say that the V6 is too front heavy and in theory the 2 litre should be a better balanced car, although the extra power would be nice in certain situations. Regardless I think the Arese v6 is probably the best purist Alfa engine available. If I had a lazy 20k+, I would look for a GTA for the extra goodies you get (320mm discs, great extra engine capacity and a handling setup to die for), and the fact that they will be future classics.