Some 156 questions

[griffdog]

Hi All,

I owned a number of alfa's in my youth (105 series and sud's), but have been off on a few tangents over the past 20 years (triumph spitfire, lots of pugs and renaults, lada niva, rx7 and of late 2 ef fairmonts - 3 small kids).

Stupid low prices and the fact that we can currently run a second car that does not have to deal with kids much has me wanting a 156.  As I generally work on my cars myself, finding a manual TS sportswagon is where I am currently headed.  It seems that unless you are going to do a lot of cam belt changes, that it is not cost effective to buy the special tools to do this yourself, but I would be doing pretty much everything else myself.  What is the average cost for cam best change, with water pump and idlers etc?

But some questions.  Firstly did all SW's come with a lap sash centre belt in the rear?  Every now and then we would have the kids in the back, so this is good.  And, did any manual v6 wagons come to Aus?  In fact any v6 wagons at all?

Also as a matter of interest, is the rear seat the same width in the 156 and 147?  I figure that a 147 is less room, but better air con, so I would consider a good early one.  I dont NEED anything in particular, just want.

I am happy to purchase pretty much anywhere in the country with a specialist assessment, and would always buy the best car availanle for the money with a premium for full service history, one owner, recent cam belt car,  I am looking forward to getting back into the fold. 


And of course I could end up buying a 166, 164q, 75 or gtv6.  You know how it is!!

[colcol]

The 147 has better aircon, due to bigger central vents and end eyeball vents, it has duel climate control, the 156 got that in the series 2, 2002-2004, but the series 2 had a central info display that works good, the cam belt changes on the 4 cylinder are required every 50,000 klms or 3 years, the average cost is $900-$1200, depending on who does it, the cam belt change tools are available, you need cam locks, so the cams don't move when the belt is changed, and you need a top dead centre gauge to time the no 1 piston, flywheel locks are not needed, as the crank remains still, these are available from Alfa Romeo parts places in the UK, the 147 is nearly the same as the 156, except the 147 has a shorter wheelbase, and shorter overall, it performs not as good as 156's in rear end crash tests, due to less crumple zone in the back, the station wagons come with a lap sash belt in the centre, as did the sedans, this was one of the reasons the 156 only got 4 out of 5 stars in crash tests, the 147 got 3 out of 5, the 147's had stability control and 4 airbags and curtain airbags from day one,[very impressive], the 156 got stability control and curtain airbags on the series 2, 2002-2004, the V-6 wagon is rare, and a manual is hard to get as well, but very desireable, get any potential cars checked out by an Alfa Romeo specialist, check the service providers on the forum, they know these cars and what to look out for, Colin.

[griffdog]

Thanks Colin.

900 bucks for a cam belt change does make getting the locking tool seem cost effective.  I guess you can just use a dial gauge to ensure tdc for the piston, with a piece of tube down the plug hole.

This car would be used for me to comute to work each day (we live in Buninyong and I have to get to the centre of Ballarat, so a 15k one way trip with a section of 100kph, then a final 5k of roundabouts into work), a weekend blast and a once a week trip from Ballarat to Melbourne for my wife who is doing her Phd and has an accademic meeting in the city.

I like the sportwagon from the point of view that it is a little unique, could double as a family car for a short time if our main car was out of action while still handling much the same as the sedan for most of the time while fittiing is a little more to back.  But to be honest, I would be OK with most alfa's at this point.  I promised myself I would get another 105, but Bec needing to get to Melbourne once a week means something a little more modern fits the bill better.

156 fits the bill in terms of being cheap enough to justify home servicing and there seems to be plenty of good cars around, but to be honest there are a lot of alfa's in the 5-10k range at the moment that look like good buys for those that are a bit handy.  If I was willing to become a selespeed expert I reckon I could have a set of spares and a good car for about half what an equivilent base model bmw 3 series would cost - at about 5k surely these have got to start being worth a punt if you are handy?

In looking around the cars that I have seen that appear to a general car enthusiast like me to be outstanding value at the moment are;

166 – What a car for old camry money.
156 v6 auto – Tarred with the selespeed brush?
164 pristine auto's – Tarred with the fact that dodgy 164's are worth nothing.
33's – Somehow gone from being futuristic to being dated to being futuristic again in the space of 20 years.
FWD GTV's – Surely a v6 manual GTV is worth more than what they are going for?

Anyway that's got nothing to do with my original question and a pretty big call for a bloke on his second post, but thought I would throw it in.

[colcol]

I would stay away from selespeeds, as they will eventually bite you, and they need servicing every year to make sure everything is functioning as it should, the Selespeed is not a true auto, it is a manual with a auto clutch, just learn to drive a manual properly and you will enjoy it, the 166, there are not many around and they have computer issues, the heater leaks onto the computer causing failure that costs more than what the car is worth,the old cars have a lot of character, but are old and break down, use lots of fuel and are unsafe - compared to the newer cars, as for the cars being so cheap, the market place decides what the resale value is, a lot of people don't want 10 year old European cars as they are a timebomb waiting to go off, the 33's and 164's, while being a true Alfa Romeo are a 25 year old car, and a breakdown or repair, and they will not be worth fixing, the 147's and 156's need fully synthetic racing oil at every service, and around 60,000 - 80,000 klms develop knocks and rattles in the front suspension, that is upper and or lower control arms, which are replaced rather than repaired and the sway bar links and rose joints can also become noisy, Colin.