Alfa Romeo

[pouletg]

I'm thinking of buying a used alfa 147 or 156.  Any advice on which is better or what to look for in either of these models?

[Impret-Sir]

From road tests and reports I have read on these models I would say that the 147 is something of a revelation for an Alfa, being both well built and equipped as well as good to drive and competitively priced. They had a poor NCAP crash test result for frontal impact tests.The 1.6 is a little slow, but the 2.0 twinspark motor is a lovely unit. The 156 is, of course, a bigger car, and is not quite so well screwed together, although still better than earlier Alfas. The one to go for is apparantly the JTS direct injection petrol engine, described in one report I read as "very lovely indeed." this engine produces 165BHP, but still manages 33MPG which is pretty good. The JTD diesel engines are  good too. Unfortunately Alfas still depreciate faster than some other makes in the UK market, but of course this makes them good value second hand.

[BillyNoMates]

Would agree with Impret-Sir, the 2.0 litre Twin-Spark engine is wonderful. Loads of umph, fairly thrifty vs. power and sounds beautiful !