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In need of a cheap car to throw a bike or the dog in occasionally, tip runs etc... Would prefer an estate, but a hatchback with proper folding rear seats is big enough... Anyway...
Been looking and have found a 2006 Alfa 147 1.9JTD locally to me, with 104k on the clock, current owner has known the car its whole life, bought the car off previous owner who was a mechanic. The car has been over serviced, wanted for nothing it seems. MOT history absolutely spotless until this year it needed a new ARB drop link (and warnings about tyres being a bit perished)... It wasn't something I was necessarily looking for (I missed the cheap SEAT Exeo in the classifieds here, that would have been ideal aside from being 300 miles away!), but it is cheap... Like under £700 cheap. And it looks pretty much spotless.
So... Never having owned an Alfa or anything with the Fiat Multijet engine in either... What do I need to know? Reasons to avoid even at under £700? It looks lovely in a nice shade of dark blue, cream leather interior etc...
The question is, will I regret it, or like the last uber cheap banger I bought, will it turn out to be one of the best cars I've ever bought...?
A Lot Flaming Aggravation?
I've nearly bought a 147 twice. First time seduced by the 306gti6 that was parked next to it and £2000 cheaper.
The second was a 2.0 t-spark with scruffy wheels and broken seat adjustment. Even with that I wish I'd bought it over the Megane POS that we ended up with.
All that said I'd be tempted at that price and history to give it a punt if it really is as clean as that history suggests and depending on you capacity to deal with the odd bill / off the road issue.
Quick Google says JTD engine was fairly solid but prone to water pump seizures and resulting shredded cam belts (also a 306gti issue as it happens).
Creaky bushes/upper arms was another common fault and I think one of the two I didn't buy had that on test drive.
For £700 if it drives ok I’d go for it. It’s not special enough to keep it limping along if it’s a troublesome car so I’d assume it’s not terrible to have lasted this long.
No idea about that particular engine but timing belt, clutch, corrosion and signs of overheating.
Mrs had one. Super looking car and they still are. Hers blew up. Her fault for ignoring the cambelt change a bit too long. Probably a good reason why they seem pretty rare these days
I'd say the biggest negative you'd have is the rear hatch isn't particularly useable. It's quite pokey in the back even with seats down. Certainly far better options for load lugging.
Assuming it drives OK, at under £700 that sounds like a good purchase. Guessing it's cheap as won't be euro 6 or something, not that that's necessarily an issue. Design has aged well and cream with dark blue is a great combo!
My understanding is the 1.9 JTD is generally a safe(ish) bet.
Cam belt changes must be done. I had a 2.0 Selespeed as a company car. Hoot to drive but many electrical issues. Sub woofer didn't work from new so that needed fixing. Coating on the flappy paddles came off, new steering wheel needed. ABS used to light up. Switch off and on sorted it.
Check for rusty subframes
Camping belt changes must be done
Make sure they also changed the tentioners
EDIT: Damn your edit fossy 🤣
I had a 147 2.0 Selespeed a few years ago. Drove great and was good fun. The Selespeed was a bit agricultural though apparently due to a single clutch system. Left in auto and it revved pretty high before changing up! Im pretty mechanically sympathetic and had it service regularly by a mechanic mate with the recommended oils etc and didnt have any bother. The Selespeed paddles unit needed fixing at some point which was done by an Alfa speclialist in Wales and Mrs Surfer (it was her car) started to get nervous (although that was the only real fix i can recall) and we replaced it a bit later. She reminds me all the time how much she misses it....
I got a job in Manchester and needed to drive in each day so bought a Mito 1.3jTdm that was great as well. Lovely interior, furn to drive and 60+ mpg on an easy run. I think they look great and miss that car as well. Also had a 156 years ago. Also good car.
Earlier models suffered terribly with rust and that reputation still lives on. I think they are generally as good as most cars out there now and if you look after them there are bargains to be had.
I've previously had a couple of 147s and loved them (2.0 t-spark and the 3.2 GTA). No major problems apart from both of them developed a tendency to let rain water into the front footwells which I never fully got the bottom of despite a lot of effort. Check under the floor mats for damp.
For £700, go for it. They still look great and are pretty practical with the rear seats down.
I was going to suggest a whole host of better options but then saw the £700. Buy it. It'll inevitably sh*t itself one day and be riddled with electrical gremlins but a full set of tyres for my daily and a service has just cost that.
Buy it. It will have electrical gremlins. It may be starting to rust (subframes, radiator mounts, potentially cills). Get good insurance, possibly a fire extinguisher.
(I did say he shouldn't drive it, but he has the stubbornness of a Vogon and the mechanical sympathy of Bruce Ismay.)
As others have said, at £700 and with good history it's as safe a bet as anything else and a bit more interesting.
Mate of mine swears by Bangernomics but broke his own rules by spending over 2k on a pristine and low miles Passat that he thought would last him for ages. Scrapped it after a year having spent loads on various bits. Ultimately there are no sure things at the bottom of the market so if you like it that's a good enough reason.
Just do it.
(as long as there's actually enough room for a bike)
Coating on the flappy paddles came off
This has been a bit of a thing on the controls in general, its some unusual paint that they used across the Fiat group that turned sticky
It can be cleaned off but it takes the switch "legend" off with it. There are specialists that refurb them
Selespeed gearbox electronics can be rebuilt without buying new assemblies
@timba fezzers as well. It was meant to provide a soft touch for contact points. It now just imprints you with sticky insoluble gloop. Some Japanese and German cars of the same era do it too. The instrument binnacle and centre console on my ancient tempra was covered with the stuff. It slowly decayed into the worlds most unwanted flypaper.
Yep, I'd agree that sounds like a decent car.
many electrical issues. Sub woofer didn't work from new so that needed fixing. Coating on the flappy paddles came off,
On a new car that would be a problem. On bangernomics I'm only really worried about the wheels falling off, bits of trim falling off is par for the course and a bit of coating coming off is just normal and a speaker not working wouldn't even register 😂 my old Berlingo had some 6x8 cabinets on the parcel shelf when not in van mode because all the original speakers had rotted!
I washed our Fiesta yesterday and found a soft spot in the bottom of the wing 🥲this might be the beginning of the end for it, we've only had it 21 years. My parent's are now car shopping as they have money burring a hole in their pockets so I'm hoping to pry their old focus off them.
A Lot Flaming Aggravation?
Part of the Fix It Again Tony group...
Quick Google says JTD engine was fairly solid but prone to water pump seizures and resulting shredded cam belts (also a 306gti issue as it happens).
Pump and belt changed just over 10k miles ago apparently... So fingers crossed... Think belt change interval was a little longer on the diesel engines than the twin spark petrols anyway iirc.
I'd say the biggest negative you'd have is the rear hatch isn't particularly useable. It's quite pokey in the back even with seats down. Certainly far better options for load lugging.
It doesn't need to "load lug" as such, just get a bike or a Labrador in occasionally, and the odd trip to the tip with garden waste etc... Stuff I don't wanna put in the back of our rather nice 21 plate Suzuki Swace estate ideally... Bigger items as long as clean, can go in the Suzuki if necessary.
Earlier models suffered terribly with rust and that reputation still lives on.
Fully galvanised chassis on the later models iirc... Either way, this one is supposedly pretty rust free... I'll find out later I guess as going to see it this evening.
Mate of mine swears by Bangernomics but broke his own rules by spending over 2k on a pristine and low miles Passat that he thought would last him for ages. Scrapped it after a year having spent loads on various bits. Ultimately there are no sure things at the bottom of the market so if you like it that's a good enough reason.
I've had a LOT of cars over the years, and everything I've had in the sort of £1k to £4k price bracket has ended up having a litany of issues that have cost money and/or caused me to get rid of the car sooner than ideally... Above £4k and you start to get into the realms of getting some kind of warranty (if bought from a dealer) and/or newer better condition cars... Sub £1k is an absolute lottery, but because you're spending so little you're a lot more forgiving, and more prepared to work on it yourself and find spares on ebay or in a scrappy... I've had a handful of sub £1k cars now and all except one has done me very well indeed, and the one that didn't I still only lost about £400 on it after 18 months anyway...
Just do it.
(as long as there's actually enough room for a bike)
It definitely breaks my self imposed "no taking wheels off" policy to be able to get one in there, but even a modern 29er Enduro bike is actually a remarkably small thing once you've taken the wheels off... MASSIVE with the wheels on granted, but had a 66 plate BMW M2 for a couple of years and despite being a coupe (rear seats did fold down at least) I had no problems getting my Geometron in that even... Both wheels out, bars turned, went in no problems!
This has been a bit of a thing on the controls in general, its some unusual paint that they used across the Fiat group that turned sticky
I've experienced this sensation on surfaces inside BMW's many times... I don't think it's exclusive to any manufacturer, just a coating that gets used on interior parts to make them less plasticky that obviously has a defined useful life before it starts to degrade and go sticky...
Cheers for all the advice so far guys...
Just zoomed into the photo to look closer at the wheel design (as I was thinking a set of teledials would set it off a treat, or at least something that's NOT black, but likely at similar cost to this whole car...). Noticed that's at least one Conti PremiumContact tyre and not a budget ditchfinder. Another good sign.
Given him a deposit, he’s gonna drop it off to me next week sometime as soon as the V5 comes back (he’s had private plate on it which is coming off)…
So turns out he’s had it a year, the previous owner had it 18yrs… There’s a small garage and high end luxury car dealership (Porsches, Ferrari’s, Aston’s, Lambo’s etc.) not far away and turns out this car was the wife of the owners… It got serviced annually in the garage regardless of mileage and wanted for nothing. The guy I bought it off was the upholsterer for the garage (which is now under new ownership after the owner retired last year), and he inherited it as part payment last year for a job shortly after the wife had taken delivery of a brand new Alfa Stelvio…
So it’s maybe not as mint as it looks in the pics. There’s a few scuffs, a bit of surface rust starting at the edge of the wheel arches to the sills. And the bonnet could do with a repaint… But I’ve seen much worse on much newer German cars! There’s remarkably little rust underneath, obviously some surface corrosion but nothing deep that I could see. It goes well, drives straight, everything works (Aircon could do with a re-gas but hey, to be expected!) and it’s nice and clean and tidy to inside…
The tyres are actually all matching Conti’s in fairly good condition, they’re just strangely quite old (must have been old stock when fitted)… They’ll be ok for now.
Cambelt and pump were done 10k miles ago, although due next year on age if not mileage…
At £695 it comes with a £640 bill to get it through this years MOT (new brake caliper, arb drop links, labour etc) and has 10 months MOT left…
It’ll do for what I need it for for the immediate future…