Alfa Romeo 147

Poor build quality but fun to drive – I purchased my 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 Twinspark.5 speed manual with 140,000 kilometres on the dash. I love the look and styling of the car, it’s a real drivers car with comfortable contoured leather seats, a sporty steering wheel and a good suspension set up that handles well on the road. That’s where all the compliments end. Even though I like the pop out cup holder in the dash it is positioned so the driver can’t use half the radio whilst it is in use. If that’s not bad enough, when the cup holder is in use the driver can not see the hazard light switch or the central locking button. The design of the Alfa Romeo 147 gives it poor visibility with lots of blind spots and it’s even worse combined with the tiny little mirrors that look like they would be more suited on a Vespa. The 147 is heavy on fuel for a small car. The turning circle on the 147 is bad, way too large for a car of this size. Then there’s the terrible build quality with the roof trim around the sunroof separating and hanging down. You end up with fogged up windows and wet ankles every time it rains because water leaks from under the dashboard and into the drivers side footwell. Owners of the 147 with limited mechanical knowledge must fork out a substantial amount of money paying someone to change the timing belt that needs to replaced every 60000kms. I also find the click of the indicator too quiet.

After all the heartache of owning an Alfa 147 I can’t help but like it. It’s not a reliable Toyota but it is a pleasure to drive. A lot of the selespeed models have failed and due to the poor resale value are just not viable to repair so there are plenty of cheap parts from wreaks that are available on gumtree.

Awesome car – Its the kind of car you wanna have forever if only they could last that long. Everything feels great, handling, smell, quality plastics and sound proofing. Its really the best european car. Its not cheap on fuel and does require regular service, by that i mean not just oil. But rotors,auxillary belt and tensioners,balance shaft belt and tensioner, timing belts and tensioners+idlers, variator, spark plugs, camshaft seals, suspension issues etc. So you will spend around $900 a year on services plus $1200 on timing belt every 3 years. So the avarage cost per year without fuel is around $2300 with rego/greenslip etc in NSW.

Aircon not srong enough if its over 35c

Love it!!! – I just purchased a 04 hatch for the bargin price of $2,880 The cheapest Euro car I have ownd and my favourite i am so in love with my car its not even funny i got a mechanic to look over it and he couldnt even belive the bargin i got its pretty much like a brand new car love the gear box and suits me better having no clutch and i was wondering if anybody knows if Golf GTI's have selespeed gear boxs me next car fresh out of the box!!! reliable, gear box, modern, zippy, The fact that parts are pretty hard to source according to Southport Alfa Romeo

Good – We had the car for 5 years and covered 185,000kms without any problems. Servicing was excellent and a few small issues were fixed under warranty with no arguments. It is a car where attention to servicing, probably using recommended oil (Selenia) and definitely checking oil regularly is critical but if that is done you will have worry free motoring. Battery health is also important as it is with any car that is so dependant on computerisation.

I was sorry to sell but we bought another Alfa. definitely a fun car to drive, very sporty especially with the Selespeed transmission. Also quite a practical car and well suited to around town use and highway trips. We did lots of long trips as well as around Sydney. Comfortable seating, good sound system too. Resale value was woeful but the high kms would most likely affect the value of any make. Also used oil from new - needed regular checks and topups between servicing. Oil use increased markedly with age of vehicle but performance was not diminished. Turning circle could be better.

Terrible – Look I love the look, feel and passion of Alfa Romeo. They are the sexiest thing on the road under $100k. But build quality is still a BIG question mark. Service guys fix it no problems but you expect better from a $50k plus car. Would not like to own one out of 3 year warranty. Demand the 5 year extended if you must buy. Styling is beautiful,inside and out. Selespeed paddle gearbox fun as! ( see cons as well) 110kw from 2 litre with no turbo is great and fuel economy very good. Handling awesome. We had 5 door so hidden rear door hinge nice touch.

THE BAD BIT Quality!!! A number of faults meant regular visits to the service manager. Lets see: • selespeed paddle gearbox would sometimes (with no warning) drop to neutral (very scary in traffic) eventually a world wide recall, • sun visor feel off, • glove box lock failed• parked at angle the front glass leaked and wet entire roof lining which had to be replaced. • Rubber are looking very tired after only two years in the Aussie sun• Red paint was fading was well• Crews front tyres lucky to get 30k kms. Resale Value atrocious. We lost $20k in 2 years and was lucky to cut and run then.

And… too much power for front wheel drive. Wheels squeal etc