General Comments:
I have just bought a black Alfa 166 2 litre Twinspark Turismo with 19k on the clock from an Alfa dealer.
This car looks a million dollars. But cost £8,500!
The Alfa 166 represents astounding value for money second hand. My car has a year's manufacturer warranty remaining.
Styling gorgeous, interior comfortable and distinctive.
Honed driving experience combined with generally sound, but occasionally flawed packaging- space in the rear is minimal, indicators are positioned too low and the 'Integrated Control System' is not as logical as it could be.
But the driving position is great and highly adjustable, the steering is beautifully weighted and precise and the engine is typical alfa.
The 166 is one of the few cars I can fit in- I'm 6ft5 and can get confortable- I have just enough leg room and head room.
The dealer is about to sort out the brakes (I picked up the issue on the test drive and they were meant to have sorted these before I picked the car up but hey ho).
I will provide a full review in a few months time once the brakes are fixed (suspect new discs needed) and I've done a few thousand miles.
But so far, love the car... have spent a long time trying to find a distinctive car thats great to drive that I can fit in, and the 166 certainly fits the bill.
25th Apr 2005, 22:14
Hi.
I totally agree with your comments. I took delivery of a four year old 3.0 V6 sport tronic with full service history and had covered 90k miles only to find acceleration extremely disappointing. A 1.6 liter focus goes accelerates faster and handles better. Extremely unreliable, engine overrated. Kick-down is a joke and sport tronic has a mind of its own. In auto mode not very smooth at all and the adaptive system is useless. Fuel consumption horrifying, I know v12s with better consumption. Vibrates whilst stationary and dealer doesn't think there is anything wrong. Has spongy brakes, harsh ride and marginally improved built quality. Still can't compete with BMWS and Mercs.