Faults:

Front wheel bearing needed replacing.

Intermittent battery drain when parked, resulting in a flat battery.

Low oil pressure warning kept flashing up on the dash.

General Comments:

I have owned one other Alfa. They say you aren't a petrol head unless you've had at least one!!

Well, I bought this one with memories of my first (an old Alfa 33), which ended up being towed away after the engine caught fire. This one ended up getting towed away too.

First things first though... these are a great fun little car. Mine was a black 5 door with graphite grey alloys, and privacy glass at the rear, bought for £900 with a decent MOT. For the age of it, I think it still looked pretty trendy and up to date really, and I love the design of the rear doors to make it look like a 3 door, a la mk2 Seat Leon.

Reasonably up to date describes the interior. It was well put together and rattle free, which surprised me for an Alfa. The climate control was a bit questionable in its ability to cool; it took ages to get going, but would eventually put out ice cold air. Everything worked except the driver's side mirror, which had been clouted at some point. The BOSE stereo was quite good (although the BOSE system with a subwoofer in my Mazda3 MPS blows it away). The leather seats with Lusso stitched in them looked smart and were comfortable, as was the driving position for me. A big plus point for me was that there was space to the right of the accelerator to rest your foot when using cruise control, something I do a lot. Small boot for the class though.

It handled very well with little body roll, the steering was very positive, gear change was nice and the engine pulled very well for its size, reminded me a bit of a Honda V-TEC in the way it got a second wind at higher revs. Word of warning though... the engine noise/revs at a sustained motorway cruise do not make these a long distance cruiser. I don't know what the 2.0 litre's like, but I'd consider one of them if you do long journeys, or a diesel one. I got around 33-34 MPG out of it, which kept me happy!

For some reason the low oil pressure warning kept flashing up on start up; it was intermittent and a common issue for Alfa's of this era from what I've read. It was possibly a lazy oil pump, but it was always OK on oil level and drove fine. I've also read if the wrong oil is used, these are very sensitive to it and that can cause it too.

Now, onto why it got towed away... for the first month or two it was fine, then one day the battery just ran down unexpectedly, it was dead when I went to unlock it. Putting it down to maybe leaving a interior light on or something, I jumped it, ran it down the road and the battery seemed to charge fine. Then, it happened again, and again! So, I bought a new battery for it, which was OK for a while and then, BAM, same again!! Reading online it appeared some owners had had the same and it was down to water getting in and shorting the electrics somehow. So, as an experiment, I turfed my pride and joy out of my garage and stuck the troublesome Alfa in. Didn't work... same result!! Weirdly it would easily go a week sometimes and then all of a sudden do it for no apparent reason. Bearing in mind I'd already spent 100 on x2 new tyres, 60 odd on a battery and 200 on the wheel bearing, I decided enough was enough and called someone to scrap it and tow it away.

My second Alfa, and the second Alfa I've had towed away. I like Alfas, and would have another... but they sure as hell live up to their reputation!!

Faults:

Rear wiper stopped working (loose motor connection)

General Comments:

This car so far has been almost everything I could have hoped it would be.

Impressive handling with quick steering.

Good performance with very strong pull at low and medium speeds. (pretty good traction as well).

At motorway speeds (70 mph+) the torque when overtaking seems less effective and immediate than I had anticipated perhaps due to the low rpm in top gear.

Great looking and comfortable car with more than enough practicality.

So far has been completely reliable and is loaded with features (cruise control, auto climate control etc.etc.)

My previous car was a type s civic (160 bhp) and for me the Alfa has been the more complete article for anyone wanting a performance hatchback,the fuel economy being the last but not least exellent feature of the vehicle.