2000 Alfa Romeo 156 Twin Spark 2.0 from Australia and New Zealand
Summary:
Good car if you have a couple of grand always on standby
Faults:
Nothing major has gone wrong, a couple of lights burnt out and I replaced a fuse or two.
But now I'm having the worst problem of all; the car will just turn off when idling randomly. It scares the crap out of me, especially when I'm in traffic. I've done some reading and it seems to be the crank sensor (TDC), and it's just a cable, yet it costs $140. Labor is ridiculous as usual from Alfa.
Now you say that's not so bad. Well I just had a huge service at 120,000K's where I paid $2,400.00, so I didn't expect this.
And its crazy when I'm driving in peak hour traffic and there is a bus behind and the car just dies; yeah let's just say they not the most patient people.
General Comments:
Pretty comfortable, it's got some guts and it's nice to look at. Not only will I never buy an Alfa again, but I will not buy any European car again. Here I come Honda. I think this is a shame, because just before this happened, I was planning to go and buy a brand new Alfa 159 ti, so I think Alfa Romeo have shot themselves in the foot with this one.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 19th November, 2008
21st Dec 2008, 22:49
OK so quick update, I had the crank sensor changed and the problem went away, however the Alfa has been sold; it's not a bad car as people make it out to be, now I've got a Mercedes C200 Elegance 2002, it makes the Alfa feel so cheap. I think I'm a Mercedes person forever now.
16th Jul 2009, 01:13
I agree about the high cost of servicing Hondas. I never left the dealer without paying more than $1000 and often up to $2500 (2000 Honda Integra). I will never buy another Honda. They sound tinny (a bit like a 2 stroke motorbike), always have a scrubbing noise from the front end (normal tyre wear...I heard this same scrubbing noise when test driving a brand new 2007 Civic); but they are reliable. So is my BMW.
31st Jul 2010, 08:57
I'm the original poster, and have come back to comment on this 2 years later ^^ First of all I still have the Mercedes, and I love it :D Secondly would just like to say, all cars are expensive to service if you use the dealers, it doesn't matter if it's a Mercedes or a Ford. My biggest mistake with the Alfa was using the dealer, which really soured the ownership experience, not because the dealer is bad, but just simply because they are to expensive like all dealers. Find yourself a specialist for the car brand you have, and you will be smiling for years.
25th Nov 2008, 07:04
Yeah, I agree not to use the main car dealer, they just a rip off. I'm taking the car in this Thursday to specialist Alfa guy and hopefully this issue will be resolved, I'm sure I'll be at least $500 down by the time I post a comment again.
It's true that some Japanese car parts cost more than the equivalent Euro cars, but it is rare to hear problems with Japanese cars. With the Euro cars it just seems to be one problem after another.
Anyways, will post soon what the problem was.