Faults:

Small problem with the gearbox during the third month of ownership. The problem was fixed immedeatly by reprogramming the gearbox computer.

No problems since.

General Comments:

The Alfa Romeo 156 Selespeed is a very enjoyable car to drive. It's very fast (especially on the motorway) and the engine makes a wonderful sound.

The City mode is a bit of a let down because it seriously slows down the car and the shifting of gears is jerky especially at low speeds.

The Interior is well made and very nice to be in. The Speed dials are wonderful.

Faults:

Selespeed has gone back on a recall and now changes down in to first a little too late for my liking. It is actually a little dangerous at some roundabouts.

The paint on the alloy wheels is starting to flake.

I think I have a wheel bearing rumbling, but the dealer says it cannot find any fault!

General Comments:

This is the most fun I have had driving a car since I owned my last Yank Muscle Car (A Dodge Demon 440).

I find the seats a little uncomfortable on long drives, but this has only shown up since getting stuck on the M25 for 4 hours!

Build quality is a little suspect, but what the hell! Handles like a Caterham 7 and is quick enough for East London/Essex.

Faults:

Drivers seat were in some way on one side. Seats have a bit poor carriage compare with exactly the same type of seats of my earlier Alfa 156 1.8 Sportwagon.

Selespeed gear had done some peculiar behaving in some situations.

Accelerate from 0-100 km/h is nearly 13 seconds as it should be something like 9 seconds!

General Comments:

This car is excellent to drive. Selespeed gear is nice when you got used to it. 2.0 liter motor has anyway performance enough.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Superb handling and power delivery.

Excellent MoMO leather seats that hold you in place very well.

Faults:

Gearbox: Selespeed gearbox is jerky, jumps into neutral whilst on the move, sometimes reverse gear cannot be engaged, actuator replaced many times, entire gearbox replaced once.

Engine: Engine can be difficult to start sometimes.

Interior: Creaky and rattly interior trim. Upholstery's leather stitching became undone. Peeling carbon fibre trim. Car was delivered with damaged interior door trim. Holding clips missing from some of the interior trim parts. Torn soundproofing. Faulty Selespeed gear in-dash indicator. Petrol gage malfunctions occasionally. Ashtray light bulb blew within a few months.

Exterior/body: Front right door and rear right door clash with each other at the top edges causing paint chipping. Uneven panel gaps. Rubber trim on the driver's door window sill became warped. Poor body-shell rigidity - the rear parcel shelf area creaks loudly during cornering. Car was delivered with cracked fog-light lens.

Others: Wiper blades are noisy and cannot last longer than 2 months. Ineffective air-con.

General Comments:

This car has a smooth and powerful engine. Engine sounds very nice and sporty. Fairly economical too.

Handling and road-holding are very good -stable cruiser on highways and excellent on twisty back roads. Steering is precise too. Ride is a bit firm, but still quite acceptable overall.

However, the seats can induce backaches if driven for a long period at a stretch.

Air-con is barely adequate in the tropics.

Selespeed gearbox, when it works, has useful blipping feature when downshifting which allows beautifully executed downshifts. However, the Selespeed gearbox makes progress too jerky for urban crawls/traffic jams.

Stylish exterior and interior design. Still one of the best looking cars on the road today, in my opinion.

However, the car suffers from poor overall assembly quality and/or reliability.

Selespeed gearbox is especially problematic - Alfa Romeo should seriously consider a recall.

I have had to visit the local dealer's workshop countless times to rectify all kinds of problems. This can be very irritating besides wasting a lot of time. Worse still, quite often problems are not effectively rectified, if at all, the first time around. This necessitates annoying follow-up visits to the workshop to fix the same old problems.

After-sales service not a strong point. Long waiting period for parts.

As a driver's car, the 156 Selespeed is superb. But it is a frustrating car to own and to maintain. All that talk about the Alfa 156 having "character" is a poor excuse for dodgy quality.