Faults:

The gearbox needed replacing after being badly serviced at the main dealer. They replaced it free of charge.

Two bits of the dash fell off.

General Comments:

Never ever use main dealers (see above). I did some investigating and the mechanics have been trained for Fiats!!!

I don't think stripping a Fiat Panda is going to help when working on a 230bhp V6 with multiple balancer shafts.

For good servicing join the nearest Alfa owners club and they know the best people. I ended up getting mine serviced by a man that would come to my home or work, and do all servicing required at a quarter of the price of the main dealer. When the oil alone is about £50, you realise how bad the dealers are.

For best performance, get the limiter reset to 7500rpm, stiffen up the rear suspension settings, and change the brake bias to between 50/50 and 40/60.

0-60mph comes up in about 6 seconds and no torque steer. Anyway you have to be a bad driver to bring on torque steer and it was the motoring journalists which complained the most.

Faults:

Steering rack leaked and was replaced soon after acquiring the car.

Starter motor failed at 78,000.

Complete exhaust needed at around 80,000.

Seat motors played up although a gentle knock with a hammer sorted it!

Started to have starting problems at 82,000 which eventually were traced to a worn rotor arm and distributor cap.

The clutch does not last long and I had to have it changed at 85,000 miles, only 43,000 after the first change.

General Comments:

This my second 164 V6, the previous one being a 1989 model. The comments apply to both cars.

The car has gorgeous looks, especially in red and is still a relatively rare sight on British roads unlike, say a BMW 5 series.

The V6 gives tremendous performance (average mpg of 26) and a great sound coupled with decent handling - the post 91 cars have a lot less torque steer than the earlier cars.

The car has decent interior space and boot, is refined and is a great cruiser with the ability to accelerate easily past traffic.

The body work is good and won't rust unlike previous Alfa Romeos.

However, expect things to go wrong on a regular basis.

Parts tend to fail prematurely although the engine and manual gearbox are generally very reliable.

Maintenance is hence expensive - I spent £1300 in just over a year and I did not use use dealers.

My previous 164 had a similar pattern of maintenance costs.

Faults:

Engine went bang on the M3 resulting in destroyed timing gear and damaged head. Cost £2,500 to fix. Fault believed to be caused by a faulty variable valve timing mechanism.

Heater mode selection is random.

General Comments:

Eats tyres. Eagle F1s work well.