USED Alfa Romeo 156 Saloon (97 - 06)

My car

Have owned a 2002 156 JTS 2.0 Manual since new. Loads of character. Sublime looks. Raspy engine note. Razor sharp steering. A real delight to own and drive.

Only gripe is expensive servicing and parts.

Never let me down. As long as you don't drive a selespeed, the "unreliable" Alfa Romeo tag really is unfair.

Have driven BMWs, Audis, Minis and VWs. I'll be buying another Alfa. No one does interior/exterior styling and gorgeous sounding engines like the Italians.

My car

I owned an Alfa 156 petrol model previously and wanted to go for a diesel car. So I decided for a german beemer. But to my fate.. I found a gorgeous looking face lift version alfa 156 JTDM parked next to the BMW 3 series diesel I was about to take.. I asked the dealer for a test drive of some cars.. did drove the BMW, Honda accord and finally the alfa.. couldnt care.. just bought the alfa again... oh yes,.. the price was half of what the german and japanese brand were... as they are overpriced due to demand and opinion based market..

My car

Alfas the best kept secret. The average driver will never buy one because of the well documented, although entirely unfair, reliability stories. Hence great cars at rock bottom prices

Bought a 2.0 W reg manual Veloce in 2004 at-cost 7.5k. Was completely sold by its sexy looks, fantastic engine but more importantly a similar BMW 3.20i with substantially less toys was selling at the double the price. It is great fun to drive and handles beautifully (only 55K on the clock now). MPG is acceptable and so are the service costs if you avoid the dealers and choose a specialist. I reccommend Alfa Aid in maidenhead. To date except for the usual wear & tear I have had no problems. I'm looking for a new faster Alfa-probably the brera ( the best looking car in the world). Will wait a little while longer until depreciatation kicks in. In the meantime will continue to enjoy mine. Its shocking to know the current market price for mine is less than 2k- the same price as my uncles 1998 Nissan Micra 1.0-the cassette player being its best toy.

In short I should be able to pick up a brera for less than 10k by 2010-how extrodinary!

My car

I undertook a lot of research as I wanted a cheap car that looked good. This Alfa was perfect. A 03 reg with 100k. The price was low due to the historic reliability reputation of Alfas. The mileage was high (how could it be overly unreliable?), the JTD engine is superb and so far I am up to 120k without any problems at all. When you look at what else £3k gets you this is truly unbeatable. I shall look forward to the 159 depreciating so that I can get one of them in a couple of years!