Dave Savage wrote:
<snip>
>>
>
> Ah, the benefit of hind-sight .....

Always 20/20

>
> However, consider a couple of things :
>
> 1) When the car died , I had the choice of trying to limp across South
> London for 11 miles to an indy, or 2 miles to an Alfa dealer. In its
> current state, the car is downright dangerous to drive, so the choice was
> simple.

AA?


> 2) If we all take a step back from this, we are guilty (through some kind of
> self-induced mass hysteria ?) of accepting that we wish to own an expensive
> car (Alfa), but that the people who sell us these cars are in-capable of
> maintaining them with any degree of technical competence at reasonable cost.
> Not very logical, but I guess it's a case of the heart ruling the head !

I deny that strenuously. I don't buy new

>>> A couple of negatives :
>>>
>>> The suspension is poor (choppy / jiggly) - I've always wondered if this
>>> is down to UK roads (maybe Italian roads are smoother).
>>
>> I suspect it's worn out. Suspension components (I'm thinking particularly
>> about bushes) wear on a time basis as well as miles. Miles at high speed
>> are harder on suspension as well. For example the loaner 156 I have now
>> handles *much* better than mine.
>>
>
> You may be right, but I've not been happy with the suspension for a long
> time. I've mentioned this on numerous occasions when the car has been in for
> service (giving garages the chance to sting me for some parts and labour),
> but they always say "nope, nothing wrong with it". Maybe, but I still
> reckon that 156 suspension "out of the box" ain't right for UK roads. We'll
> just have to agree to differ.


FWIW I'm seriously considering chopping mine now. The loaner makes mine
feel like a sick pig on ice. It's done 149k.

I *could* spend £200+ getting the rear anti-roll done, but I'm not at al
convinced that's the whole problem if it'll pass an MOT in it's current
state.

>
>
>>> Rattle in the dashboard in the cold (ah, that old chestnut !).
>> Not got that on either of mine.
>>
>
> You're lucky, but I seem to recall that the "rattle" was reported by quite a
> number of people in the early days of the 156.

I recall similar as well.

>Alfisti came up with numerous
> cures ranging from "do nothing" (my approach, costs nothing, and anyway the
> rattle goes in the summer) to "take out the entire dashboard, insert bits of
> packing, apply WD40 etc.etc., then replace dashboard" (this option costs at
> least a 2nd mortgage, and doesn't actually guarantee that the rattle will
> go).

Option 3 IIRC was replace the screen. It was some time ago though.

>
> Seriously though, over the years 156's seem to have various niggles that
> happened in batches as cars came off the production lines, e.g.
> Rattly dashboard (yup, I had that one),
> Fuse box cover falling off (on early ones, but I managed to escape this
> one),

Ahh. I had that on my last one. I avoided it on this one by not taking
the fuse cover off

> Duff bonnet catches (remind me somebody what year approx this started
> happening, it was a few years into the production run) .

Don't recall that one.


> Call these "quirks / features" that make us love our Alfa's even more (at
> least that's what I tell the wife).


Heh. I don't think any make / model is immune to these types of things.
Take a look at Watchdog every so often, or read which. I can think of
IIRC Renault handbrakes and Mini PAS pumps straight off.

We notice the Alfa issues more as we're involved in a community. If you
drove a Vauxhall and posted to the Vauxhall boards, you may well have a
similar list of issues.

>
>
>>> All in all, I'm still emotionally attached to the Alfa, but right now am
>>> going thru a bad patch (as in all love affairs).
>> Blame the dealer. *Oiled* plugs was clearly never going to be a gasket or
>> an ECU IMHO.
>>
>
> I do indeed blame the dealer . Not for the fault (as we are no wiser yet as
> to what the fault actually is), but for failing to come up with a credible
> diagnosis - at one point they said "we tested the ECU last week, there was
> no fault fault found, let's put in a new ECU". You get the drift of what I'm
> dealing with ??
>

Yes. It was, again IMHO, clear from post 1


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