"Zathras" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 5 Sep 2009 18:00:17 +0100, (SteveH)
> wrote:
>
>>Who says Alfas are unreliable?
>
> Well..in over 8 years of driving my Alfa, it let me down for one fault
> - a dying crank rpm sensor. There were a couple of other incidents but
> they weren't the Alfa's fault - like the time number one bairn decided
> to put the rear courtesy light on before I parked the thing up for 10
> days!! Up until the Alfa was 7, AA membership had been a complete
> waste of money. :-) Not too shabby.
>
> One thing that bugged me with the Alfa has been it's monotonous
> ability to require large amounts of work *every* time it went in for
> an annual service even though the mileage was very low. Last time it
> was rear pads and disks, handbrake cable and rear brake pipes.
> However, I don't think Alfas (or even my Alfa) is remotely unique in
> this matter.
>
> Having said that, I've never felt overwhelmingly reassured of the
> quality of parts or build of my 156 (front door handles, exhaust,
> alloys, deep pile carpets and leather excepted). The knocking and
> creaking from the front suspension over the last 6 years that no
> garage can (will?) fix plus the numerous rattles, clonks, creaks and
> squeaks from the cabin depending on the day of the week! Yes, I got
> used to them. But when in somebody else's car, the silence made me
> feel like I owned a kit car some idiot had built in a hurry.

I'll have to take front door handles out of the reliable list - my passenger
side knob keeps getting stuck in when pressed. I've tried 3-in-1 oil,
grease, vaseline, wd40, more oil, but it still gets stuck in 1-in-10 times.

I'll second you on the squeeks. The one coming from the airbag area is the
most annoying at the moment.

Need to add the connections to the front speakers to the list of "friday
afternoon"/"assembled by a child" items. The sound just goes off on one side
until you blast the volume for a moment to get it back on again!

Also, availability of exhausts at a good price is annoying me at the moment.