Alfa Romeo 146 in general

Alfa 146, every morning makes my day, as I listen to that ever ready roar from that purring engine!! It has never let me down in the 5 years I’ve owned it. Yes, It’s a boxer, not a twin spark, it does have its merits –its sounds glorious, and as with all Alfa’s looks great. I purchased a brand new Alfa 146 Boxer 5 years ago when they were first released, and I've never regretted it since. Its been an absolute pleasure to drive and own. No problems, and hey! no rust!! All Alfas these days come with 6 years paintwork warranty and 8 years anti-corrosion. Cost of ownership has been very low. Service is every 12,000 ...

This opinion may be biased. I've had alfasuds (lovely cars), 33s (not so lovely update on the sud) and now a 155 and a 146. Why? because they aren't Fords, or Vauxhalls and I can always find them easily in the car park (it used to be by the trail of rust...) And they seem to be designed with the driver in mind, unashamedly. Performance of my 1.6 litre 146 is good (120bhp), though not earth shattering, but the steering is exquisite, with barely 2 turns lock to lock. The 1.6 version is suprisingly economical, though it lacks the bottom end torque of the 2 litre in my 155. Both engines of course only really start to come to life at 4,000 ...

I've got one, a 1996 P reg and whilst I love it's looks and meaty sounding engine to bits I'm more than a little fed up with the engine. In the two years i've had it i've had a valve leak needing a full engine strip down and taking all my beer money with it and in March, the flippin, camshaft went as well causing me to chuck another six hundred quid down the swanny. In my (most humble) opinion, the dealers aren't up to much either. The one I contacted in Sheffield didn't even had a workshop manual and told me they would rely on "Jim in the back who knows all about boxers" I took it to another dealer who told me that a ...