Stunning, but costly
Petrol consumption is very high (20-25mpg).
Suspension creaks and bangs.
Gear box crunches.
New tires, pads and discs all round.
A stunningly beautiful car that is a pleasure to own and drive.
I absolutely love it, but the mpg and problems are too costly.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 15th December, 2007
Unreliable, underpowered, but with typical talian flare it looks great I should hate it, but I don't
Drivers airbag warning light illuminated and will not cancel even when main dealer attempted to cancel it on several occasions at 70,000 miles
Climate control gave up the ghost at 65,000 miles.
Both rear suspension required replacing at 72,000 miles.
Front near side suspension required replacing at 70,000 miles.
With body work - paint flaking (badly) from front bumper.
Where roof meets windscreen on off side paint bubbling over rust.
Both front brake discs warped at 71,000.
In the 4 years and thirty thousand miles I have the car most things have gone wrong and has been expensive to repair.
Bearing in mind the car is a 2 Litre it lacks power - don't get me wrong it's OK, but when compared against a standard 2.0 mondeo or Vectra it struggles especially considering it has 155BHP.
It has a lot of extras such as climate/all around electric windows/6 CD changer uprated suspension/large alloys and carbon interior as standard on the Sport Pack option, but it just lacks oomph. I had a 2.2Vtec prelude before and looking back I wish I'd never changed it!!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 1st May, 2006
Yeah OK, but lets face it, the Alfas have fantastic styling and feel great to drive... I've driven Vectras and Mondeos and I have fallen asleep at the wheel.
Are you sure the car is slow? For a 2 litre the performance is very good I thought.
What exactly do you call 'slow'? 0-100 in 8,5 seconds is pretty good, and the top-speed isn't a joke either.
Yeah, sure, a Ferrari is faster. But no way is a Mondeo 2-litre a faster car.
Maybe your car was just damaged, it should run pretty fast.
(*note : speeds in kph, not miles ;) )
I totally agree, all show and no go, that sums 156's up, owned a 4th gen vtec Prelude myself and it owns all 156's in both handling and performance, without the headache and cost.
If you feel your car is slow, you probably have a problem with it. Compared to other 2 litre cars, performance is very good, although torque is lacking until reaching 3000rpm.
I would suggest your Air mass meter is at fault, and this is made by Bosch; so much for Italian electrics getting the blame!
If you want speed, you should buy the 2.5 V6 or the 3.2 GTA. I have the 2.5 and it owns everything up to a BMW 328.
Powerful and enjoyable to drive, a lovely car
Leaking power steering hose.
Leaking water hose.
Noisy aircon.
Weak paintwork.
When I was searching for a new car I decided to go for something with a little more charisma than my previous boring old Ford. As soon as I saw pics of the Alfa 156 I knew that was the one I wanted.
It's a lovely looking car and the reviews were good.
The second hand prices were cheap and so after searching the internet for things to look for when purchasing, I decided to push the boat out and go for the V6 variant. I read that so long as it had been well serviced and had the cam belts changed recently, I should be OK with a high mileage car.
I picked up one with well over 100,000 miles on the clock, but with new belts etc only 15k ago. It also had the alfa sportspack which included leather seats, bigger wheels, etc. I think that the sport pack models are the ones to go for. The interior is fantastic and the wheels and side skirts do suit the car very well.
The engine is just a dream. It goes like stink, makes a Ferrari type noise (I'm not even joking!) and doesn't use any oil. I've heard some of the v6's can use a little oil with no problems, but I'm glad I seem to have found one that doesn't.
So far the only problems have been leaking hoses and a slightly noisy aircon unit. I'm nitpicking really with the aircon as it does work, if not quite as effective as it could be. The paint work does seem to be a little weak on stone chips and such like marking quite easily too.
Overall, I love the car. It's quite thirsty, but it drives like a dream. If you can get a well looked after model with loads of history, I'd recommend one. If you're looking for a super drivers car that stands out from the crowd, look no further.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 12th April, 2005
1st May 2006, 14:48
I'll never understand Alfa Romeo's philosophy: Building fast LOOKING cars that don't actually go fast. Still though, do they ever look great going slow.