2001 Alfa Romeo 147 Selespeed from UK and Ireland - Comments

Oil Cooler sprung a leak on joint on two occasions.

Heat shield cracked.

Power steering leak.

Steering rack with cracked joint.

Selespeed system failure. Potentiometers and actuators replaced.

Faulty body computer replaced.

Faulty ECU replaced. I think this is the Engine Management Unit.

Erroneous fault messages.

Leather seats started to wear excessively.

Selespeed gear selector replaced as it was sticking.

Exhaust manifold came loose.

I have now covered almost 35000 miles. The majority of faults have now been rectified.

However even after major repairs over many, many months I still experience intermittent faults with the selespeed gearbox which keeps slipping from 2nd to neutral or 5th.

The dealers must come top of my list of disappointments. Fault diagnosis and rectification is very poor. Although the 147 comes with its own computer which is supposed to record faults its not much use if the computer is faulty as in my case!

Put it this way. At some point during your cars life your selespeed is going to go wrong. Believe me, when I say, it will be a nightmare to repair.

I currently own a Audi A3 1.8L 5dr.

I am looking at trading it in for a Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 Selespeed 5dr.

I have heard that many people who choose the selespeed models have many problems.

What is your opinon?

Should I trade in or keep my current car?

I have owned a 2001 Alfa 147 Selespeed for one year. I hope I don't regret saying this after all I have heard, but after 25,000k I have had no real trouble with the selespeed at all. Once or twice it showed an error message, but all I needed to do was to stop the car and re-start it. Otherwise I have found it to be as good as it looks and a great driving experience - I live in Belgium and drive throughout Europe and enjoy every minute in the 147. In terms of the size vs highway proposition it is rivaled only by the Golf and the Focus in its class and is much more fun than either of these.

The is definitely full of error. My 147-Selespeed is acting like windows "XP" - it "hangs". The car stays in one gear and doesn't allow me to change to a higher or a lower gear. then I would have to stop by the side of the road and hope the system will restart and function properly. Then it works if the car stops for some hours. But these are regular problems and I cannot drive this car anymore without being worried that it might "strike" anytime.

I was told that this problem exists in the 2001 and 2002 models. However one can never be too sure. the car is computerized and the computer is full of bugs and therefore one day a 147-Selespeed Failure may cost you your life. I don't advise anyone to get this car. Alfa are very stylish and fast, but there's no reliability in these cars at all. I'm slowly paying extra maintenance costs for this car... not worth it at all.

I have got an alfa 156 selespeed 156 just had total gear selection failure for the first time.my gear indicator was flashing on the 2nd gear and it would tell me it was selecting 3rd, but would go into nuetral. i have heard if you diconnect the battery for 15 minutes then it will go back to factory settings. i was wandering if I disconnect my battery will it not effect my key code and alfa bill me £85 to recode the key. please email me on phill.v@btinternet.com with your solutions and thoughts.

Very Very BAD build quality, and Reliability issues on these cars.

My 2001 147 2.0 Selespeed has now covered 63,000 miles without any problems at all! I find it an absolute joy to drive and own.

I have a 2004 Alfa 147 that has done 22,000km. Only issues I have had have been the selespeed system failure. Twice it has been to the workshop to have the clutch sensor replaced, but it took 5 visits to the work shop for them to sort out the problem. Support from my dealer has been poor and has put me off from ever buying another Hot looking pile of junk.

The key word is battery! I have a 2001 Alfa 147 selespeed, and I also had the similar problems with the selespeed system, as you mentioned above. Until I found somewhere on the net that if the voltage of the battery decreases under ~11V, the body computer is not able to control the gearbox properly. I changed my battery to a new high powered Varta Blue, I check the voltage regularly, and all the failures have disappeared.

So simple.

During the first 20K km, my 147 encountered 2 times of selespeed. Brought to dealer, they did a calibration n adjusted the clutch free play.

Then it went worst w 3 times of selespeed system failure after replacing new battery, tenax around 22K km.

All these encounters only lasted for 5 to 10 sec. And car still could be driven without switching on n off.

Appreciate your advise on selespeed system failure.

I have a 2 ltr manual on 120,000 miles. The only thing that has ever gone wrong with this car was a cracked exhaust manifold (probably due to someone crashing into the back of the car knocking the exhaust hard) and lots of suspension bushes and shocks (dodgy London roads to blame) Rev it to the limit every time you drive it and maybe you will be as lucky as I have been with my car.