2000 Alfa Romeo 156 Twin Spark from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Nothing major has gone wrong, a couple of lights burnt out and I replaced a fuse or two.

But now I'm having the worst problem of all; the car will just turn off when idling randomly. It scares the crap out of me, especially when I'm in traffic. I've done some reading and it seems to be the crank sensor (TDC), and it's just a cable, yet it costs $140. Labor is ridiculous as usual from Alfa.

Now you say that's not so bad. Well I just had a huge service at 120,000K's where I paid $2,400.00, so I didn't expect this.

And its crazy when I'm driving in peak hour traffic and there is a bus behind and the car just dies; yeah let's just say they not the most patient people.

Pretty comfortable, it's got some guts and it's nice to look at. Not only will I never buy an Alfa again, but I will not buy any European car again. Here I come Honda. I think this is a shame, because just before this happened, I was planning to go and buy a brand new Alfa 159 ti, so I think Alfa Romeo have shot themselves in the foot with this one.

Stop using the dealer! There are very competent European specialist mechanics out there. I own a Galant, and even with my own personal mechanic, when I did the full 100K service, which included the cambelt, tensioner, water pump (might as well while the cambelt was off), fluid flush, fuel filter, six spark plugs (Iridium ones at $24 each -- vs. $40/set for my previous Audi A4), the grand total including labour was about $1,500. Heaven only knows how much that would've cost at the dealer. Even modern Japanese cars, when they go wrong, can cost a lot. A local car magazine noted the cost of a new radiator for an Accord Euro (aka Acura TSX) is $1200 -- but my friend's BMW 525i's one only cost $550 new.

Yeah, I agree not to use the main car dealer, they just a rip off. I'm taking the car in this Thursday to specialist Alfa guy and hopefully this issue will be resolved, I'm sure I'll be at least $500 down by the time I post a comment again.

It's true that some Japanese car parts cost more than the equivalent Euro cars, but it is rare to hear problems with Japanese cars. With the Euro cars it just seems to be one problem after another.

Anyways, will post soon what the problem was.

OK so quick update, I had the crank sensor changed and the problem went away, however the Alfa has been sold; it's not a bad car as people make it out to be, now I've got a Mercedes C200 Elegance 2002, it makes the Alfa feel so cheap. I think I'm a Mercedes person forever now.

I agree about the high cost of servicing Hondas. I never left the dealer without paying more than $1000 and often up to $2500 (2000 Honda Integra). I will never buy another Honda. They sound tinny (a bit like a 2 stroke motorbike), always have a scrubbing noise from the front end (normal tyre wear...I heard this same scrubbing noise when test driving a brand new 2007 Civic); but they are reliable. So is my BMW.