1999 Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 from UK and Ireland - Comments

A beautiful car to drive and look at but the after service from the dealership is appalling. They really have no interest in fixing my problems. I have a dash rattle, dodgy climate control and the locks play up.

None of the problems are life threatening but very very irritating!!! Dealer seems to think just cause I paid nearly £20000 for this work of art, I shouldn't complain. If you want a straight answer then yes I recommend this car, but it's not perfect, it still has build quality problems, and you'd better wake up if you think the dealer cares once you've bought the car. By the way, I've moved on to my third dealership, it must be a conspiracy.

See my review 1999 "Look forward to...".

I've had my first scary experience with an Alfa dealer after only 8 weeks and am wary of what's to come!

Alfa Head Office do not seem that interested in the performance of their dealer network!

Any comments re. Alfa dealers gratefully received at julianwellings@bigfoot.com.

Thanks.

I hear what is said about Alfa dealers in the UK. For what it is worth, I have been using Northgate Garage (Canterbury, Kent) for the past six years and have nothing but praise for them. Knowledgeable, helpful and with a real understanding about customer care. Adrian Pile (their head Alfa technician) has won Alfa Technician of the Year awards several times recently. The dealership has also an impressive array of "Gold Cloverleaf" customer service awards. For any of you with seemingly incurable irritations, do yourselves a favour - run it past Northgate. It will be worth the journey for those who live far afield.

Tel: 01227 765561

St.John Harvey (Bethersden Kent)

P.S. I do not - repeat DO NOT, work for Northgate!!

I've had my Alfa 6 months and loving it, sadly all it took was one visit to a Alfa garage in Welling to tarnish my good experience with Alfa dealerships. It seems to me that your misfortunes are down to

1) Who's on the production line at the time your car was made.

2) Who services your car at Alfa dealerships.

Lucky for me all I got away with was an incomplete paint job on my spoiler. Apart from that, the car's solid, looks daaamn good and performs.

I have had my Alpha Romeo Selespeed for only 10 months and I'm afraid I would not recommend it, or the dealer to my worse enemy! Problems so far :

* Brake Servo - new one required after only 3 weeks

* Will not change from 2nd to 3rd gear using gearstick at least 3 times a week, has now been back to dealer 7! times and all they do is reset to factory settings.

* Windscreen wipers fail completely, parts replaced 2 times so far.

* Passenger door lock not working - had to be replaced

* Brakes still not very responsive, will carry on moving for couple of yards with brake pedal to floor, dealer does not think this is a problem!

* Stalls from 2nd gear, even though car is supposed to change down gear automatically.

Very disappointed in this car and the dealer (Chesterfield) and Head Office, as mentioned above by other people, really don't seem to care, will be getting shut ASAP and never buying another one I'm afraid to say as I thought this was going to be my dream car.

I have an alpha 156, it is a fantastic car however I have had several problems with it. It kept stalling at very low speed and also jupmed gears from 2-4. There was a recall for the stalling so I took it in to Welling and was appalled by the service, I got the car back with more problems than before. However after a lot of arguing and and threat of legal action the stalling and the extra faults were corrected. I still have a gear problem which is worse, it now jumps from 2-5 since coming back from Welling. Will be taking it to Northgate.

I have a 156 GTA selespeed alpha romeo which is 2 years old and 10,000 miles on the clock. Two significant faults have occurred. The first is life threatening, resulting in the ignition cutting out and the car coming to a dramatic halt. This has occurred on 4 occasions, the last being most significant as I approached some traffic lights. My fear is that this fault will occur again when I am travelling at speed. The dealer seems unconcerned about the fault indicating that it would have to happen again before they could replace the engine management system (which they think may be at fault, but aren't sure) The car has been in the garage for 2 weeks, and I am still waiting for a satisfactory 'cure' to my problem. The second fault concerns the brakes. In February I reported the fault (juddery feeling when applying breaks) to be told it was fine and safe to drive. In April I was told that I needed new discs, pads, ABS and break pipes which were corroded. I now have a car in which I have no confidence and fear for my safety.