Alfa 159 3.2 4x4

MrMickS

Member
Messages
3,951
A friend has one of these. He has an ECU reprogram on it that gets 320 hp out of it. Met up with him in Italy whilst I was there and we turned up at a restaurant both in RHD V6 Italian cars with British plates. It did get some looks.

He still got 25 mpg even with the reprogram and not exactly hanging about.
 

granturismo

Junior Member
Messages
192
Looks nice but shame its Lusso spec rather then TI. I don't think I've ever seen 159 3.2 Q4 in Automatic and in TI spec.
 

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,958
Mrs dwf uses a 3.2 Q4 Qtronic Brera as her daily. 120k now and no major issues, not much more to go wrong than any other car.
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
Mrs dwf uses a 3.2 Q4 Qtronic Brera as her daily. 120k now and no major issues, not much more to go wrong than any other car.

Are you sure buddy...It is an Alfa after all....In all fairness I have had a number of Alfas and only really had issues with 2 of them but when you have issues with Alfas they seem to be bloody big ones.
 

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,958
Are you sure buddy...It is an Alfa after all....In all fairness I have had a number of Alfas and only really had issues with 2 of them but when you have issues with Alfas they seem to be bloody big ones.

I've had 8 Alfas, four from new. I have only had issues with one, which acted like it was possessed! Water in the relay panel! lol
 

MrMickS

Member
Messages
3,951
I've had six Alfa's. One from new. I've had problems will all of them to one degree or another. Still keep buying them though. I think I'm an addict lol
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
I can't count the number of Alfas I have had but I have steered away from the GM powered versions as I have seen some shocking failures caused by poor quality components.
 
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1,687
That's a lot of car for only £5k. I wouldn't have thought that there'd be much difference between this model and ti spec. But, I'm no expert. Given the limited opportunities to enjoy a 3.2 in this country, I think the 1.8 TBi engined ti might be a more balanced choice. Just thinking out loud ;)
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
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9,033
Not been familiar with the later engines, is the 3.2 V6 a GM engine at this time, just looks different with no polished inlets etc?
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
Not been familiar with the later engines, is the 3.2 V6 a GM engine at this time, just looks different with no polished inlets etc?

The 3.2 is the same engine in the Insignia, Saab and other GM models, it has little low down grunt and no high end power (IMO), not a patch on the older Busso 3.2 but Alfa moved to the GM unit as the Busso was struggling to meet emisison standards
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
That's a lot of car for only £5k. I wouldn't have thought that there'd be much difference between this model and ti spec. But, I'm no expert. Given the limited opportunities to enjoy a 3.2 in this country, I think the 1.8 TBi engined ti might be a more balanced choice. Just thinking out loud ;)

The 1.75 TBi engine is a gem but very thirsty when tuned properly
 

Corranga

Member
Messages
1,219
That's a lot of car for only £5k. I wouldn't have thought that there'd be much difference between this model and ti spec. But, I'm no expert. Given the limited opportunities to enjoy a 3.2 in this country, I think the 1.8 TBi engined ti might be a more balanced choice. Just thinking out loud ;)

Pretty sure TI spec swaps out the alloys for bigger ones (lots say they ruin the ride) adds side skirts, and silver wing mirror caps.
The interior is slightly different. Seats have different stitching pattern and red Alfa logos (on black leather) and I think all TI 159s have folding rear seats - which apparently is a different chassis or something mad like that - mine don't have folding rear seats, and they can't be retrofitted. I think they get (boring...) black dials instead of the lovely silver ones in a normal 159 (perhaps I'm biased...)

Not sure how the addition of 4WD would affect the handling, with the extra weight in an already heavy car. Similarly the V6 up front.
Perhaps the addition of the driveshaft etc. balances it out somewhat, but the 159 (and presumably Brera) are pretty nose heavy.

As for reliability, I've had my 1.9 jtdm for over 5 years now and it's barely skipped a beat.
/finds something wooden touch..

The only problem is my wife seems to park it in places where other cars want to get to closely acquainted with it, and it has white paint transfer on 3 or 4 different panels.
Also, the reversing sensors don't work.

Depending on how picky you are..
The auto wipers are terrible.
The CD auto changer has a connection that seems to disconnect on some bumps (but mine has a USB port for music so I don't care)
If you get the later model with the USB port, it's a bit picky - doesn't like some USB sticks, and always seems to have 1 song that crashes it - it then plays 15 seconds of the CD in the slot, or the radio, then goes back to the crash song :)
They are quite fond of front tyres.

They are beautiful cars though :)
 

bruciebonuz

New Member
Messages
10
Well, after flirting with a few different potential cars to replace my E46 M3, I plumped for one of these to use as my station car and kid dropper offer.....its a rare car being one of 4 or 5 currently registered.

IMG_4299 by Jonathan Stevenson, on Flickr

Its the 3.2V6 Q4 ti. A lot of car for under £6k. BOSE, Bluetooth, heated seats etc. I have had two Busso engined V6 GTVs and this engine isn't a patch on that one. For a start its almost silent (to be addressed with some Wizard pipes). It has a few quirks...but its an Alfa. And it drinks like Oliver Reed. In fact it makes him look sober. But I do very little mileage

Just been serviced at Auto Lusso and its a fine car indeed....only thing it needs is the subframe painting as a preventative measure (they showed me a rusty one....EEEEK) and the front bushes doing. Aside from that its a great car in excellent nick. Fast, smooth, comfortable.

IMG_4285 by Jonathan Stevenson, on Flickr

Nice to be back in an Alfa. Expect to be in a Maserati at some point. 3200....Gransport.....Gran Turismo....one day...just didn't quite make sense at the moment.