diesel alfas

The JTD's are great aslong as they've had fairly regular servicing. The turbos and piston rings die if oral doesn't have regular oil changes. IIRC mpg will be mid 40s. The 8v is more reliable than the 16v (1.9 4 pot), And the 10v more reliable than the 20v (2.4 5 pot)

I had a gt jtd, it was great but constantly needed something or other doing to it. But it was remapped and went well.

Check for uneven tyre wear, they wear out the front suspension pretty quickly. Check underneath for rust on the floorpan, some had barely any protection under there. I had trouble with my ac too.

I bought a 1.8TS 156 SW, I wish I had got the diesel after I tried one.

Yep

yup, sounds like any other modern diesel to be honest.

I must have been caught in a multi quoting mood tonight! But my 147JTD 8v probably had to be one of the best dailies I have ever owned, surpassing the modern VW I had by a country mile. Saying that, there are a few things you have to keep an eye on (is there not always?).







The petrols are pricey on tax, need a cambelt twice as often (with more tools being required for the job (dial gauge etc.) in addition to being thirstier than petrol engined cars from their competitors (to put it into perspective my Pug 306 GTi-6 was more frugal than my 147 2.0TS as well as a friend's 156 2.0TS, and dare I say it, it is on a par with a friend's 1.6TS (Who also drove my GTi-6 when I was converting his car to LPG). They do drive nicer though and the engines are lovely on song.



Yup, the derv engines are made by Fiat, who now own Alfa Romeo.



Engines having major issues is down to neglect IMHO (I used to service mine on the dot as per Alfa specs with 5W40 fully synthetic with OEM filters (the motor factors would always seem to give me the wrong bits, fuel filter being the biggest connundrum (it was too large, meaning that the water level sensor could not be plugged in). The biggest issue I had with mine was the intercooler pipes (initially being tight I only bought one silicon pipe, upon changing the slightly weeping second pipe the MPG went skyward (for the better) as did the smoke (none at all from there being plenty on acceleration) in addition to it being more responsive. As a matter of fact I would recommend anyone with a 147JTD to replace their intercooler hoses for silicon items even at £120 for the pair (I was stunned at the difference, despite my final IC hose not having any defects for a while (it misted slightly at the connections until it split (specialists reckon the IC hoses are good for 50,000 miles tops, which in hindsight I would agree with). I would have saved the £120 in fuel savings over a year without leaving a cloud of smoke everywhere upon flooring the car.

Bushes yes can go. But again from trying various bushes etc. anything from the motorfactors will barely last you an MOT. Only genuine/TRW items will yield any sensible mileage, or preferably going for poly items of the Superflex or Powerflex variety (both of which will probably outlive the car with no hindrance on ride comfort.

As for tyres, the Michelin Primacies in 16" guise did over 20k on the front of the Alfa once I had grasped which bushes lasted and which were made of cheese (The upper arms failed an MOT within a year of it being replaced (One was Vetech, the other a Lemforder item from ECP: Autolusso said that bar the poly items only the genuine arms or TRW items seemed to yield any sensible mileage).

Maybe I was lucky or persevered, but my experience of them was far from being a poor one.