USA alfa enthusiast curious on how reliable the new alfa's are

[BigFoot]

I ran a 147 2.0L Selespeed for two years and never had a problem

[alfettaparts]

Unfortunatly my experience has been that as soon as the warrenty is up its time to sell the car. It must also be said however that most of the parts that break are german parts. There is no logical reason for alfa to choose cheap bosch parts with limit design life and it rests on there shoulders for choosing to do so.
Cam belts break if you dont take them to your dealer the day the service milage or time suggests and the JTS engine burns oil like a 1750 thats done 160 000 miles which in itself isnt a problem if you top the oil up between service. Alfa cover themselves with that little issue by placing a sticker on the front window stating that it is a high performance engine requiring regular oil checks.
The manual gearbox's blow up, as in punch a hole through the side of the casing if driven hard. An alfetta gearbox would never have done that.
It dam frustrating because they get the build quality and fish right and slip in the mechanical department
oh well

[BigSwede]

Rumour has it that Alfa is starting a new engine design to replace the GM engines because of the incredibly bad reception throughout the world. Don't be fooled, it is a GM unit, just because they changed the casting ever so slightly and assemble them in another factory doesn't make them Alfa, the dimensions are all the same.

[AlfaPDent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh1600 I've also heard that there are reliability issues with the Selespeed transmission, but my wife and I are committed manual drivers so we were never going to buy one of those. Apparently most people who do come to wish they'd bought a manual in the end... I've driven the Selespeed and I found the changes to be too slow and also that it took away some of the driving experience. I just enjoy depressing the clutch pedal I guess. Cheers, Josh.

[Vsix]

159 has selespeed option with 2.2 engine
http://www.alfaromeo-jp.com/159sele/index.html

[AlfaPDent]

I am pleased to see that Alfa are continuing Selespeed in some markets. There is no mention of it coming to the UK though. I believe that the closest we will get is the Q-tronic which is to be introduced to the UK later this month.

[PietereQ]

Someone posted that all recent alfas are fwd. Not true, all new GM v6'ers (brera & 159) have torsenC four whell drive (plus 156 crosswagon but it's a diesel). Guess these versions will be most popular in USA, since diesels (alfa No.1 euro engine) are not that popular in US.

[CocoCool]

I drive an Alfa 159 SW 2.2 (185 bhp) for more then a year now. About 34000 km's, without any problems, through Europe and a little bit of Asia. Even on the bad roads in southern Italy and Greece it goes on at high speeds. Cruising at 200 km/hour on the autostrada is great, in the mountains it's even better. It's a perfect gran turismo, and the sw version adds a nice luggage compartment.
Build quality is a lot better in comparison to my former car, a Peugeot 307 convertible. That car has broken down almost every 2 months! Fire under the bonnet, vibrating at high speed, broken axis, etc. So maybe I am easy statisfied now, but my girlfriends BMW has been back to the dealership twice in the first 3 months! So the famous German build quality is exceeded by the Italians.
My next car will be an Alfa again, probably a 2.4 jtd (210bhp) because of the ridiculous fuel prices in Europe.