I’ve also had fords Vauxhall VW lancias fiats and a rover..the most unreliable of the lot was the VW.
when I had my first 156, which was some trouble, the guy at the franchise said the worst car for reliability that their franchises were dealing with was a VW passat.
I've had three Alfas, a 1.8 156 SW, a 1.6 147 and a 155hp MiTo.
The MiTo was a money pit which needed a rebuilt gearbox and diff (the well known M32 issue), a new aircon compressor, front strut top mounts, three broken springs, a new rear brake caliper, new boot wiring loom and a new front seat release cable (£120...) in the eighteen month i had the bloody thing.
My current Focus has needed one new front spring (£100) in the two years and 40k miles I've owned it.
I won't touch another Alfa.
My Alfa mechanic (you get to know them very well) always said 1litre of oil per 1000 miles was acceptable.
Which at the time I remember calculating was the same as my 2 stroke MX bike.
Certain Audi's from mid 2000's to late 2000's can use 0.5 litres every 600 miles before Audi consider it an issue! down to poor piston ring tolerances apparently
I'm lucky and get 1000 miles to 0.5 litres in my A4 2.0T, yet all my old Ford Escort RS Turbo's never used a drop of oil
We’ve had a 916 Spider, a 156 and a 147 and whilst the Spider was a bit of a diva (roof and are suspension bushes) the 156 racked up big miles as my company car and the 147 was family transport for 3 years and last time I looked on the DVLS MOT test history site both the Spider and 147 were still going strong.
Most problematic cars I’ve had were french and my currently golf 7 GTD whilst a great car has had one or two niggles.
So my experience is that they are no worse than many other marques and I’m genuinely considering getting a Giulia as my next car at the end of the year.
1 litre per 1000 miles was within Alfa’s spec for the TS engines (and JTS I think although they have other issues!). The new TB engines are superb, the 155hp unit in my MiTo was fantastic and in reality far too powerful for the woeful chassis it was bolted into. Mulitair units are not so good and need regular oil changes with the correct oil or you’ll be looking at a new multiair unit at £700 I think.
I had a 147 2.0 Selespeed when they came out. Fortunately, it was a company car. Loved it though. Ran on rails, went round corners like a crazy thing. Main issues were silly electrical stuff, Brake faults/ ABS faults, which cleared if you switched it off - didn't re-appear for months. The BOSE sub wasn't connected from new - the hifi was loud enough, but took a dealer visit to sort. The paddle shifters 'coating' wore off after a few months - took another 6 months to get a new steering wheel.
Really loved it, but only had the car 2 years, so there was no long term issues. A neighbour had a standard 147 after I went and bought a boring Nissan. His blew up (timing belt) before it should have done.
I think you have to have one - you do need to buy one from someone who knows the cars, and things like regular oil changes..
I ended up with a P12 Nissan Primera. Much more boring, but it did go round corners, had almost as good a sound system (sub +6 speakers), Nav and loads of tech. I still have the car and it was from 2002 - I wouldn't have still had the 147 running though. It had far too many glitches from new to get to 17 years old.
Had to be done, and I'd consider another, but an Alfa wouldn't be my daily driver - I commute in my old car as it carries 4 bikes on the roof regular, does everything and works, despite being old, but it's not an Alfa.
