Alfa Romeo 146 2.0 > Reviews (6)

After twenty years of motoring, and a passion for performance cars, my bank balance took a recent dip. Being a self employed builder, due to the recession, funds arn't what they used to be. In twenty years i've owned some fantastic cars. Jags, Porches, Audis, top of the range vauxhalls, cosworths and my memorable and beloved Alfa 155 v6. After owning such great cars and rapidly reaching middle age, I still can't bring myself to purchase a sensible car. Even tho I'm skint. So what car should you buy? Well out of all the cars i've owned, the most pleasure i ever got was from the Alfa so I decided to search the auction sites for another. You will not believe how cheap you can buy these cars for. After a while of viewing a number of Alfa's, I came across a 146ti. Eight years old, full test. Absolutley MINT!!! This car looks fantastic, drive better than my 944 Porsche and obiviously drives faster than most cars because it's in gleaming ferrari red! I always thought of Italian cars as being rot box's, but there isn't a blemish on it. It' performance is as good as any car i've owned, looks stunning and i've never owned a car thats so huge inside for a car the same size as an astra. It has every concievable extra. The sports seats look like they've been plucked from a Masseratti. And the price? 400 English pounds!! I can't believe you can buy so much car for so less money. I can only come to the conclusion that previous Alfa's have had such bad reviews that the name for unreliability has stuck. The only problem so far has been the manufacturers immobiliser. The car wouldn't start, I feared the worst. I thought the starter motor had gone. All it turned out to be was that i'd fitted it with a new battery and not reset the chip in the key. This is done easily by disconnecting the battery, connecting the positive wire, touching the negative wire to the possitive for a few seconds, then connecting the negative.Run the car for a few miles so the immobiliser recognises the key. Then hey presto, a ferrari for 400 quid!