If you are wondering why of a sudden I am blogging about Alfa 156. I was doing a research on this car due to some of the choice in the future. The shortlisted rides I am eye-ing on are:

BMW E36

ZX 16v

Audi A4 – B5 1.8T

Alfa 156

These are the shortlisted continental cars I am considering. Most of us will be thinking why continental? They are expensive to maintain, especially on the servicing and parts. The same question pops up at my head. Here is one of my research on one of the listed ride.

The 156 is one of the better looking overall package compared to the list this is because the year of manufacturing is newer then the rest.

Here I am going to list down some of the problems I need to take note of so that I can compare to the rest of the rides which I have shortlisted.

What you need to take note of…

I have try to search for the reliability for 156 on google and I have stumble upon these common issues most of the owner of 156 is having.

Gear Box Issue (Selespeed)

This is a great improvement done by Alfa. The selespeed gear box is like a semi-auto gear box. As I have google through I have notice selespeed gear box have a common issue of 2nd and 4th gear skipping /missing when the gear box life span reach a certain mileage. And also the 3rd gear crunching.

It is great gear box for cruising and for driving but definitely not good when you are stuck in the traffic jam, most of the drivers of 156 Selespeed finds the gear changing is not smooth and it jerks. So is either to live with that and enjoy a great weekend long distant drives.

Most of the mechanic will advice to avoid Selespeed gear box at all cost.

Upholstery

This is another common problem on most the 156. If you are considering getting 156 you should be checking the upholstery within the car. If you are lucky you might get a good owner who maintain it well. Drivers find squeaking sounds after 50,000 – 60, 000 miles. I stumble upon this article to check the upholstery especially those are below the dash.
Reference Link

Bonnet Catch

Owners of 156 have to take note of the bonnet catch of the car. A lot of accidents are caused by the negligence on the bonnet catch.
Reference Link

Conclusion

These are the main 3 pointers I want to point out. There are some of the very detailed problems. To read more you can refer to Carsurvey to read about the owners problem with 156 Selespeed.

Overall this can be a good looking package to consider. From my research and findings this baby here can be an expensive one to maintain as well as a very sensitive ones. ECU and all are pretty fragile, if you are a 156 owner try not to jumpstart your car, because it might fried some of the components of the ECU.

This is a summary of my findings you can correct me if I am wrong. Comments are welcome.