Alfa Romeo 155 - what a potential owner should know

[vishwa.j]

Hello everyone , 

I am currently looking for an Alfa Romeo 155 (2.0 TS). I have owned a Euro Car (VW) before and have driven and know up to an extent about other Euro cars (BMW , Mercs , Peugeots etc) . But never driven or been in an Alfa. I don't even have a friend who owns one so this forum is my only place of information..I have a few questions.

and I apologize in advance if there are any existing threads about this car..I couldn't find one.
Here are the questions I want answers to,

1. I know parts are hard to find , but are they available? (since this is a rare and old car)

2. I know fuel economy isn't great but can someone give me a rough figure? 
3.Are there Alfa specialists who can handle this kind of car except ITMC? 
4. How reliable is this car? I can live with lack of parts and bad fuel economy , but reliability is important to me..Is this a good car to use as a daily runner? 

5. Are there any known problems? common issues with this car?

6.How much should I pay for this? I have no idea about the market value of Alfas.

Thank you in advance! 

[fiatLife]

On 9/2/2016 at 9:28 PM, vishwa.j said:

Hello everyone , 

I am currently looking for an Alfa Romeo 155 (2.0 TS). I have owned a Euro Car (VW) before and have driven and know up to an extent about other Euro cars (BMW , Mercs , Peugeots etc) . But never driven or been in an Alfa. I don't even have a friend who owns one so this forum is my only place of information..I have a few questions.

and I apologize in advance if there are any existing threads about this car..I couldn't find one.
Here are the questions I want answers to,

1. I know parts are hard to find , but are they available? (since this is a rare and old car)

2. I know fuel economy isn't great but can someone give me a rough figure? 
3.Are there Alfa specialists who can handle this kind of car except ITMC? 
4. How reliable is this car? I can live with lack of parts and bad fuel economy , but reliability is important to me..Is this a good car to use as a daily runner? 

5. Are there any known problems? common issues with this car?

6.How much should I pay for this? I have no idea about the market value of Alfas.

Thank you in advance! 

Finally, so happy that someone even had a thought of owning a Italian  

Yes parts are available, there is a handful amount of running 155's in SL, parts can be sourced from singapore/ebay and some workshops have in stock also.

Yes there is a handful amount of places rather than ITMC, nevertheless which workshop you take the car for, 80% of the cost will be that of the parts. Labor costs are same as for other cars.

If parts are original and due maintenance is done, it should be reliable, but be aware of the electronic side of issues. Although the spare pars cost is a bit higher, they are reliable once put/installed

A good 155 should be no more than 1 million (around 850,000). But again its with the specs. Most can be found with a Japanese engine heart, if you do come across something like that, you can get it for a cheaper cost and install an original engine

 

 

[Twin Turbo]

The alfa 155,  nice looking car.

 

But that's everything good about it.  The guy who had the dealership ran away, and was never seen again. that was the end of the brand in SL.-

Now there re lots of places who specialise in EU cars.Hope they know their stuff. The engine has a timing belt - proper replacement of kit essential.As for parts, there were stockists,.. but may have moved on by now. Internet sellers best bet.

you've answered most of the key  questions yourself.  I wouldn't buy one as a daily driver.If efficiency & reliability are important., Buy a Corolla

p.s I loved the 155 so much that I bought a 1:18 scale model in red  !

Edited September 3, 2016 by Twin Turbo

[vishwa.j]

8 hours ago, Twin Turbo said:

The alfa 155,  nice looking car.

 

But that's everything good about it.  The guy who had the dealership ran away, and was never seen again. that was the end of the brand in SL.-

Now there re lots of places who specialise in EU cars.Hope they know their stuff. The engine has a timing belt - proper replacement of kit essential.As for parts, there were stockists,.. but may have moved on by now. Internet sellers best bet.

you've answered most of the key  questions yourself.  I wouldn't buy one as a daily driver.If efficiency & reliability are important., Buy a Corolla

p.s I loved the 155 so much that I bought a 1:18 scale model in red  !

So E34 will be a wiser and a better choice than this? 

[Twin Turbo]

Yes,if you bought at least 2 decades ago.

Edited September 4, 2016 by Twin Turbo

[vishwa.j]

1 hour ago, fiatLife said:

Finally, so happy that someone even had a thought of owning a Italian  

Yes parts are available, there is a handful amount of running 155's in SL, parts can be sourced from singapore/ebay and some workshops have in stock also.

Yes there is a handful amount of places rather than ITMC, nevertheless which workshop you take the car for, 80% of the cost will be that of the parts. Labor costs are same as for other cars.

If parts are original and due maintenance is done, it should be reliable, but be aware of the electronic side of issues. Although the spare pars cost is a bit higher, they are reliable once put/installed

A good 155 should be no more than 1 million (around 850,000). But again its with the specs. Most can be found with a Japanese engine heart, if you do come across something like that, you can get it for a cheaper cost and install an original engine

 

 

I'm always looking for Rare strange Cars  Not just Italian.. German , French and Swedish too..If you see a Brava or a Bravo for sale please let me know  

There's only 1 155 for sale at the moment , Problem is it's a little far for me.

Thank you for the detailed reply! Just the kind of reply I wanted  

[fiatLife]

13 hours ago, vishwa.j said:

I'm always looking for Rare strange Cars  Not just Italian.. German , French and Swedish too..If you see a Brava or a Bravo for sale please let me know  

There's only 1 155 for sale at the moment , Problem is it's a little far for me.

Thank you for the detailed reply! Just the kind of reply I wanted  

There are only 2 Bravo's here, I own one of it  There was a good condition 127 for sale few days back, i thinks its gone now. That 155 is not what it states, its not a Q4. But its rare with the wide body kit

[The Stig]

Vvti in this forum had a 3L v6,  hit him up if you need any help. Also forum member Gtam is running ITMC so you can pm him as well if you need details. There is also an fb group called Italian car enthusiasts club (sl),  this is the place if you need user experience. 

[vishwa.j]

12 hours ago, fiatLife said:

There are only 2 Bravo's here, I own one of it  There was a good condition 127 for sale few days back, i thinks its gone now. That 155 is not what it states, its not a Q4. But its rare with the wide body kit

Yeah He said it's not a Q4..
I saw a Maroon Bravo about an year ago..didn't have money at the time

[vishwa.j]

6 hours ago, The Stig said:

Vvti in this forum had a 3L v6,  hit him up if you need any help. Also forum member Gtam is running ITMC so you can pm him as well if you need details. There is also an fb group called Italian car enthusiasts club (sl),  this is the place if you need user experience. 

Thank you! I will..
If I can find parts somewhere I'm not really worried about anything else..

[fiatLife]

11 hours ago, vishwa.j said:

Yeah He said it's not a Q4..
I saw a Maroon Bravo about an year ago..didn't have money at the time

Its the diesel JTD model, the previous owner that car is also in this forum  Dont worry about parts, can get down from Germany, Singapore and so on  

[vishwa.j]

On 9/6/2016 at 9:26 AM, fiatLife said:

Its the diesel JTD model, the previous owner that car is also in this forum  Dont worry about parts, can get down from Germany, Singapore and so on  

Nope this was a 300- or 301- one.. 1.4 petrol..I wanted it the moment I saw it..

Yeah not worried about body panels and stuff..

what about clutch , CV joints , belts , rack ends , lower arms and stuff? available at Panchikawatta? 

[Dushyantha]

i had a  fiat bravo but sadly . not anymore . the 300- or 301- you're talking about must have been a saloon model ryt ?  spares for them ? u could get someone in panchikawatta to bring down parts for you . or personally import them. if you have someone with a fair bit of car knowledge in italy or UK then there are loads of wreckers where parts can be sourced .  I do no know how different the petrol variant is from the diesel but 5-6 years back there were no cv joints lower arms shocks rackends , clutch plates and stuff for a fiat bravo in srilanka . ball joints can be repaired and used again for some time . same goes for shockabsorbers 

Edited September 8, 2016 by Dushyantha

[fiatLife]

4 hours ago, Dushyantha said:

i had a  fiat bravo but sadly . not anymore . the 300- or 301- you're talking about must have been a saloon model ryt ?  spares for them ? u could get someone in panchikawatta to bring down parts for you . or personally import them. if you have someone with a fair bit of car knowledge in italy or UK then there are loads of wreckers where parts can be sourced .  I do no know how different the petrol variant is from the diesel but 5-6 years back there were no cv joints lower arms shocks rackends , clutch plates and stuff for a fiat bravo in srilanka . ball joints can be repaired and used again for some time . same goes for shockabsorbers 

 

17 hours ago, vishwa.j said:

Nope this was a 300- or 301- one.. 1.4 petrol..I wanted it the moment I saw it..

Yeah not worried about body panels and stuff..

what about clutch , CV joints , belts , rack ends , lower arms and stuff? available at Panchikawatta? 

yeah it should be the saloon model, Brava. Brava and Marea is 4 door, Bravo is 2 door

@dushyantha was the other Bravo owner,  it was him i stated above

There are parts, parts match with Alfa 145 and many other Alfa models,  mine has Alfa lower arms, Alfa clutch master pump, exact match  . So as you can see, many Euros share the same or likewise parts which can be easily fitted with a small modification. so it shouldn't be a problem finding parts. Clutch plates should match with other models, yeah plenty of parts in UK. Agree with locally done repairs, but make sure its in a good place.

Parts are with the mechanics itself, if you have free time, try with Milano, Janatha motors @ panchiwattha, Euro spare parts, also Wheels Auto Spa peliyagoda. Wheels Auto Spa normally have spares with them, although they also do repairs of Euro's. Also give a call and try with ITMC @ Rajagiriya, Next Gear @ Udahamulla
 

Edited September 8, 2016 by fiatLife

[vishwa.j]

On 9/8/2016 at 0:25 PM, fiatLife said:

 

yeah it should be the saloon model, Brava. Brava and Marea is 4 door, Bravo is 2 door

@dushyantha was the other Bravo owner,  it was him i stated above

There are parts, parts match with Alfa 145 and many other Alfa models,  mine has Alfa lower arms, Alfa clutch master pump, exact match  . So as you can see, many Euros share the same or likewise parts which can be easily fitted with a small modification. so it shouldn't be a problem finding parts. Clutch plates should match with other models, yeah plenty of parts in UK. Agree with locally done repairs, but make sure its in a good place.

Parts are with the mechanics itself, if you have free time, try with Milano, Janatha motors @ panchiwattha, Euro spare parts, also Wheels Auto Spa peliyagoda. Wheels Auto Spa normally have spares with them, although they also do repairs of Euro's. Also give a call and try with ITMC @ Rajagiriya, Next Gear @ Udahamulla
 

Thanks for the detailed info.
Yeah if clutch and parts that are required for daily running are available here , I'm not worried about other parts..can import them.

 

[vishwa.j]

On 9/8/2016 at 8:02 AM, Dushyantha said:

i had a  fiat bravo but sadly . not anymore . the 300- or 301- you're talking about must have been a saloon model ryt ?  spares for them ? u could get someone in panchikawatta to bring down parts for you . or personally import them. if you have someone with a fair bit of car knowledge in italy or UK then there are loads of wreckers where parts can be sourced .  I do no know how different the petrol variant is from the diesel but 5-6 years back there were no cv joints lower arms shocks rackends , clutch plates and stuff for a fiat bravo in srilanka . ball joints can be repaired and used again for some time . same goes for shockabsorbers 

Yeah Saloon model with weird rear lights! I like weird cars

// there were no cv joints lower arms shocks rackends// not only for Fiats..I have a 97 Daihatsu cuore and it has Swift CV joints  lights are nowhere to be found and damn expensive too..I think it depends on how many cars are there in the country. when only few cars are there it doesn't make sense for sellers to stock parts for them.
on the other hand you can easily find parts for Peugeot 406 , Volkswagen Passat since there are many cars running.

[Red164]

Clutch plate, i'm not too sure about. Brake pads, plugs, oil/fuel/air filters and many other service parts are available here. (some places that sell them have already been mentioned in this thread)

Also, most of the time, parts are much cheaper than Japanese cars. 

I have a few contacts in the UK, Netherlands and Latvia that I use to get down parts from. Will be glad to share if you ever need them. 

Also, Noel (Alfa Romeo repair guy located at Thalawathugoda) has a 155 TS that he is currently restoring for a customer. Car is fully stripped down to chassis and new paint (color change to the beautiful Alfa Red) is underway. Not sure if the customer will sell it, but you can keep an eye out just in case! Noel also had a few other 155's in for minor repairs.

 Will this video help you make up your mind in anyway? It depends how you look at it.

 

TC.

~Z.F.

 

 

[fiatLife]

On 11/12/2016 at 10:16 PM, Red164 said:

Clutch plate, i'm not too sure about. Brake pads, plugs, oil/fuel/air filters and many other service parts are available here. (some places that sell them have already been mentioned in this thread)

Also, most of the time, parts are much cheaper than Japanese cars. 

I have a few contacts in the UK, Netherlands and Latvia that I use to get down parts from. Will be glad to share if you ever need them. 

Also, Noel (Alfa Romeo repair guy located at Thalawathugoda) has a 155 TS that he is currently restoring for a customer. Car is fully stripped down to chassis and new paint (color change to the beautiful Alfa Red) is underway. Not sure if the customer will sell it, but you can keep an eye out just in case! Noel also had a few other 155's in for minor repairs.

 Will this video help you make up your mind in anyway? It depends how you look at it.

 

TC.

~Z.F.

 

 

the newly painted alfa is already on the roads  and vishwa's alfa is also with noel, its the black one. Also note that vishwa actually brought the alfa that is currently at noels

[Thilina Bandara Herath]

On 9/9/2016 at 7:47 PM, vishwa.j said:

Yeah Saloon model with weird rear lights! I like weird cars

// there were no cv joints lower arms shocks rackends// not only for Fiats..I have a 97 Daihatsu cuore and it has Swift CV joints  lights are nowhere to be found and damn expensive too..I think it depends on how many cars are there in the country. when only few cars are there it doesn't make sense for sellers to stock parts for them.
on the other hand you can easily find parts for Peugeot 406 , Volkswagen Passat since there are many cars running.

@vishwa.j Dear Mr. Vishwa

I'm planning to buy an old Daihatsu cuore (1997) car. Please advice me on availability of spare parts and other issues of this car.

Thank You