One-owner Alfa Romeo 156 GTA for sale
Oh God, yes
If any car encapsulates the idea that a once-dismissed model from yesteryear can come good based on the sugary goodness of its petrol engine, it is the Alfa 156 GTA. The saloon was not entirely unappreciated in its day, of course - the 156 was European Car of the Year after all, and the 3.2-litre V6 has never not been considered brilliant - but its inescapable front-drive status did tend to lead to a trouncing in handling-obsessed group tests. Which meant it was always going to be a struggle to persuade buyers out of the usual German suspects.
Alfa did struggle and while its fanbase could be relied upon to hoover up its usual quota, the car sold comparatively poorly. Today, the GTA itself is no different - but two eventful decades have changed the world around it in ways that would seem outlandish in 2003. The petrol V6 is not quite dead (indeed, it might enjoy its own resurgence if sudden OEM interest in engine development continues to reverse course) but there will certainly be nothing to compete with the naturally aspirated opera that is a high-functioning Busso.
The 3.2-litre evolution of Alfa's venerable 60° six-pot was always the reason for buying - it producing 250hp at 6,200rpm and 221lb ft at 4,800rpm, and in possession of a soundtrack that made even its contemporaries sound like domestic appliances - but in 2025 that relationship has gone from spotlight to microscope. Anyone desperate to row back against the side effects of particulate filtration and hybridisation need look no further: the GTA will seem as unbridled as an outboard motor. But in a good way.
It’s hardly stopped looking the part either. Alfa might have spent a frustratingly long time remembering which end the driven axle should be located, but it required no lessons in how to make a car look desirable. The 156 was pretty anyway: add the broader front wings and sills and splitter of the GTA - not to mention those wheels, which continue to make most men’s eyes roll back into their heads as if on fishing wire - and it was elevated to the status of proper heartbreaker. Even the dial-festooned interior had something about it.
In this case, the inside comes with the welcome sight of the six-speed manual gear lever, which you hardly need us to explain is preferred to the somewhat temperamental Selespeed transmission. The car around it is also what you want, it being that increasingly rare thing: a one-owner, garage-stored 156 GTA that's been meticulously maintained since the day it rolled out of the showroom. It has been used in that time, but only to the tune of 45,614 miles, which means there are decades of happy Busso-ing still ahead of it.
It doesn’t currently have an MOT mind, and the history suggests that it’s been off the road for a short period - but that hardly matters with the level of provenance we’re talking about, nor the apparent condition. Both, as you might expect, have been taken into consideration when setting the price: £24,995 is enough to make even the most dedicated Alfisti hat-wearer pause for careful consideration. But it is the only 156 GTA currently for sale on PH and there cannot be many more like it left. As ever, those distinctions ought to drive an outsized amount of interest. Much more so than 20 years ago.
And when these were new required regular trips to the main dealer for all sorts of stuff going wrong.
It's covered less than a thousand miles in the last 11 years so if you were wanting to use it, I guess a thorough check over would be in order.
A 147 GTA is an even more rewarding car
Back in the day purists looked away: today many drool and want one, especially after a drive in one
It doesn't have the halo of the GTA but the 2.5 is arguably an even sweeter motor, it's even rarer, and parts are more easily available than for the GTA (whose wings for example are not shared with other cars and are NLA).
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