My 156 Sportwagon
Discussion
156 Sportwagon Veloce Selespeed.
Import from Malaysia - 4 years after production.
10k miles and 1 owner from 'new'.
Bought for peanuts a couple of weeks ago.
Washed, polished and waxed this morning - HIDs and parking sensors to be fitted, but stuck in a Kenwood bluetooth / iPod head unit last week.
Import from Malaysia - 4 years after production.
10k miles and 1 owner from 'new'.
Bought for peanuts a couple of weeks ago.
Washed, polished and waxed this morning - HIDs and parking sensors to be fitted, but stuck in a Kenwood bluetooth / iPod head unit last week.
OllieBirmingham said:
Beautiful looking car there, fantastic coulour combo.
Aren't the 'sillyspeeds' supposed to be a complete waking nightmare though? Always provokes a sharp intake of breath from any traders I try and punt them to.
Yes, they are.Aren't the 'sillyspeeds' supposed to be a complete waking nightmare though? Always provokes a sharp intake of breath from any traders I try and punt them to.
But this was so cheap, I had to take a punt on it.
25% of the list price of one in 2006 isn't a bad deal, even though it was built a few years earlier than registration - also about a third of the price of an equivalent model and registration 159.
sniff diesel said:
How'd it end up on a 56 reg then?
Alfa had a huge market for their cars in Malaysia and other nearby countries - to the extent that they even did CKD kits which were, for a short time, assembled in a GM factory out there.(This is an Italian built car, though).However, much as our government is doing now, the Malaysian government changed tax rules on imported 'luxury cars' - which meant that Alfa's market disappeared overnight.
They were left with several hundred unsold cars out there in late 2002.
By the time they'd worked out how to get them back (ISTR a legal battle with the importer over there who couldn't pay for them, as he couldn't sell them), the 156 had been facelifted, so Alfa couldn't take them back and sell them in other RHD countries via official channels.
They managed to find a load of personal import type companies who *would* take them off their hands - but this was 4 years after the build date - so they were offloaded at spectacularly knocked-down prices.
Veloces in Barnet bought a lot of cars from this and similarly failed export markets, as did a company called Park Lane UK (they still have some GTs and some 147 Selespeeds going for next to nothing, unregistered) and Monza Sport.
Anyway, some cars ended up being sold by the above, some went to car supermarkets, but all were registered at least 2-3 years after they were built.
Opinions differ on how much they're worth - if you're selling, a dealer will offer you 2002 money at best, if you're buying, they'll obviously try and get as much as they can for it.
I paid £5400 for mine, which, although built in 2002 (but dry stored for 4 years before being registered) is technically only 2 years old and had just over 10k miles on it when I collected it.
It's not perfect - no 2 year old car is (mostly little marks in the notoriously bad Alfa black paint) - but the interior is immaculate and it drives like a new one should.
I'm using it as a company car and will be putting 30-40k / year on it - so residual value on whatever I bought will be peanuts. However, at the price I paid, I can bank £200 / month of my car allowance and have a car worth passing on to Mrs 75 in 2 years time. Made a lot more sense than blowing my entire budget on a 1 year old 9-5 or 300c, which was my original plan.
gareth.e said:
The interior looks absolutely stunning 
And the exterior looks nice although the wheels seem to make it look a bit more dated..
It's a rather lovely place to sit - lovely perforated Momo leather with a perforated Momo leather steering wheel. Very, very comfortable.And the exterior looks nice although the wheels seem to make it look a bit more dated..
I suppose the wheels are a bit on the small side these days, but they're OEM 'Selespeed' wheels (ISTR made by Speedline), so they're staying. I'm not a huge fan of big wheels on 156s anyway.
Stunning interior, to be fair i think the wheels look in proportion to the rest of the car, looked at one of these before getting the Mundeno, think i'll be investing in a 159 estate in a few years time (Someone posted pics on here of one a while ago, looked great in black), needs to be a manual V6 though for me!
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