Hi all
- Thread starter axeman
- Start date
Hi you, well you own 2 alfas your a petrolhead....
I had the gtv v6 also and i hear the gt diesel is fast and economical....
Do you mean 3200 or 3500?? I own a 3200 love it, when its running well its the best car ive owned.....any advuce when buying ask here as theres loads of people with good handy tips for you to save money to get a good one......
I had the gtv v6 also and i hear the gt diesel is fast and economical....
Do you mean 3200 or 3500?? I own a 3200 love it, when its running well its the best car ive owned.....any advuce when buying ask here as theres loads of people with good handy tips for you to save money to get a good one......
Hi you, well you own 2 alfas your a petrolhead....
I had the gtv v6 also and i hear the gt diesel is fast and economical....
Do you mean 3200 or 3500?? I own a 3200 love it, when its running well its the best car ive owned.....any advuce when buying ask here as theres loads of people with good handy tips for you to save money to get a good one......
I had the gtv v6 also and i hear the gt diesel is fast and economical....
Do you mean 3200 or 3500?? I own a 3200 love it, when its running well its the best car ive owned.....any advuce when buying ask here as theres loads of people with good handy tips for you to save money to get a good one......
Andyk
Member
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Hi axeman, and welcome to the forum...Own a GTV V6 myself.....
On runnign cost....yes a 3200 will cost you more to run than a GTV......Service costs are probably double to that for a standard GTV service depending on where you take the car. Running costs are much better than they used to be for services but its the cost of parts that really pushes the prices up.......
The chap below is about the cheapest for service and looks no more than a GTV price wise and he is well known and good but if you look around you will find a massive difference in service prices around the country.....Most go for a service and its never just a service the car needs so you would need to budget more a year.......If you get a good one though you will love it, if you get a dog then you will be on first name terms with your bank manager....................
http://www.cars.robertsaerospace.com/
I had a 3200 and found in very like the GTV to be honest.....same sort of driving position, same letter box view out of the windscreen just quicker....Both cars a real event to be in....
Good luck with your search.....
On runnign cost....yes a 3200 will cost you more to run than a GTV......Service costs are probably double to that for a standard GTV service depending on where you take the car. Running costs are much better than they used to be for services but its the cost of parts that really pushes the prices up.......
The chap below is about the cheapest for service and looks no more than a GTV price wise and he is well known and good but if you look around you will find a massive difference in service prices around the country.....Most go for a service and its never just a service the car needs so you would need to budget more a year.......If you get a good one though you will love it, if you get a dog then you will be on first name terms with your bank manager....................
http://www.cars.robertsaerospace.com/
I had a 3200 and found in very like the GTV to be honest.....same sort of driving position, same letter box view out of the windscreen just quicker....Both cars a real event to be in....
Good luck with your search.....
Emtee
New Member
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- 8,446
Morning Axeman and welcome to the forum. If you've been lurking for a while, you may well have come across the various threads concerning 3200 / 4200 / GS differences, but if not then just ask and they can be posted here. AndyK rightly touches on the importance of finding a sorted example. Try and find one with recent new clutch and brakes and of course with all the paperwork in place and stamped. An independent inspection is always money well spent, as is driving all three. Besides the different price points, they drive differently to each other and have differing 'characters'. If you can make it to one of our meets (see the events section) you'll be able to see all the models together, and there'll be plenty of advice on hand.
Best of luck in your search and do let us know how you get on?
Cheers, Em.
Best of luck in your search and do let us know how you get on?
Cheers, Em.
conaero
Forum Owner
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Hello, been lurking here for a while now.
We're looking at getting a 3500/4200/gransport in the next 6-8 months, so thought I'd join up for some advice
Currently got an Alfa GT diseasel and GTV V6, and know quite a few of the alfaowner crowd
Its strange to see this trail time and time again. I too went 3.2GTV to 3200 then GS and also have a Alfa GT JTD as my workhorse.
I am sure you will get lots advice below, but my summary is the 3200 is more of an animal but will cost more, the 4200 is bullet proof, and has a great, but more progressive engine. The Gransport is the pick of the bunch but you are looking £24k upwards for a decent example. Get an independant check and if the 3200 you go for have the engine endfloat measured, clutch stiffness check (I would personally go for the Auto if having one again) watch the oil gauge, pressure should be hard over on 5 bar when cold, when hot, idle should be 2.5 or higher and again hard over on 5 bar when revved above 2k rpm.
You can get an idea of endfloat from the oil gauge but the gauge senders are always failing so it difficult to gauge. The manuals tend to suffer from the endfloat issues. A quick check is with the bonnet up, get someone to pump the clutch with you watching the front lower crank pulley for movement. The 3200's do rust in the rear arches and around the rear lights and lower boot lip. If I were you, I would try and buy from an enthusiast rather than a dealer.
Oil in these cars is critical and should only be the correct Selina Racing 10w60. Cam belts are every 3 years, rear chains (engine out) on mileage at about 65k miles. Radiators leak, check the top hose for cracked flange and water running down the side (usually as a result of a cambelt change where the engineer has not removed the rad, rather forcing it out of the way) and the fly by wire throttle system is dicky, if its been upgraded to the contactless system, you should not have any issues. Check for ERROR lights this will the problems with the actuators on the active suspension or seized shocks, all very expensive.
Brakes and recent clutch will save you alot, plus if its running a standard exhaust, the rear cans rot out. If it has an aftermarket system on it, dont be concerned, this is a good thing. Drivers seat bolsters do wear, they can be simply repaired. Electrical gremlins are also common, check everything works, the aircon system especially. The clutch on the pump should ping on and you should get ice cold air.
Sounds like a nightmare, well no, just buy the right car and you will be fine. Anyone on here local to you will be happy to go with you and inspect the car for you, myself included.
Oh, and welcome the marque, its a hard one to shake once you get the bug.
2b1ask1
Special case
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- 20,284
Hi Axman,
I went straight for the 4200 Cambiocorsa as it was my first trip into ownership of and Italian supercar (previously owned an Alfa Sud in mid 80's and many Fiats)... I have to say my decision was based upon a fear of 3200 reliability issues that I'm far more relaxed about after a year of ownership and this excellent forum! Various members have experienced all of the points lised above by Matt and others with 3200's and also some of the 4200's owners have had some expensive supprises.... Don't however let that put you off - I knew the owner of my car and as soon as I discovered it was for sale I 'made it happen' with my wedded bank manager! I didn't have an independent done (a CARDINAL rule) but after 10,000 miles I have only had to replace the battery, handbrake shoes and a hose on the cooling the batterey being the most expensive item at £135.00. Also to note is the 12.500 mile service intervals on the 2400 which is just fantastic and allows time to save up (must start saving soon). I'd replace mine tomorrow without a hesitation if (God forbid) anything happened to it....
Value for money? Own one put the key in.... start the engine and the fixed smile says YES!!!!
I went straight for the 4200 Cambiocorsa as it was my first trip into ownership of and Italian supercar (previously owned an Alfa Sud in mid 80's and many Fiats)... I have to say my decision was based upon a fear of 3200 reliability issues that I'm far more relaxed about after a year of ownership and this excellent forum! Various members have experienced all of the points lised above by Matt and others with 3200's and also some of the 4200's owners have had some expensive supprises.... Don't however let that put you off - I knew the owner of my car and as soon as I discovered it was for sale I 'made it happen' with my wedded bank manager! I didn't have an independent done (a CARDINAL rule) but after 10,000 miles I have only had to replace the battery, handbrake shoes and a hose on the cooling the batterey being the most expensive item at £135.00. Also to note is the 12.500 mile service intervals on the 2400 which is just fantastic and allows time to save up (must start saving soon). I'd replace mine tomorrow without a hesitation if (God forbid) anything happened to it....
Value for money? Own one put the key in.... start the engine and the fixed smile says YES!!!!
NickP
Member
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I don't think that is true Dem, mine has cost me about £1k per year for the last couple of years due to not taking it to the main dealer, doing some of the work myself etc. Just had the annual service done which included spark plugs, oil filter, oil, brake fluid change, MOT, air filters, fuel filter and got the hand brake adjusted for around £600ish. Ok so it was not at a Maserati specialist but to be fair, I'm happier with the work my local garage does than I was with Maranello who repeatedly tried ripping me off and charged me £150 and hour for the privilege, my local garage charges me £70 and hour. I'll take it to a decent indie for a new clutch when that eventually goes or I need diagnostics done but everything else can be done at my local garage. Its a 10 year old car now, I bought it over 4 years ago for £20k, I'll keep it a few more years, I'm not really fussed about resale value, I know its been well looked after since I got it. If I get £6-8k for it, so what, its better than losing £10k a year on a new car and has been far more fun.
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conaero
Forum Owner
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I was also told £3k a year when I bought mine, and that was from the guy selling the car. I wish that was true, ended up spending £6k per year on it!
Nick, what has happened by the sound of it, is the person you bought the car from maintained it properly and you are benefitting from all that spending. I would agree that if its an AUTO then the costs are significantly lower.
You wont get the £1200 clutch bill nor the £6k endfloat bill neither.
Nick, what has happened by the sound of it, is the person you bought the car from maintained it properly and you are benefitting from all that spending. I would agree that if its an AUTO then the costs are significantly lower.
You wont get the £1200 clutch bill nor the £6k endfloat bill neither.
NickP
Member
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The first few years I owned it I spent £3k a year easily, getting things put right by Maranello. I didnt get an inspection, I bought one without a red key, I didnt know anything about the car, I just knew I wanted one!
The person I bought the car from had removed all the warning lights from under the dash.... just to give you an idea of what I got!
The person I bought the car from had removed all the warning lights from under the dash.... just to give you an idea of what I got!
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NickP
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Hopefully most of the bad ones will have gone to the scrapyard in the sky (David Askews) by now. We are talking about cars that are 10+ years old, worth around 10k (except the ac's). I think a budget of £3k (or a third of its value) per year is ridiculous for any car. If its not sorted by now then you've got to ask, is it cost effective to bother getting it fixed?
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NickP
Member
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Thats true!
Parisien
Moderator
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I know we harp on about it a lot of the time....but being up front and honest with prospective buyers is the best way to deal with the whole reputation, reliability and cost issues.
There are some horror stories out there, indeed on this forum........I don't like to post negative stuff.......BUT.......if it happens and is never ending ( people being ripped off, things not done, things badly done, damage being caused) then why pretend it didn't happen or just an oversight when for these cars...getting it serviced and maintained properly is critical to both car and owner.
P
There are some horror stories out there, indeed on this forum........I don't like to post negative stuff.......BUT.......if it happens and is never ending ( people being ripped off, things not done, things badly done, damage being caused) then why pretend it didn't happen or just an oversight when for these cars...getting it serviced and maintained properly is critical to both car and owner.
P