Japanese Import 166

[mjheathcote]

Very clean and sharp!

https://www.thecarwarehouse.co.uk/vehicle/760/alfa-romeo-166

Anyone dealt with them? lots of interesting cars in stock.

 

[whereskeith]

Nice car , not sure about the front though.
They have they spent a fortune on Japanese auction cars and then imported them.

 

[CatmanV2]

Had a manual. Bought site unseen from ebay, and drove to Champagne. **** of a car, just not for me. Sold it to my Dad who ran it until and idiot wrote it off on the drive

C

 

[mjheathcote]

They have 326 cars listed for sale.
How do they finance that lot?!

 

[rs48635]

Have no experience of the company selling the car.
have owned two Alfa 166 inclusions the sportomatic as pictured. Very accomplished car, likely the best built Alfa Romeo up to that point. The auto box is a proverbial "cup of cold sick" after owning manual car directly before. Superb interior and great engine.

 

[rs48635]

V12 box ticked, but badly bodykitted? https://www.thecarwarehouse.co.uk/vehicle/1180/bmw-7-series
Another even more bonkers V12, anyone Toyota Century?

 

[DaveT]

They import lots of Alfas from Japan though never bought from them. Had 2 X 166 3.0 Sportronics back in the day - loved them both. Epic motors for the money.

 

[dgmx5]

Seems like a lot of the stock is still in Japan and they are a re-seller if someone chooses that particular vehicle. Some great Kei car curios in there including the custom painted Honda Beat and the Mazda AZ-1.

 

[Nayf]

That’s an auto and has been for sale for yonks. I do love a 166 but that engine doesn’t suit an automatic. It changes up just as you get to the fun part...

 

[allandwf]

I don't know the company. There is another well known one that bring in a lot of Japanese Alfas, just check Fleabay. I would just buy a genuine UK car, there are plenty out there. I had one as a courtesy car years back, was a reasonably nice thing.

 

[zagatoes30]

Had both manual and auto 166 3.0 and loved them both, different in the way they deliver and not surprising the manual had the edge but would happily live with either

 

[Nikko]

I don't know the company. There is another well known one that bring in a lot of Japanese Alfas, just check Fleabay. I would just buy a genuine UK car, there are plenty out there. I had one as a courtesy car years back, was a reasonably nice thing.

A couple of plus points are usually low mileage and minimal rot as they do not salt the roads.
147 GTA Selespeeds seems to be the popular choice at the minute with a particularly nice example on eBay. I nearly imported a 156 GTA Sportwagon but I was told Selespeed parts are now getting difficult to source.

 

[rs48635]

A couple of plus points are usually low mileage and minimal rot as they do not salt the roads.
147 GTA Selespeeds seems to be the popular choice at the minute with a particularly nice example on eBay. I nearly imported a 156 GTA Sportwagon but I was told Selespeed parts are now getting difficult to source.

Always a few GTA at local specalist AutoLusso - and mostly manual gearbox.
if the Alfa is running short of selespeeed parts they can start buying Maserati spares - many shared parts

 

[Guy]

A couple of plus points are usually low mileage and minimal rot as they do not salt the roads.
147 GTA Selespeeds seems to be the popular choice at the minute with a particularly nice example on eBay. I nearly imported a 156 GTA Sportwagon but I was told Selespeed parts are now getting difficult to source.

Good point about the mileage and rot. A good friend of mine has been bringing Japanese cars ((over 200) in for the past 3 years or so and on most the undersides are like new. If I was spending £5-10k on this sort of car (especially Alfa) I would only buy from Japan unless something used in the UK for the past 10-25 years was exceptional. You can see here what he has today and also what has sold - quite a few Alfas! www.valleycarsandclassics.com/about-us/

 

[mjheathcote]

Good point about the mileage and rot. A good friend of mine has been bringing Japanese cars ((over 200) in for the past 3 years or so and on most the undersides are like new. If I was spending £5-10k on this sort of car (especially Alfa) I would only buy from Japan unless something used in the UK for the past 10-25 years was exceptional. You can see here what he has today and also what has sold - quite a few Alfas! www.valleycarsandclassics.com/about-us/

Well that's the point.
New cars sold in the UK are generally used all year, the first owners aren't concerned about corrosion as they will probably only have them 3 or 4 years at most. Damage done.
They aren't going to carry out additional corrosion protection when new.
That's why cars like the QP are so bad now, they where exposed to salt and grit when new with inadequate protection.

 

[Manc5]

Good point about the mileage and rot. A good friend of mine has been bringing Japanese cars ((over 200) in for the past 3 years or so and on most the undersides are like new. If I was spending £5-10k on this sort of car (especially Alfa) I would only buy from Japan unless something used in the UK for the past 10-25 years was exceptional. You can see here what he has today and also what has sold - quite a few Alfas! www.valleycarsandclassics.com/about-us/

Just looked through that site.. that 2011 passatt tells the uk roads and salt story quite well. I have never had a Japanese import car but back a few years i had friends that went that way on Supra's and Subaru's.. as lons as immediately undercoated all was well.

 

[Wanderer]

Had a 166, massive boot compared to the QP5 which is odd, since the QP5 is a much bigger car. Terrible headlights, the worst ever, 9 time out of 10 I was convinced they weren't even switched on.

 

[rs48635]

Had a 166, massive boot compared to the QP5 which is odd, since the QP5 is a much bigger car. Terrible headlights, the worst ever, 9 time out of 10 I was convinced they weren't even switched on.

ditto- main beam all of the time. Driving back from Benidorm to UK only flicked them back to dipped beam handful of times.

 

[Guy]

this one is incoming from Japan apparently. I assume the facelift headlights are better. Certainly much bigger.

 

[rs48635]

is everything imported from Japan auto gearbox?