Alfa Romeo GTV - Should You Buy A Cheap Alfa? (1999 2.0 TwinSpark Road Test)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- We all love the idea of an Alfa Romeo, but their unreliable reputation can be off-putting. The 916 GTV is a cheap, modern classic entry into Alfa ownership, but is it worth the risk? Paul Wager explains why buying a bargain GTV wasn’t a total disaster.
Music -
• Otis McDonald - Rest: • Rest - Otis McDonald |...
• Scouting - Eveningland: • Video
Classics World is a family of brands that includes ten classic publications plus many souvenir bookazines. Check out great offers on these and more on shop.kelsey.co...
More classic car news and reviews online. Stay up to date with our weekly newsletter - register today at classicsworld....
• Facebook: / classicsworlduk
• Instagram: @classicsworlduk
• Twitter: @ClassicsWorldUK
All content on this channel is - unless otherwise stated - the opinion of the given party and any offence caused is severely apologised for. Any and all third-party content is credited and referenced to the best of our ability and all externally-created content is entirely the legal property of its original and rightful owner/s. All rights respected.
Correct. I had a GTV V6. Terrific quality car, very well built, reliable and, best of all, a thrill every time you got behind the wheel. Totally alive with Italian character - it just wanted to go. Really gets attention too. You really got the sense that the people that built it took pride in what they were doing, and wanted to produce a great product that would provide pleasure. I guess that's one thing that makes people love Alfas - it isn't just about making a buck, it's about making something beautiful, and exciting.
I've no doubt these will become collectible, if they're not already.
"If you want a car that works".... I've bought mine as a mountain of trash.... the brakes didn't work, it had many mistakes in electricity, the window and mirrors weren't moving. But half a year later, I'm in love
Terrible 2nd hand Alfa's had terrible owners. Its as simple as that! I had a 2005 2.0 jts GT for 9 years with absolutely no problems at all, my Dad had a 1990 2.0 164 for 20 years and drove 640.000km with it (yeah you read correctly) and apart from normal repairs, the car never left us on the side of the road and generally we had no issues that another car with such mileage wouldn't have! I mean it is normal to change twice the air condition pump after so many KM. In fact they stopped using it because road taxes went so high that it wasn't worth it anymore and parts when needed were difficult (we never found a new button switch for the sun roof). It is in the garage for 10 years, and still turns on & runs great! But on the other hand I never saw a petrol BMW, for example, with so many km. What we did? Simply, took care of them, didnt drive the cars like the end of the world was about to come and serviced them with care AS THE MANUFACTURER SAYS. Even though I don't own an Alfa now, what I learned after 20 years having them in the family, was that if you take care of them they will take care of you & your pocket. AS EVERY OTHER CAR! On the other hand, if you don't, they will extinguish every clue that proved you once had a pocket!
My family has a Alfa Romeo Giulietta “1.4L MultiAir” as the family car and that car is really quite reliable!
Honestly whenever I see a Alfa Romeo reliability joke I do kinda get pissed off by it and I think to myself “These morons do not get it so they should shut up about it.”
These are such underrated cars, it must be down to the Alfa reputation. I've a Jaguar XK8 which does everything well, and then unexpectedly got the opportunity to buy a V6 GTV for relatively little. Jag is comfortable, fast, refined but eventually rather boring. The Alfa is a revelation, it's eager, noisy, and has a stupid driving position when your 6'2", the boot is farcical, but.... what a car. It's a hoot to drive, the soundtrack is from a film, it's visceral in every sense. I'll sell the Jag (which I coveted for years) but will keep the Alfa. Very soon these will be silly money, get one now. I mean look at what this guys driving for a few hundred pounds, that's 15 year old Micra territory. Have a boring car for everyday use, and one of these on a classic policy, and as for reliability? Well even 15 year old Micras break down.
I have the same cars and totally agree with what you say.
Bravo ragazzo, hai l'occhio lungo!!, sono Italiano e ho una gtv 1.8 16v. 144cv. rarissima ormai del 1999 nera bellissima ancora,
ce l'ho da 21 anni, la comprai da ragazzo a 26 anni, ha 130.000 km ed ora e' a restaurare/ lucidare dal carrozziere,
e' una macchina stupenda, la consiglio a tutti, non ve ne pentirete, ciao!!
Weather you reply i know it was 4yrs ago. I’m actually in a toss up between the xk8 and the spider not sure what to choose
You're quite right when you said it won't let you down. I bought a GTV in 2014 and it has sat on the drive for 7 years and had a generous coating of moss and lichens. I put a new battery on today and it started on the button - first time! I could not believe it; even with 7 years old petrol. It's now been jet washed and snow foamed and looks reasonable, apart from some paint damage where the moss seems to have eaten away at the paint. Hungry moss!
I'm genuinely considering getting a GTV with the 2.0 TS to replace my first car, a Mk1 Ford Ka. My friends are calling me suicidal, and I really don't care. They can have their Golfs and their A3s.
Our one was £500 and has proved as reliable as any of our other classics! You only live once - do it!
@@ClassicsWorldUK It's defintely on the list of possible cars. I don't mind getting my hands dirty if something goes wrong anyways
It’s better to get 1.8 TS if you could find it, much more reliable engine.
@@uros9151 The GTV wasn't sold in the UK with the 1.8 TS
@@GECKOZFTW watch on my channel the gtv 3.0 V6, gorgeous
Love your presentation, just brought one to add to 156 and 147 GTA, real nice and reliable car, a smile on my face every time i drive it
That's my old car! Great to see it is still going well! I regret selling her. She was a solid, fun car that never let me down. Not as fast as the V6 but arguably more nimble and fun. The air con in that specific car is amazing for an Alfa. I've not had one that worked before or since!
Small world, eh? She's one of the most popular cars on our fleet!
@@ClassicsWorldUK You kept her? Great! She was lots of fun. I shouldn't really have sold her.
@@claytonanderson7417 Absolutely! A future classic for sure
Why do people in uk care about the a/c?? Its rarely warm enough to have it on lol,ide rather make sure the heating is working
@@darrenscully6959 The heater worked well under my ownership too! It was well tested!
Amazing the difference a year makes. Finally getting the recognition of a masterpiece in design they deserve. Prices of twin sparks for nice cars have doubled and long may it continue. Well maintained GTV’s are magical cars. 👍
Nice to know, prices are improving, ive had my 1996 Phase 1, since 2009. Been stored away for a number of years as needed a family car, and im under pressure to do something with it...good excuse now.
New to your channel and, enjoyed the show. Thank you.
We have a 916 spider. Twin spark. Standard exhaust but still sounds terrific. Love the car. Fairly light and huge fun on the lanes. I don't need to be breaking the sound barrier to enjoy my days out. Perfect for a sunny day (they happen once in a while in Cornwall) and a pub lunch in the middle of nowhere.
I Did
Bought V6 Tb 1999
On internet,whitout driving one mile. 😀
Got the car 2 years now,next week,we gone work on it,for the first time.
I have a 16v twinspark like this on a 155 (the one with the metal cover). The engine sound is just too good for a 4 cylinder and it goes Ok for what it is. Alfas are just lovable, they make you feel good and then you want to take care of them :D
great review, Really. Haven't seen a review that is this much in detail.
Keep it up.
I really enjoyedcthis review...very informative and well presented.....and as I AM one of those people that has always wanted an Alfa but have never had the bottle I am inspired by your advice to.."go on..do it"....👍
Need we say again? Go on, do it! ;)
@@ClassicsWorldUK As son as this current nonsense is over I'll be right on it......Cheers!!
I've got one of these in the garage, I had 1998 model back in 1999 which cost me about £13k, later got a V6, now have a 1999 T plate which cost me less than £300.
Had one of these in the late 90's, loved it.
I have a GTV TS from -98, stands in the garage broken, but the engine and gearbox is fine, just needs some love
I love my GTV from 1999 phase2 1.8 TS
I had one of these, the 2.0. It is both the best and the worst car I ever owned.
I had a 2000 GTV for 3 years and spent a near fortune on it including 2 steering racks! It looked beautiful in silver with red leather interior but after the 2nd steering rack on it went, it was time to say goodbye. Oh and I drove it v sanely and didn’t fly over road humps. In fact I couldn’t as it would scrape the bottom so had to straddle one wheel on one off, slowly of course.
how many miles?
Still got one of these together with my two 145 QV’s. I’ve had loads and actually prefer the balance of the 916 TS to the 916 V6
Excellent taste! The lighter 2.0 litre definitely makes it more of a sports car
The Alfa Busso V6 is one of the all time great engines. The way it looks in the engine bay, the sound from both induction and exhaust, the torque, the way it revs.... Yes it's a little heavy over the front wheels, working on it for a DIY mechanic is an utter pig as it sits almost air tight in the engine bay and it's fuel economy is what you'd expect. When petrol is no more and internal combustion engines are consigned to museums there will be Busso V6s in there for the future generations to see. The TS engines of that era are great as they are Alfa Romeo but the Busso is legendary.
Yeh the fwd chassis is more suited to a twin cam 4 cyl ,like the original only rwd .The v6 must suffer from a lot of torque steer
I have the Spider and although I love driving it only in the spring and summer, what I learned I had to do is disconnect the battery for the winter storage because when it’s sitting for so many months of not moving the - the battery always ended up dying by the time spring arrives
The GTV, in both iterations, are wonderful, underrated and very characterful cars. And they’re still (relatively) cheap to buy but that state of affairs will not last long. I’m happy, in a way, Alfas don’t appeal to the, ahem, masses….does Alfa care? No. Let them eat, I mean drive, Toyotas, Nissans, Audis, Beemers et al….and leave these treasures to the true Alfisti. Personally, for sheer road presence, unmatched (including Ferrari) sound and charisma, I’d take the Busso V6 but the the 2.0 litre twinnie (Twin Spark) is the better balanced car in respect of road manners. Get a good one, look after it using the right oil grade (regularly) and you’ve got yourself a classic that rewards with every drive.
I'm 💯 an Alfa male. In a car with red leather interior 😄
Never understand where the unreliable reputation come from ,must of been the 1970s ,when Bl ford and vaux were obviously so much better in the way of rust reliability and looks .The independent rear suspension and twin cam engines that the italians were using by then were way behind the brits ,Or have i got that wrong !
Uno de los deportivos más bonitos y fiables también de la historia
Tengo uno desde hace ya 20 años y sigo enamorado de él y usándolo casi todos los días.
Yes absolutely!
I had the v6 version 230 bhp in black.loved it and spent 2000 on it to make it pucker.However I only had it 6 months and some doughnut hit me from behind and wrote it off,I’m still bitter and twisted about it now 😂
On the other bucket list 👍
I have a Spider 916. It's great!
I had a 145 quadrifioglio, brilliant handling car , 1200 euro. Couldn't get spares so had to scrap it , heartbroken after 10 years. Replaced it with a Mito turbo 155 hp. Not quite as good handling , but quite nippy
Great drivers car,with a sporting soul.love to be thrashed.
I 'did it' 2 years ago..yr 2000, 2l 916 ts series 2, 155bhp.. Soooooooo much FUN for £750 ...!!!!! lol.!
Really very great ALFA Romeo car.
the car is gorgeous 🎉🎉🎉
I did over 221,000 miles in my tspark
Next video or update on thr gtv?
I'd love to have a V6 Spider, but they are already silly money.
Did you say... 500 quid?
500 Pounds? If it started.. I coulda been blindfolded to buy it for that.
If you buy an Alfa Romeo for reliability, then maybe Alfa Romeo’s are not for you. Maybe a Honda Civic is more your cup of tea?
If however you are “into driving” and don’t care about the destination but are more concerned with the journey, then put your big boy pants on and take the plunge. You won’t regret it.
My friend had one of these and he was on first name terms with the AAguy. I would never buy one.
I can't believe you bought this for 500 quid.
Hahahaha … sooner or later you will be walking in the rain. Brilliant!
Wach out!! You driven on the false side of the road !
👊❤
these cars are just a pain to work on . engine to come out for a belt change , Italians have absolutely no brains when it came to engineering , I had one and I'd never get another . it's horrible and a pain. when you buy a car, you the owner , how ever when you buy an alfa , the car owns you .
The engine does not need to come out for a cam belt change. Go back to your German crap.
@@slippinjimmy2149 no thank you . I'm with Japanese now. Far better quality and actually built to last. Have fun with your alfas breaking down every few weeks. Cheers .
Italians are not dumber than american car builders when you consider something as basic as just changing your sparkplugs on any of their V6's or v8's for example. Half a day job on a Camaro or Firebird. One day labor on a Astro which you even need to remove the wheels and inner wheel arches to reach to them (that is if you have a 1 meter long ratchet extension). THAT is what I would call utterly stupid engineering. And as far as reliability goes, we all know how american cars are just terrible on every aspect (mechanical issues, handling, quirky noises, poor trims, spontaneous combustion, and the list goes on...).
You talk to fast