Here we go again

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

All ....... (fill in desired brand here, Japanese probably)  cars run 
flawlessly for ....... (insert ridiculously high mileage figures here) 
miles/kilometers without any repairs, no oil changes, no coolant changes, 
etc etc.

BS guys, pure BS.

A neglected car from any maker will not be reliable at high mileages.

Furthermore, it has been my anecdotal experience that driving Japanese cars 
as hard as I drive my European cars causes bits to fly off the Japanese 
cars at about the same rate as for Euro cars, plus they make me much more 
nervous when they do. If you drive a high performance European car as 
intended, expect to maintain it properly or you'll regret it. Try that with 
most Jap cars and you'll regret it before you need to do the maintenance.

So, an 8 year old Alfa with 135,000 miles (!!!) on it turns out to be a 
lemon because it needs some repairs not done by the PO.

Unfortunately, the Alfa was designed with some serious serviceability 
deficiencies making repair costs unnecessarily high, but try getting your 8 
year old high mileage Beemer or Merc fixed, breathtakingly expensive, even 
with their "perfect" engineering (of course they are perfect, just ask the 
maker).

The AC and heater core repairs are known faults with these cars and the 
selling price should have reflected this risk (just how much did you pay 
for this super high performance sedan BTW?). the cam seals were probably 
not done by the PO at the last T belt change (which was WHEN exactly!!!) 
and if so then I bet they short cutted the other things you should do, like 
the water pump and T belt tensioner as well as the accessory belts and 
their tensioner. BTW, if the T Belt or accessory belt is not adjusted 
correctly then failure of the AC compressor pulley often follows shortly 
thereafter.

Lousy servicing is often as much to blame here as lousy design at the 
factory. What is not correct is to suggest the build quality was bad, it 
was superb on these cars.

Point of fact, the older the 164 gets the more impressive it becomes. The 
darn things refuse to rattle, the suspension remains tight (even though the 
strut rubber covers fall apart inside six or so years, my struts are good 
as new after another 5 years with essentially no dust covers) the interior 
holds up extremely well, and the sucker just hauls ass as well as it did 
off the showroom floor, some 11 years ago. This is a robust and well built 
car with a few very expensive and stupid design and serviceability defects. 
Get it fixed, keep it fixed, and she'll keep you happy for years yet.

Now, try staying happy for even three years with the usual fare served up 
by Jap or US manufacturers (shudder)....
Michael Smith
White 1991 164L
Original owner
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