RE: Alfa 166 sales in UK

[Martin Jacques <martin.jacques@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wise words Tim. I am one of those who own a 166, and say what a great car it
is. However, I would never buy one new. I would be mad. To me, the two
biggest drawbacks to the 166 are residuals (as you say) and the 'tinkering'
factor.

In May 1999, my car was #29,570. I bought it three years and 39,000 miles
later for #10,000. Who can afford to lose that sort of money on a car?

The 'tinkering' factor is the whole effort it takes to keep the thing
running. I would be willing to bet that almost no 5 series or E class
drivers ever look under the bonnet. If you made the washer bottle filler
easier to reach, I think you could weld the bonnet shut. On an Alfa, you
have to check the oil every fortnight. Even worse, you actually have to put
some in it.

My understanding is that the facelifted 166 will come with a very efficient
diesel option, I think a rework of the 2.4JTD that it has been available
with all over the continent. That will help, but only slightly. It will
still cost more to run over three years (because of depreciation) than far
more expensive cars.

For the 147/156, perhaps people are willing to overlook the depreciation a
little more. If Alfa want to sell large numbers of units though, they are
going to have to make them unbreakable.

Saying all this though, I am looking forward to the time when the rumoured
300bhp GTA version of the facelifted 166 comes within my price range -
should only be a couple of years now.....

Martin.
1999 166 Super

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Hancock [mailto:timhancock@domain.elided]
Sent: 12/04/2003 12:49
To: alfa digest
Subject: Alfa 166 sales in UK


Just in case anyone thought Alfas revival was going smoothly, I saw a note
in
the AROC (UK) magazine that total sales of the 166 in the UK in 2002 was a
staggering 247 units.

 As usual, just about everyone who runs one says what a nice car it is,
quality is not bad, but not quite good enough for that market sector.
Residual
prices are ridiculously low, so the judgement on 166 so far is a resounding
thumbs down. This is completely the reverse of the 156, and although sales
are
hard to get 156s are still selling quite well which is not bad for a four to
five year old car. 147 is a nearly but not quite sales success, if you
follow
my line. Planet Golf GTI (or most likely Golf TDI) would appear not to be
seriously under threat from the Alfa 147.

There is a 166 facelift coming soon (and a number of other nose jobs
too..Spider/GTV/156 ), but in my experience if a car has failed at the first
hurldle it rarely gets a second chance no matter how good the nose rework
is.
Another Alfa trend I know you will all love is the inexorable advance of the
diesel engined versions. I know some of you do not sit comfortably with the
idea of performance cars and oil burners, but that is where the only area of
market growth has been in Europe and the UK, so it is consumer demand led,
influenced heavily by fuel costs and vehicle taxation policy.

Tim Hancock   Boston UK

164TS
164 Super
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