CouncilMotors

No idea - look on t'internet or 118500.

Anybody who thinks Alfas are unreliable should try a modern German car - they're just as bad these days. I personally wouldn't spend more than £5000 on a 156 and there are plenty around for this money. Don't buy the Selespeed though because they're the ones that give massive gearbox problems. As for car fires, look on the FAB (BMW breakers) website under 'breaking now' to see a shocking selection of burnt out new model BMW's. I had a CSL for a week and the bastard caught fire, destroying the engine bay, dash and most of the interior. I got a very good payout but watching a car fry is quite horrible, unless it's a City Rover. The main problem with the 156 is the Twin Spark engine, It's a very strong unit but sadly Alfa have set some very unrealistic maintenance schedules for it - a cambelt change at a ridiculous 72'000 miles for instance. Most break at around 60'000 so at 40k you should get the cambelt, balance shaft belt (2 litre) and the tensioner rollers changed. The other thing is that they can use oil - up to 300 miles per litre. Lots of them have been run out of oil which buggers them. Rear suspension bushes need replacing at around 80'000 miles as well, and you do get the odd electrical problem. If you want 100% reliability, buy Japanese. Looked after, the 156 is a very good car. Three good dealers: Mangoletsi in Birmingham, SGT in Maidenhead and Black and White (non franchised but the best place to buy a used Alfa) in Newbury.

.........but I love your 'guild of master chavsters' logo. Superb!!

[ QUOTE ] I'd of thought? [/ QUOTE ] I think you meant to say "I'd have thought".

Hyundai Lantra. I'm sure there will be a fully restored example in Practical Classics & Child Molester in 2020 and how he wanted to relive those childhood memories of being laughed at. Loot at some of the poo that's being restored now. Anything with an MG/Triumph badge, old Marinas, Ford scrap - and Beetles. Do the words 'narrow' and 'horizon' ring true here? Yours Herbert ****er Maestro-Montego Drivers Guild International.

Several reasons why you'd have to be a bit of a bellend to spend £20'000 plus on a festering BMW turd. And they are; Subaru Impreza WRX £19'700 (the second biggest performance bargain) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 £23'800 (it's got 260 bhp for feck's sake) Audi A6 1.8T Avant £23'940 (looks classy in a way a BMW never will) Nissan 350Z £24'000 (or a specced 120i - hmmm, that's a tough choice) Jaguar X Type V6 Estate £21'900 (well, it's nicer than a 120i) Morgan 4/4 £21'700 (weird, but you're buying a real quality item) Skoda Octavia vRS Estate £14'500(is there a better everyday car for 15k) New model Discovery 2.5td £24'000 (X5 size, X3 money and sooo funky) All pretty funky and interesting cars without the crapness of a 1 Series. I drive a BMW - have done for years and years but wouldn't touch any of the current stuff with a shitty stick. They're just **** and I'd rather buy a secondhand Alfa, Ford..........

[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Only current Mercs worth owning: CL, S, SL and G Wagen. End of. I'd rather drive a Vectra than a C200. [/ QUOTE ] Erm, yeah right........... [/ QUOTE ] I have to agree with Lodders on this one though! YEAH RIGHT! Also G Wagen?? Are you mad? [/ QUOTE ] No, but obviously you haven't driven a G500. Quite superb. C Class is a Mondeo without the performance, handling or build quality. Nice badge though. To me a C180 is like a four wheeled satellite dish.

Only current Mercs worth owning: CL, S, SL and G Wagen. End of. I'd rather drive a Vectra than a C200.

Secondhand cars are worth nothing, a fact of life in the greedy, image concious western society we find ourselves in. A mate of mine rang me at 8.30am the other morning just to tell me that there was a 51 reg new shape Mondeo in........a scrapyard. Rear doors missing along with the wheels, just craned onto the the roof of another car. When a 51 plate Mondeo is considered scrap, you know the world is in trouble. That is still a £2500 car anywhere (minimum, with 100'000 miles) so why has it been thrown away? The same yard has no end of P and R plate cars - Rovers, Lagunas and plenty of 10 year old BMW's and Mercs. They are mostly bought on finance and dumped when the debt collectors get a bit too close.

I see someone has changed their BMW Coupe for a bottom of the range (i.e C Class) Merc with Halfords alloys. That is really piss poor. You name it, it's got it. poo build quality, crap image, four pot faggot engine. I have an S320 CDi by the way. Only proper people drive proper Mercs. Looking to change to a CL this year and f*ck the fuel bill. Good to see Top Gear give the 1 Series the kicking it deserves. BMW Car mag though think it's wonderful. "Can someone smell poo here?"...."It's on the end of your nose.........."

There's nothing wrong with the M Coupe; a proper tail out and 'OOOHH MMMYYYY GOOOOODDDDD' BMW. I've got a lot of respect for these, and those who can actually drive them. I've just seen some pics of BMW's people carrier. It's sad to see BMW destroy itself in this way; if they were a band, they would be Pink Floyd slowly becoming Westlife (i.e selling out their values to appeal to the flash****er generation). A real pity.

Shocking news....following their collaboration with the boss eyed Aero 8, BMW has bought Morgan and plans to ransack the quaint Malvern firm are already in place. The basic details are this; by 2007, we will not only have the traditional Morgan shape (actually based on a shortened 1 Series platform) but the 4/4 will be replaced by the 4x4. The new Morgan 4x4 will actually be based on the X3 floorpan and thus give the Bavarian manufacturer a much needed showroom boost in selling pig ugly overpriced toss to vacous dickheads. The Morgan 4x4 which will be assembled at the firm's Steyr plant in Austria will be joined in 2009 by Morgan's first ever people carrier which is likely to be built in numbers of up to 25'000 a year at BMW's Spartanburg plant in the US. Industry pundits expect the forthcoming new Morgans to fully cement BMW's strategy of replacing well regarded driver's cars with whatever laughable crap the thick as pigshit Hello! reading Beckham classes will pay good money for.

No, I wouldn't thay no becauth I'm dethperate :-) Both programmes are pretty crap really and you're right, JC couldn't drive a nail into a piece of wood. What IS that driving on wet sand all about?

Believe me, we were using that phrase long before Autocar used it.......... Unlike: Stunning New Mondeo Stunning New 5 Series Stunning New Armitage Shanks 116iSE Fagtronic

Hmm, for a TV Series about cars; Vicki Greasy Henderson talking crap with a slight lisp. Tiffany Dell with a voice like a mid-pubescent boy, powersliding something (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwn) Quentin "Clocker" Willlllllson" waxing lyrical about what ever heap of poo he's got about 8 of on his forecourt. Poacher Turned Gamekeeper? Smashing cars into each other/barriers for cheap sensationalism. This is the Daily Express of Car Programmes. Jezza must laugh his tits off when he watches this sorry pack of TV losers.