Test drove a 2002 Alfa 156 JTD 2.4 5 cyclinder Diesel earlier.

Lovely to drive and looks good inside and out.....

But! I am only good with classic Fords and Pugs and know nothing about Alfa's. What are these cars like, anyone with knowledge or had one....Are parts expensive or hard to source, common faults?

 

No.
Expensive on everything,value drops like stones and the usual pump/injector faults on the engine.
As you said,a great drive but typical shit alfa build.

 

The other choice I have is a BMW Compact 1.9 8v.......Would this be a better buy?

 

I service and repair a few of these. Never seen an injector or pump give trouble. Good car to drive and very nice wide torque band. Front suspension does give a bit of trouble. Parts are well prices at EB Spares

John

 

I used to work for fiat and Alfa a few years ago and tbh i never did any work to these engines.Imo they were a good engine.Make sure the rear suspension bushes arnt split .The rear suspension arms rhat come from the middle of the car and join on the hubs used to wear.Also the trailing arm bushes that go in the hub used to wear.

Top suspension arm bushes used to wear and squeak too.Front anti roll bar bushes used to wear to.

 

you should consider a bmw 330d, 3.0 6 cylinder tdi. a lot of people say it's the nicest diesel engine out there, awesome performance and economy and german build quality. can be picked up fairly cheap as the e46 has been around since around 2001 i think.