Seeing as Alfa are pinning so much hope on the 159, has anyone actually seen one on the road yet.
I'm only asking because their is an Alfa dealer in my neck of the woods who sells other makes as well. I'm seeing plenty of them but no Alfa's.
The motoring press in general have praised the 159, so what's the story?
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I have seen a new 159 on the road but they are a rare site as Alfa Romeo registration figures are very poor.
At the end of the 1st half of 2006 Alfa Romeo had registered 2,676 new cars in the UK (down 28% on 2005).
In comparison 3,580 MG/Rovers had been registered in the UK as new cars over the same period.
Unless the 159 & Brera provide a significant increase in sales then I think, sadly, that Alfa Romeo will go the same way as Lancia and withdraw from the UK market.
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I think it isn't just the UK.
I've seen one so far on the road in France and that was near the dealer's, one day after the launch.
Having said that, if the dealer in Limoges is anything like the rest then they don't deserve to sell any. When I priced a new 156 Sportwagon last year (and I reckon I WILL have one one day) not only did they just want to sell me the one they had in the showroom, they even wanted me to pay extra for the mats!
Maybe I should have kept the excellent Sportwagon I had before...must be a collector's item by now.
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It's a little difficult to understand, given the number of 156s they sold over the years. They are probabley asking too much for them.
Similarly, I have seen very few examples of the facelift C5, since it was introduced.
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Really (C5)? I've seen quite a few. Ugly brutes, they should have left it alone. Can't wait to see a C6.
JH
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True you don't see many of them and the sales as already mentioned are poor.
But when you look inside an Alfa its bland, Ok it has leather seats, Climatic control, Basic Fiat type CD Radio and a range of nice engines, but if you compare them to such as a Audi A3 or A4. There's no match yet there's not difference in price.
As I said earlier they are bland inside and no match to others in the same class, the only good thing about them is the Alfa Badge/Exhaust note and also they are made by Fiat who are also struggling in the UK.
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Never heard it called bland, loads of people oohhing & aahhing over the ones at the Goodwood FoS, including my colleague who was very impressed.
I suppose if you want an overally blan car with no character like an Audi then the Alfa won't suit!
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Really (C5)? I've seen quite a few. Ugly brutes, they should have left it alone. Can't wait to see a C6. JH
Some dealers have them in now, I sat in an exclusive model. Nice. What more is there to say.
The car is huge!
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Really (C5)? I've seen quite a few. Ugly brutes, they should have left it alone. Can't wait to see a C6. JH
Not nearly as many as the original C5 when that came out. I wonder what the current sales figures are?
I quite like it myself.
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A lot of cars in this class are bought by fleet managers. Until the market starts liking Alfas - which means they need to be proved to be reliable and all their dealers need to give a consistently good service - fleet managers won't touch them because of the horrendous depreciation. They are accountable to their own bosses for this.
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I hadn't seen one either, that is until 20 minutes after I read this thread. Spooky.
Nice looking car, classic styling and beautiful in red....
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Saw a black Brera yesterday in Chesterfield, near main dealers. Reminiscent in styling to the old Mazda 323F with the pop up headlights i.e. low nose and chunky truncated rear.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Evening all,
I´ve seen quite a few 159s in Germany, and side on it looks the spit of the Mazda 6. I reckon.
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Colleague has just had one delivered as his company car replacing a Rover 75 diesel. It's a 159 1.9 multijet diesel in black. He is very pleased with it and I must say I think it looks absolutely gorgeous, even more so when parked next to dull A4s in the car park.
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I've seen a few on the M8 since it launched and one estate on the A9. I would have one if my car allowance was higher.
To me the reason for it's percieved lack of sales success could be the price being in the same ball park as low end A4's and BMW 3 series.
The 156 was popular at my work because it was considered a step up for people who were staring down both barrels of their third or fourth Mondeo / Laguna / Vectra / Passat in a row ......................................(until they broke down )
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I was talking to an Alfa UK bloke at FoS, I mentioned to him I hadn't seen many. He said they're selling well, and they were introduced 3 months ago, which is approx. the lead time on them, and he said that many are taking delivery around now. May be just sales patter but sounded logical to me.
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