The time has come to choose my wife's next lease car.
As the cost is heavily subsidised, we have decided that it would make sense for her to drive the larger car. Whilst I'm happy with my Toledo, the saloon bodystyle does have some compromises in terms of load lugging for our regular camping trips, so we decided a small estate would be ideal, eventually i can then downsize to something smaller.
We narrowed the list down to the folowing cars:
Alfa 159 Sportwagon 1.9 diesel Lusso
Skoda Octavia 2.0TDi L+K estate
VW Passat 2.0TDi SE estate
Audi A4 2.0TDi SE Avant
BMW 320d SE Touring
Not surprisingly, the Skoda came out cheapest. But much to our surprise, the Alfa is only £10 more a month. The tax is a little more on the Alfa however. The VW is same price as the Alfa. The Audi and BMW are both significantly more expensive.
So, we now have a head vs heart decision, the Alfa or the Skoda? We've looked at both, but test driven neither yet. Both of us love the styling of the Alfa, and as this is a fully maintained/insured lease deal, the reliability concerns are less. However, the Skoda is (slightly) better equipped, slightly cheaper, and something at the back of my mind is saying...the Skoda might just be a better proposition for our 15k miles a year.
Does anyone have any experience of these two cars, specifically with these power plants? VW group diesels are often critised for their lack of refinement, but seem to offer reliably good economy. By comparison, I've not heard much about the 1.9 150 Fiat/GM engine.
Your comments much appreciated!
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Without ever having driven or been in either car, I think I know what I'd go for. But try them both if you can.
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Out of the two actual possibilities, I mean. You seem to know what they are.
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1.9 lump has been around for a while in Fiat & Alfa's been very reliable as have all the Alfa diesels. Vauxhalls have only just started using it.
Had a 156 1.9 SW on loan 18 months ago & was impressed by the economy & performance. I got 45MPG & that was at an average journey speed of around 75MPH.
I know what I'd go for but it comes down to whether you want to drive something with all the style of a house brick or something that makes you sigh at it's beauty everytime you see it on the drive.
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The heart says Alfa, the sensible view shouts Octavia.
In the end it comes down to two extensive road tests on as many different types of road as possible.
The Toledo and the Octavia are basically the same vehicle, along with the Bora and the A3/A4.
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The 1.9 diesel in my Fiat Brava, over the past 55k miles, with servicing at the advised intervals, has been faultless.
Citivanvin
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The order of choice for me would be:
Alfa for its looks and driveability
Skoda as this would be the nearest garage to where I live
VW because of the look
The other two are too badge oriented for my liking, but are still good cars.
These views are based upon my bias as I drive an older Fiat 2.4 TD diesel which is a grand old lump of metal. About 18 months ago I tried the 1.9 diesel in a Punto loan car, that certainly flew and was very quiet.
If you read HJ's report on the 159 you will see he was very impressed. If you do decide on the Alfa I feel sure you will be very pleased with it.
Hope this helps.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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If it's a subsidised lease, take the Alfa - no contest.
The 1.9 diesel is excellent and, as mentioned above, every time you look at the car you'll feel good.
I would put money on the fact that, even if it doesn't prove to be totally faultless, you will look back on it and still smile.
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Taken servicing and repair costs into account too?
Alfa will prove very expensive!
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Thanks for all the replies, and for the reassurance regarding the Alfa diesel engine. HJs review is indeed incredibly complementary of the 1.9JTD sportwagon. I think we're both leaning towards the alfa - as this isn't a private purchase, it does seem to offer the opportunity to have a beautiful car and not have to worry too much about the maintenance side of things.....the only slight swaying factor is that the nearest Alfa dealer is 25 miles, whereas the Skoda dealer is 10 miles away....
Having said that, hopefully we'll only see them for servicing! Robcars, this is a fully maintained lease, so we don't have to worry about servicing/maintenance/tyres etc.
Hoping to arrange test drives in both this weekend - I hope the refinement of the Alfa lives up to expectations on the motorway.
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I haven't got around to driving the 159 but drove a 156 2.4jtd sportwagon as a company car. It was great to drive, really fun and inside and out the looks were to die for; from everything I've seen, the 159 shares these qualities. Alfa say that reliability issues are a thing of the past, but they said that when the 156 was released and over the period of the lease my car was off the road for 4 months, mainly with endless electrical problems. There?s a lot of luck involved and any car can have problems but Alfa compounded the problems by having truly dreadful and unhelpful dealers. Several other drivers in our company had similar experiences and Alfa were consequently removed from our lists. Luckily when my car was off the road my company organized hire cars, but having to change plans and call so frequently on this safety net became really irritating and tiresome. Long story short, if you are a two car family and/or have hire cars included in your lease then I would probably go for the Alfa as they?re good for the heart and a fast for the eyes. If not then I?d give the Skoda some serious consideration as it?s a really solid car that?s much less likely to leave you in the lurch and by all accounts the dealers are sound.
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The time has come to choose my wife's next lease car.
Skoda Octavia 2.0TDi L+K estate VW Passat 2.0TDi SE estate Audi A4 2.0TDi SE Avant
All 3 use the same 140ps engine.
The 1.9td 16v 150ps is used in the Alfa/Vaux/Saab and I don't think its the same engine used in the Fiat Grande Puntos/etc at 130ps.
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The 1.9td 16v 150ps is used in the Alfa/Vaux/Saab and I don't think its the same engine used in the Fiat Grande Puntos/etc at 130ps.
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Same block and multijet CR injection system, but different head - SOHC 8v as opposed to DOHC 16v. I notice that GM use a 120 bhp version in the Vectra and so do Fiat for the Eleganza model of the Grande Punto, but whether it is actually the same 8v engine in both I haven't been able to discover.
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