With the news of Jim’s exciting new car purchase, the thought occurred to me that I had never followed up on my March 2014 article. In September of last year, I purchased my third-ever car and I have been driving the hell out of it ever since. Spoiler alert: I didn’t buy this Alfa, although its silver paint job is appropriate as it was a close runner-up. It took some diligent planning before I got to the car I ended up buying and which I do love, but my heart almost derailed everything.
Planning a car purchase is a lot easier when you have the luxury of time. I had loan of this glamorous chariot, a 1995 Suzuki Swift Cino hatch belonging to my father. It was very interesting driving something so much smaller and older than I was used to, and I quickly got used to having to rev it as I was turning the key in the ignition so that it would actually start. It really needed a tune-up.
As you can see in this picture, I was pretty thorough in creating a “long list” of potential vehicles. I’m a huge fan of lists, clearly.
Of course, I wasn’t always going to go through this process. Upon arriving back in Australia, I was adamant that I would purchase a BA or BF series Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo, the turbo version of my previous car, and own it for a short period of time. It had to be an automatic this time, though; despite my love of stick shifts, depressing a clutch repeatedly in heavy traffic is a killer to my knees.
I actually found a BA XR6 Turbo on Brisbane’s Moorooka Magic Mile. It was under $AUD10k – right in my price range – and had, from memory, around 93,000 miles on the odometer. When I arrived to check it out, though, the price on the window was over $12k! I asked the dealership employee and even showed him the ad on Carsales.com.au, and he hemmed and hawed and tried to tell me that after stamp duty and other purchase fees, the price would be that anyway. I told him that was a load of crap and walked out. It was at this point I realised maybe I should re-evaluate what I want, and scrap that plan to buy a placeholder car: what I was going to buy had to be something I’d want to keep for a while.
I also wanted to stick to a new, strict budget: $10k or less. That eliminated a lot of the cars I discussed in my previous article. Hunting on the online classifieds also eliminated a lot of cars that proved to be too rare or too far away. Bye-bye Alfa Romeo 147 GTA! So long, Saab 9-3 Aero and Peugeot 407 wagon and Volvo S40 T5! Nice cars, all, but although I had the luxury of time, I didn’t want to spend an eternity hunting. I also scratched a bunch of other cars for other reasons, and along the way the wonderful Nissan Stagea got cut; I just was too reluctant to purchase a private import.
Other cars came up for consideration that I hadn’t thought of before. There was the 2003-09 Nissan Maxima, in Australia a rebadged Nissan Teana. Although it had the sweet VQ35DE engine, that wasn’t the main reason it was on my list. Rather, I loved its beautiful interior. Still, these are pretty soft to drive and they had, depending on the year, a four-speed automatic or a CVT. No thanks. Eliminated.
The Epsilon-platform Holden Vectra CDXi 3.2 V6 crossed my mind a few times because there are so many cheap ones out there. I was no stranger to European Opels, but apparently neither are mechanics. Germans may build solid cars but they don’t always build reliable ones: see Catera, Cadillac.
The Citroen C4 VTS was a curious, left-field choice, but it had two few doors and only a manual transmission. What a looker, though!
Finally, after weeks of listing and researching, I had whittled down my list to a final five. It was the home stretch.
I’d test-driven the Hyundai Grandeur (Azera) a year or so prior, and was impressed by its smooth ride, long equipment list, spacious interior, electroluminescent gauges and plenty of power. But the interior and dynamics were a bit too conservative for me, and this is coming from someone whose taste skews towards large, luxurious sedans.
Two cars in my top five, though, I didn’t get to test drive because I fell in love with the car I ended up buying. These two runners-up were the Volkswagen Passat 2.0T and the Subaru Liberty (Legacy) GT. The Passat offered surprisingly good performance, a great interior and excellent fuel economy, but was hard to find. The Liberty had plenty of performance and great handling, but Subaru interiors rarely impress.
After all this planning and research, I only test drove two cars in 2014. One of them was the Alfa Romeo 159. The V6 AWD Q4 was prohibitively expensive, so there were only two 159 variants in my price range: the JTS, with a 2.2 four (185hp, 230ft-lbs), and the JTD with a 2.4 five-cylinder diesel (200hp, 300ft-lbs). The JTS was only available with a manual transmission, while the JTD came with a six-speed automatic. Given my insistence on an automatic, you may be surprised to learn I only bothered to test drive the JTS.
Why is that? Well, the JTD had been criticized in numerous reviews for an ill-suited transmission. I was also reluctant to go diesel; while I appreciate the fuel economy and low-end torque, and while many today are exceedingly refined, I just still haven’t warmed to them.
The JTS 2.2, though, was an impressive test drive. Of course, the exterior and interior were just as breathtaking in person. I usually dislike black leather interiors, but the 159 had gorgeous sculpted seats and plenty of metal trim on the dash to brighten things up. You could also get a gorgeous saddle leather interior which looked phenomenal in a red 159.
I was also quite pleased with its road manners. It had decent acceleration for a four-cylinder in a 3284 lb body and the manual transmission shifted smoothly. Most surprisingly, the car felt extraordinarily quiet and solid; almost vault-like. In my last article, several of you Curbsiders implored me to purchase this sultry Italian. I’ll admit, I was extremely tempted. I’m a pragmatic man, which seems at odds with the average Alfa Romeo buyer, but the brand’s reliability has improved over the years. Still, I couldn’t ignore two glaring factors. Firstly, I was certain the 159 would cost more to repair and service than a Japanese or Aussie car. Secondly, I had specifically been looking for an automatic. It was hard trying to shake the idea of finding and buying a 159 (the one I test drove was out of my price range), but then I found an absolute bargain of a car just an hour south of me. Next time, you’ll hear the story of the car I ended up buying.
Wow, that Alfa carving through the Alps is a sight to behold!
I can’t wait to find out what you ended up with. A large comfortable sedan?
I agree. I’m on the edge of my seat.
Damn, that Alfa is beautiful, though. And the dash, which looks stark in the post picture, clicks up to that beautiful simplicity that is somehow plush in so many Italian cars.
You have intrigued me. I’m looking forward to the followup.
Wow – Queensland is just like Florida! Both are the Sunshine State.
That’s one good looking 159 ! As far as I know the 2.2 liter gasoline is fully based on a GM engine. Fiat and GM had some sort of a love-affair back then. Then they got divorced, leaving Fiat with a very nice sum of cash….paid by GM.
I don’t know any guys (or girls) who have or had one with the 2.2 JTS. The 1.9 JTD (4 cylinder turbo diesel) was the most popular engine choice; CC-commenter Rammstein has one.
From what I’ve read the 2.2 JTS was a bit of a lazy engine, a little bit Alfa Romeo unworthy. Later on the 159 got a fantastic and brand new 1.75 liter gasoline engine with a turbo charger and direct injection, the 200 hp “1750 Turbo Benzina”. That engine is in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV now, Alfa’s hot hatch.
The 1750 TBi engine under the hood of a 159. The number (engine displacement) 1750 and Alfa Romeo go back a long time.
The V6 in the Q4 versions was a version of GM’s HFV6 “with Alfa heads”. Made in Melbourne.
I guess post FCA, the new Alfas will have a version of the Pentastar “massaged and built by Ferrari”, just like the Ghibli.
Alfa Romeo’s 2.2 JTS engine was based on GM’s Ecotec L61.
(Source: Wikipedia)
The 1.9 and 2.4 JTD were the first diesel engines on the market with common rail injection. These engines were introduced in the Alfa Romeo 156, in the late nineties.
Nice list of cars, looking very forward to reading about the final choice! I’m debating myself if you ended up with a 407 or a Mondeo, both on the list but not discussed here…I like all of your options/possibilities though, so it will be fun to read no matter what.
I, too, look forward to seeing what you bought. And I agree, that Citroen C4 VTS is a real looker.
And I thought I was the only “car guy” with a huge list of cars for replacing my current DD. Aside from the number of cars on that list, the variety!!!
I’m curious about the comment on Subaru interiors. Maybe they’ve changed, but the one in my ’02 Outback LLBean is conservative, but very high quality. OTOH my son’s ’06 Mazda 6 interior is falling apart – falling headliner, broken knobs, and hard plastic. Can you elaborate more?
I had the opposite with my 01 LL bean. My dash started peeling at 9 years old and when I sold it last year a number of interior trim bits had fallen off and refused to clip back in the worst was when a passenger closing the rear door found themselves holding the rear door pull, ripped right off. I will say the leather wore well.
A friend of mine purchased an Outback new in ’07, and a co-worker purchased one in ’11. In both of those, I felt that the interior contained way too much hard plastic, not enough soft-touch surfaces, and in general just didn’t feel “premium”. Maybe that was different in the older ones? Not sure about wear & tear as I don’t really have recent experience with many older Subarus.
Okay – I’ll bite.
Let’s see…. For long term ownership. Reliable (Japanese or Australian). Automatic – but more than 4 speeds. C4 out because of only two doors. Wanted an XR6 Turbo, so likes some performance. Not too soft to drive – you’ve been driving “the hell out if it” since buying.
Your heart said “Alfa” but you’re “pragmatic” and didn’t buy it.
Hmmmm – looking at your list…… a few possibilities. I’m going to go for the 2.4 Accord (the “Euro” here in Australia). But if you got an 8th generation auto for no more than $10k, you did well.
I’ll agree with Ghillie – Honda Accord Euro (aka Acura TSX), probably first gen (7th gen) which is no bad thing. I have to say I like the look of the recent wagon though, too bad it wasn’t sold here.
Left-field option – Lexus IS300
Coincidentally I have been driving 2 on ‘the list’ in the last 6 months, Cruze and Mondeo diesels. The Mondeo had a lot of good points but a very crashy ride and was noisier than you would expect. The Cruze is almost like a petrol to drive except running half the rpms, it revs rather than pulls if that makes sense. I haven’t had a chance to check consumption but the trip computer average is only 8.5L/100 or 27mpg.
I woulda got the Alfa diesel, Ive also driven the Mondeo diesel quite liked it they use a PSA powertrain but the car overall wasnt as nice as my older Pug 406 but nice for a ford, I havent driven the Cruz diesel but their performance on paper is better than the gas version with better economy, Servicing costs on European cars seem cheaper to me than Japanese I do my own so labour cost arent in the eqquation but parts filters etc are definitely cheaper but of course I use 3rd tier supplier for some bits though some parts on my car are specific to that particular model but even OEM are not expensive.
Because it’s written near the top of the list, is straightforward mechanically, fairly luxurious, big and has a great automatic transmission, plus accounting for the fact that you were jerked around by the Ford dealership, I’m going to guess you switched teams and went with the Holden Berlina.
If I had access to an Alfa 159 and Falcon XR6 I’d probably buy both of them and end up having to live in one.
The Hyundai Grandeur/Azera is a weird choice, but I have to say I always find myself stopping to look when I spot one parked on the street. I like the looks and they’re not too common. That Nissan Teana interior is truly awesome – the U.S. Maxima didn’t look like that at all!
Wow cars are expensive in OZ none of those are over 10k in NZ except the turbo Falcon my sisters 3.2 Vectra was written off for 12k 5 years ago cost her 52k new we have rampant depreciation in NZ, its obviously not as bad in OZ these days.
Great list! I do like those Alfas. I’m waiting in anticipation to hear what you went with.
You can’t go wrong with that Barina. They last forever (one of my previous coworkers had one)
A friend of mine has a Vectra like the one you posted above, in silver. Very very nice ride (his is mint).
I sat in a V6 CD he had before and was impressed by how good that V6 went, and it’s beautiful on fuel too. In CD spec however, they are not that nice.
I am going to venture you found a cheap XR5 (you can get a 3yo Mondeo @$12K in an auction) out there and snapped it.
Or you saw the light and moved into the red team. If you did, I hope you stepped into a Calais, not a Berlina.
If you’re considering FG Falcon, I’d suggest skip the XT and get a Berlina-like G6. Although the XTs have some hidden gems, the Police pack comes to mind (LSD, 17″ wheels, heavy duty suspension), the G6 has a MUCH nicer interior and better suspension. Also, S2>>S1. If you can stretch $2-3K more, you’ll find them in your range. But then, you got your car already.
The Alfas pain me: The 147 and 159 were the last good-looking Alfas to date, but Alfa Romeo’s reputation for cantankerosity is hard to ignore. It would be very, very tempting, but the nagging feeling that they would just end up hurting me might ultimately put me off.
I remember not liking the 147 when it was new… and it’s only recently that I’ve taken another look at them and thought to myself “WTF were you thinking, you idiot?”
The Giulietta I liked when it first debuted, and now a couple years later I’m not really sure that I like it that much… maybe I just really liked Uma Thurman:
I felt similarly about the 147 until I saw the MiTo and Giulietta, at which point the 147 started looking awfully good. From the rear, the Giulietta is inoffensive, although it looks more like a SEAT than an Alfa, but the front end is like the more unfortunate ’70s Datsuns. (I’m referring of course to the current Giulietta, not the ’50s car.)
I do think the 147 GTA was a little much, visually speaking. The 156 GTA was only about 50 kilos heavier and looked much more balanced.