The Italian Epoque Begins With a 1989 Alfa Romeo 164 3.0V6 Lusso — Three Decades, Two Cars, One Love Affair

After twelve years of motoring, Citroëns were the only cars that I’d owned (bar a year with a Ford Escort as my first company car). By the summer of 1992, we had the Ami Super and 2CV Van, my wife Janice had her Citroën BX GTi and the Citroën D Super 5 had gone away for bodywork repairs. The recession in my consultancy was worsening, so my company run Citroën CX had been traded for a surplus BX GTi because that would be cheaper (it wasn’t, it was a dog of a thing), but it was becoming clear I needed to change direction. I hatched a plan with a client who had taken in consultancy work of his own and on 1st September 1992 we launched our new business under the umbrella of his former employer’s development company. Leaving the Citroën BX GTi to be someone else’s problem, I needed new wheels: it was time for a complete change.

One of Simon, my new business partner’s, existing clients was a farming and construction business that happened to own a couple of car dealerships. They supplied him with his BMW 325i (E36), but for some unexplained reason that didn’t float my boat. We’d agreed on a budget and whilst I’d had the chance to drive a couple of Citroën XM’s in the recent past, I didn’t even bother looking.  Up the road from our new office was a small SAAB dealership but they hadn’t got anything suitable in my price range either – the second time I’d failed to buy a SAAB. What was available from our client’s other franchise was an Alfa Romeo 164 3.0V6 Lusso in blue with blue velour upholstery. It was 3 years old but had only done 13000 miles, most of which had been in its first year. Time was running tight, so I said yes, OK!

G678 LBD turned heads. Friends came out to listen to the ‘Busso’ V6 (named after Chief Engineer Giuseppe Busso) and marvel at the chromed inlets. That engine really was something and made me realise just how much the engines powering the D Series and CX Citroëns were “behind the curve”. The performance was light years ahead too but I quickly learned to live with the torquesteer. Inside was equally head turning. If the CX dashboard was ‘modern spaceship’ this was Italian ‘haute couture’ (if I can be allowed to mix my languages). Not only was the design something to behold, the car was fully equipped: my first car with air-conditioning AND a factory fit electric sunroof. It was just a brilliant place to cover the next 86000 miles and at least I could concentrate on building up my client base and not having to worry about whether I’d even get to my next meeting.

So an Alfa Romeo that was reliable? It certainly was. Only two things impacted that over the next three years. One New Year’s Eve we were celebrating and a neighbour knocked on the door. Your car alarm is going off, they told me. But my car didn’t have an alarm! Except clearly it did. Parked up over the Christmas break, the voltage had dropped below 7.5 triggering an alarm I didn’t know existed. I did the only thing I could do in a semi-inebriated state: I hacked through the cables to the siren. That shut it up but rendered the car immobile. Still, that was a problem for the morning and I went back to my party. The other time we had set off for the coast and on stopping for fuel I noticed a puddle. The radiator had been holed, so we topped it up and drove the few miles home and swapped cars. No real problem.

By 1995 Janice’s ’87 Citroën BX GTi was getting a bit long in the tooth – it developed a water leak in the heater matrix and a few other foibles were beginning to show up. She might have chosen a Citroën ZX, which was the natural successor to the BX except that at a showroom event, when she asked about engines the salesman said that was not something she needed worry about. She turned round, walked out almost never to return. Spoiler Alert: it took 18 years before we walked into a Citroën showroom again.

So, instead, she bought a 1991 Alfa 164 of her own.  J189 TRX was a 2.0 Twinspark – named for the fact that it has two spark plugs per cylinder. It didn’t have the wonderful V6 roar but it didn’t have the torquesteer either. The whole car was lighter, especially as it lacked things like the sun roof, and not so much less powerful, so it actually performed almost as well as the 3.0 litre. Although G678 LBD had been entirely dependable as it approached 100,000 miles I began to think I shouldn’t chance my arm too much longer, but with another 164 in the family it didn’t matter. J189 TRX could carry the Alfa Romeo flag by itself and she kept it until the year 2000. Spoiler Alert: Janice stayed with Alfa Romeos until 2010.

Spin forward in time 20 years and we’d become members of the Alfa Romeo club. In the spring of 2024 a small group of us went for a weekend in the Peak District, a beauty spot about 2 hours drive from home. One of our select band showed up in his new acquisition, a 1988 Alfa 164 3.0 Lusso. Exactly the same spec, same colour and same interior as G678 LBD. The only difference was a set of dealer option Zender alloy wheels. I asked Dave if I could sit in it and memories flooded back – the big clear instruments, the rows of switches across the centre console, the blue velour seats. It even smelt exactly how I remembered it. Dave had bought it from Mathewsons Auctioneers – a business made famous by a reality TV series following their exploits with classic cars – and I casually said that if he ever wanted to sell it, to let me know first.

I rather didn’t expect Dave to want to keep the car for only a year – bearing in mind that we’ve had the Citroëns Ami, Van, D and CX for a total of about 130 man years! In May ’25, Dave let me know he was going to sell: he’s a tall man and said he just couldn’t get comfortable in it, yet he fits far better into his Alfa 145 which is a much smaller car. Janice said I couldn’t have it because we hadn’t got the space to keep it and we didn’t need another big 4-door saloon. So in my usual contrarian way I agreed a price and bought it anyway.

That’s how F98 PCW joined our family. The compromise was that I’d only keep it for a year and then move it on. We are 17 months into that year now. That doesn’t stop Janice using it – it feels as familiar to drive for her as it does to me.

We collected the car just before we went away for an extended trip to Japan, so I untaxed it and parked it up until it was due its next inspection at the end of August ’25. I had the car thoroughly inspected by my regular Alfa specialist and it is fundamentally sound although it’s still not running quite right. Dave replaced the air sensor when it gave up on him and had to be returned home on a trailer and I’ve changed the thermostat – like the proverbial hen’s tooth but I managed to find a genuine OEM part in Spain – but it’s still hunting at idle, although it revs cleanly and hasn’t lost too many of its 192 bhp. We’ll get there.

F98 PCW came with a huge history file which backs up a mileage of just 74000 in 38 years. In two years time it will be capable of being reclassified as a historic vehicle and so exempt from annual Vehicle Excise Duty and inspection. It was first registered in the North West of England but spent its life mainly in Yorkshire. Janice said it was fate, bearing in mind the D and CX are both from Yorkshire. As it happened our Alfa Romeo club weekend this year was to the North Yorkshire Moors, so it seemed fitting to use F98 PCW, including a return visit to Mathewsons’ Auction House. We covered almost 600 miles without issue – well, the indicators sort of work when they feel like it and the air-con fan cuts out when it’s had enough, and the sun roof will open but not necessarily close but those are hardly a problem, are they? The car isn’t bodily perfect either – only the Italian could make galvanised panels that still rust – but it’s good enough for me. I don’t look for bodily perfection and concours prizes.

Just look at it though, I think it’s one of Pininfarina’s finest saloons. I know they sold the same design, more or less, to Peugeot for their 405 and 605, but the proportions and detailing are just right. There will probably have to be a debate about its future with us at some point but that’s for another day. Having revisited the past with the Citroën BX and, to some extent the car of my dreams the CX GTi, the Alfa 164 has proved that classics can be every bit as good as you remember, despite the passage of time and the footsteps of technology.

Having come right up to date with my most recent purchase, it’s time to head back to the 1990’s and see what mistake I made when I replaced G678 LBD at the end of its time with me.

Related CC reading:

Curbside Classic: 1993 Alfa Romeo 164 – Alfa’s American Farewell Present