Alfa Romeo 147 Collezione | Shed of the Week

Handsome Italian stallion for under a grand, anyone? Step right this way, sir or madam, have we got a great deal for you etc. First off, however, you’ll need to set aside any anti-Alfa Romeo prejudices. For some folk of a certain age, just mentioning the name will have them scrabbling for their longest bargepoles. You’ll be told that Alfas from the ’70s had electronics that made Joe Lucas look good, and that they rusted so quickly because they were made out of steel reprocessed from old Russian tanks.

Singling out Italian cars for criticism is a bit unfair. German cars of that era weren’t as solid as many believed them to be, and British cars often ended up with as much structural integrity as a cardboard box that had been left out in the rain. To this day, Shed can still remember the look of anger, confusion and fear on his dad’s face when the jack he was using to help him inspect the underside of his much-loved Vauxhall Viva poked its way through the sill and into the cabin. 

Times have changed. Fans will now maintain, with some justification, that Alfas have for a good while been at least as rust-resistant as anything else on the road, and that their engines are robust. Which finally brings us to this week’s sub-£2k offering, a 2008 Alfa 147 Twin Spark. 

You can pay a lot of money for a 147. Good examples of the 147 GTA with the 250hp 3.2 V6 engine start at £10k. Against that, our 1.6 Twin Spark seems like grand value at £795. It’s no GTA: the 1.6’s power and torque figures of 120hp and 108lb ft aren’t quite enough to get the 147 through the 0-60mph run in under 10 seconds and it’s not especially economical either at 34mpg. The latest piece of tax advice paperwork atop the ever-growing sheaf on Shed’s tool cabinet tells him that the annual bill for a 194g/km car will be £410. The 147 wasn’t generously blessed with space in either cabin or boot, the steering was famously over-assisted, and you couldn’t eject a CD when there was a drink in the cupholder. Well, you could, but it wouldn’t end well. 

But then we look at the 147’s positives like its sharp Walter de Silva styling and, on this limited edition Collezione model, lowered/stiffened suspension, leather upholstery and model-unique 17-inch alloys. A few hundred of these Colleziones were sold in the UK in 2008 and 2009, a year before the 147 was discontinued. It’s thought that the number remaining today is under a hundred. 

Does that make it worth £795? Shed has more interesting uses for carrots than as a food source, so his eyesight isn’t great, but he can’t see anything obviously wrong with it. Some corrosion was found in the central rear lower body at the September 2023 MOT test, but that must have been sorted because it hasn’t appeared on any MOT certificates since. The current MOT is advisory-free.

Don’t get complacent, though. The last 147 that Shed talked about in summer ’23 (a very shiny red ’06 1.6 TS) had a similarly innocent-looking MOT history, but after it failed last June on a thin front brake disc and pad, tired front suspension bushes and one worn tyre the owner didn’t bother trying to get it through again. That’s because other stuff can go wrong. Besides suspension noise (which can usually be easily fixed) faulty mass air flow meters were a common thing, causing hesitation.

A smoky engine and/or high oil consumption probably meant failed piston rings. Timing belts were originally supposed to last for 72,000 miles, but when it was found that they could snap in a third of that mileage, Alfa put out a service bulletin suggesting that belts, tensioners and water pumps should maybe be changed every 36,000 miles instead. Dodgy exhaust manifold brackets created unwanted noises. So could the interior trim. Gear levers could stiffen up. 

These issues and the lack of exoticism that makes an unticketed 147 not worth saving are what make a ticketed 147 appealing. Buy a cheap one like this, bash around in it until the next test is due in the autumn and then give it the thumbs up or down depending on what the tester tells you needs doing. Belladonna! (Other toxic plants are available.)