FS: 1991 Alfa Romeo 164S In Toronto Ontario

There are a few of those running around here. I have seen them on the road in the mississagua and Oakville areas.

 

Nice car! Those 164's are a rare sight and the "S" especially rare!

 

What was the S model? We didn't have that model name in the UK or Ireland.
Is it the Q4 4WD Cloverleaf?

How comes they are so valuable in the US. I wouldn't like to tell you what you could buy one here for. Are they rare over there?

Here enthusiasts like them but with the age you rarely see them but they are pretty cheap.

 

Alfa's were somewhat rare here, since they appealed to a niche group of people who prefered European cars, but not your typical Euro car like a Mercedes, BMW, or Audi. They have somewhat of a negative reputation of dodgy workmanship and poor service from dealers in period and thus, they didn't win too many repeat customers - the kind-of customer who wouldn't put up with the previous statements and would settle for the other Euro cars of Merc, Bimmer, etc. Because of that, they pulled out of our and the U.S. market due to declining sales and have been absent here for over ten years. The general public have completely forgotten what an Alfa is, so a car like this appeals only really to an Alfa club member (quite a few for sale here in Vancouver at this time), or publish it nationally on a site like this and sell it out-of-province (or country).

I get Auto Italia on a regular basis, so I know how much you guys are selling your cars for!

 

Peter,

That interesting. Here Alfa sales got going again with the 164, but really with the 156. Here the main problem people associated with Alfa's was that they rust into nothing.

That changed with the 156, and it has been bought not just by enthusiasts, but by people who want a little Italian style. Of course they never left our market unlike Lancia who did.

We have one of the last UK market 166's made and an e39 BMW. The 166 is a lovely car in design, its also well made, and it always feels like an occasion to sit in or drive, but the e39 is a better car. Most of the difference is accounted for the in the FWD / RWD. I wish Alfa would start making their cars RWD. The BMW is a much more fluid adjustable drive. For a FWD the Alfa is good, but it has a lot of torque steer.

One thing we have in common is that the Alfa dealers are crap. We had a 147 on which the water pump failed 2 days out of warranty due to what our mechanic thought was a manufacturing fault. I went to the dealer, who told me "nothing to with us mate, we just sell em". At any BMW dealer you are treated like a visiting foreign king and a problem like that would be looked into.

I think Alfa have a real opportunity now; here everybody has a BMW or Merc (you can get the smaller ones with 1.6 & 1.8 litre engines) so they are not as special as 10 yrs ago, and BMW have lost the plot on styling and image. I love the 80's BMW's. They were drivers cars, functional daily tools, with understated strong styling that conveyed the engineering beneath. And all those wonderful straight sixes. Now they are Bangalised uglies and they will build whatever the market wants even if its a 4x4. They have starter buttons and other frivolities not in keeping with the pure germanic earlier designs. They have even changed their 2 / 2.2 litre 150 / 170 bhp straight six to a 4 cylinder. The 2 litre was the smoothest nicest straight six they made. Mercedes have had quality problems and their image is built on quality. If Alfa can build beautiful drivers cars of quality with good back up, they deserve to succeed.

We nearly didn't buy the 166 after the 147. The 147 was fine until the water pump, but it was the dealer attitude that put me off. However, we were able to buy the 166 with delivery miles pre registered for 50% of the list price. We service it with a local mechanic instead so far it been brilliant.

But that 50% price shows how far Alfa have to go to sell against the large BMW, Mercedes & Audi. Here it is the 147 and 159 that sell against the VW's Seats, Fords, Vauxhall / Opels that are selling for Alfa. I drool over the Brera in the dealer car park occasionally but have yet to see one on the road. When the 156 came out they were everywhere quickly.
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hi there... i just don't care if people think alfas are "cheap" i own a 01 GTV v6, and some other cars (new bmw 320d,Lamborghini Urraco and the list continues...) i love alfas, any petrolhead men must drive an alfa,they are the best buy in the second hand market,and nowadays they are exremely well built cars...i have 80.000km in my GTVV6 and the car is solid as a rock...


currently considering to buy a 166 3.2v6...a friend of mine said to me once "when you buy a alfa,the difficult thing is not to buy another one"
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Hi Diogo,

If you have a GTV v6 as well as a RWD BMW and you still enjoy the Alfa with all that torque steer you will enjoy the 166. Go for it.

You still get that wonderful V6, the styling, the interior, the quality (fingers crossed) and best of all they are great value. Are the 166's cheap in Spain also? I thought it was just the UK / Irish market they were unloved.

One extra thing : Our drivers seat is higher than comfortable in relation to the pedals. After an hour on a motorway you can get sore ankles, a problem I never had on any other car. I think it might be because the seat motors and heated seats raise the seat high too much. I might be wrong. These are the small faults you must put up with in an Alfa.

Thats a great pic of your GTV. Great Sky too. In Spain?

Top Gear Alfa 166 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgG1wF7OZn4

 

hi thanks...yes Alfas always have small but anoying defects...the one you refer on the 166 is just one more...but the overall experience of having a Alfa is amazing,they are so unique in they they drive...and the looks the drama,wow

i love italian cars...and i will buy the 166 and mantain the GTV i will also trade my 320d for a Lexus IS220d

as for the depreceation,yes all over Portugal,Spain Alfas suffer from a massive dpreceation...

The Picture is in a small village in portugal called Estremoz

i'm Portuguese not Spanish

thanks for the link...