Seemed very dry to me, there were quite a few leaves etc blocking the bottom, may have been causing a lack of flow. We’ve not had any frosty nights since I dried the inside of the car, so no real test, but the screen has stayed dry.
How comfy is the Alfa on long journeys? Might have to rejoin the bangernomics crew for work reasons soon... the last one was a Volvo s60 2.4d manual... bought at 30k miles for 10k (2.5 years old) and sold at 160k miles 3.5 years later!! So Volvo would be high on the list but just think what else might work and that means looking at oddities... infinity, chrysler, alfa.... as well as Saab as I have never had a saab!
I find the car very comfortable, the Veloce spec seats suit me very well, I'm 6 foot and 13 stone, they fit me just right. The Saab 9-5 seats are brilliant, they are some of the most comfortable car seats I've ever had. Alfa GT seats were good, did 3000 miles to Italy and back without so much as a tweak in the back.
Ta. I am a bit shorter and a bit wider so they might be a bit narrow for me. A decent mile 1.4 TB with decent spec does look attractive though... trying to work out why one has twin exhaust and another wheelbarrow style though... A 95 would be good. Slightly worried about availability of parts if anything goes wrong... Might not need anything so should really sort the fundamental part before worrying about a car - but looking at cars is always fun....
I think that the G's have one exhaust when they are the 1.6jtdm or the 1.4t, the two exhausts are on the 2.0jtdm and the 1.4MA cars, MA is the multi-air system. Saab 9-5 parts are very easy to get hold of, unless you are looking at the Gen2 9-5s, these were pretty much obsolete before they were launched, almost impossible to get some parts, such as windscreens. Saab went bust and there were no stocks of spares for these. For example, I know of an owner who has one with the HUD, he needed a new windscreen and it was impossible to find one.
Yep. Ideally Aero, petrol, manual. Diesel would make more sense financially but if it's a saab it has to be turbo petrol...
The Alfa continues to work well, getting some excellent mpg when driving up and down the M42/40/6 and the joys of the A14. The only issue is the climate control, I still need to get the car plugged into an official Alfa diagnostics to find the cause of the passenger side cold air. No matter what temp I set, if just blows cold air. A common fault on these, could be either the flap motor or the flap actuator bar, but need to know which before I attempt a fix. Supposed to be a dashboard out job, but there a few guides showing it can be done by removing a few bits of trim. Cheap fix but a bit of a nightmare to access. I will get round to this at some point. As a quick “fix” I have covered up the lower footwell vent on the passenger side, this was blasting out cold air, making it harder to bring the drivers side up to temp with all the cold air coming into the cabin. Seems to have made a difference.
Six month update, time.... It really does fly when you are having fun..... I've spent a little on bringing the car up to a suitable standard for the motorway work etc, including new tyres all round. Other than the one sided heating issue, the rest seems to be holding together pretty well. Turned over 125.5K miles now, hardly any squeaks or rattles, significantly less than the 147 had. I've done 6350 miles since the end of August, 5975 of them are work miles. This would have been more but I've been using the M2 a wee bit more for work driving. Update on the costs: Car cost £2250 Four Pirellis £340 Car mats £35 EGR Cooler case £24 Coolant £19 New badge for the front £14 Boot release springs (just ordered them) £17 Insurance £344 Tax £30 (12 months) 5975 miles @ 57.3mpg average @ 145.9p cost per litre (4.45 litres per UK gallon) £695.24 in diesel over 476.5 litres Expenditure in 6 months = £3768.24 Income through expenses over 5970 work miles at 45p per mile = £2688.75 Cost to me so far £1079.49. This works out at around £180 a month in costs during the past six months. All being well with the car, fingers crossed, this should balance back into at least a neutral cost within the next six months.
Sounds like all is going well and the Alfa is earning its keep. The accountant in me thinks your calculations are a bit flawed though as if you didnt have the Alfa you would have still got the £2688 for driving the M2 (or 440i) so really the important comparison is how much the value of those cares would have gone down / how much the running costs would have gone up had you used the BMW for the mileage - and is the cost of the Alfa to date higher or lower. I'll skip that you are including a capital cost (purchase price) in with your operating costs (fuel etc) when really you should be using loss in value over the period you have had it.... (I really should go back to work and have these conversations over things that matter!) I've spent more on 4 wheels and tyres than your net cost, and dont get any return from using it for work!
I clearly am not an accountant, just going on basic in/out costs. Using the M2 as one car wouldn’t add up on a few levels: PCP mileage set at 8k, additional fuel cost (28mpg average less) and then depreciation. To be fair I am leaning more towards a one car option in the relatively near future, maybe the next 13-18 months.
I know, I was just reliving the conversations I have with myself when I try to justify having two cars versus one. The reality is you can prove anything with numbers (accountancy really is an arterial not a science!) so do what makes you happy I would have two, always good to have one you are slightly less precious about be that leaving it, using it for the tip run etc.... or just appreciating the other one when you use it (i like having a manual and an auto!)
Out of interest, do you have a link to a tool that could give me the proper running costs? As you can see, I’m throwing numbers at a page and seeing if they add up or not….
Not that i know of. It's all pretty arbitrary at this stage as you would need a figure for depreciation.. but basically two lists... revenue and costs of using Alfa versus revenue (same) and additional costs if you had done them in the bmw... so what fuel it would have used, any extra services caused in ownership period, estimated extra wear on tyres and brakes, and any excess Mileage charges incurred for going over mileage.. Alfa will win by miles.
The boot/hatch release has annoyed me for a while now, when the remote button is pressed the boot simply pops open a few cm. This means I then have to put my hand between the bumper and the hatch to get a hold, there is no handle on the exterior. Got to love the Italian design. The solution is to install some new hydraulic strut supports, the ones on the car seem to be the originals. While I was doing this I decided to add a little upgrade part to each ram. A company in Poland makes a spring and stopper that fits on each one. Fitted both the spring kit and the new rams today. Very happy with my result. https://youtube.com/shorts/SbrjYr_mAos?si=paCEGlELsbUY_BD8
