Police getting BMW's, why not go premium yourself?

It is now common knowledge that NSW Highway Patrol are replacing their current crop of Commodore SS and Falcon XR8's with frugal yet fiendishly quick BMW 530d's (and less frugal but still quick Chysler 300C SRT8's). Motorist state and country wide will be trying to etch the outline of BMW's big sedan into their subconscious, just in case they find themselves going 83kph in an 80 zone. And of course being of the mindset that euro luxo barges are always better I thought if the Police can do it so can you! Here are 4 big Euro sedans that you wont need to rob a bank for.

Speaking of robbing banks you know what would do nicely? Audi's C6 generation A6. Available with everything under the bonnet from a 2 litre turbo four all the way to a 4.2 V8 nicked from the R8 supercar the A6 has always been the understated persons luxury sedan of choice. Almost plain on the outside with just a whiff of class from that mid 00's smooth surface design language, the perfect shut lines and 4 silver rings doing just enough to let people know a lot of engineering went into the C6 A6. If fueling the thing up doesn't bother you then personally I'd find a big boy 4.2 litre Quattro for ultimate cross country cruising.

And as luck would have it here is one I found earlier. Yes it might cost a bit to maintain and the KM's are admittedly high for such a high performance power plant but surely the addition of a sports exhaust to that V8 will melt away any warning light woes! 
2005 Audi A6 4.2 Quattro: $8000       

On the subject of reliability what about a brand that can simultaneously strike fear and love into the hearts of owners? Alfa Romeo and specifically the 166. In my opinion one of the most uniquely handsome sedans ever made. With its comparatively small headlights pushed to other edges of the front end the car is quite hammer head shark like in its appearance. This might be a bit polarising but certainly goes some way to making it an instantly recognisable car.

Unfortunately Alfa facelifted the car in 2003 giving it normal sized lights and re profiled the front end. Personally I don't think the latter car is as pretty. Anyway design aside there was really only one engine the 166 deserved, Alfa's 3 litre "Busso" V6 sitting pretty with polished intake manifolds its enough to make you go weak at the knees and don't get me started on the sound! Luckily for us petrol heads Alfa's horrible reputation for reliability means even the relatively rare 166 is super affordable. $6k is all you need to bag a good one. Have a look below.
1999 Alfa Romeo 166: $6000

Remember when James Bond drove BMW's? I can because they where the Bonds of my childhood and the one that stands out is 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies 7 Series. It wasn't a sexy bond car, it was't a glamorous Bond car but for some reason I lusted after it. 007's was of course a big 750i V8 but the BMW's range topper also came with smaller bent 8's and some of BM's sweet inline sixes too.

Subtle and understated on the outside BMW threw everything but the kitchen sink at the interior. Sumptuous electrically adjustable seats, and a memory function that would adjust everything to a particular drivers preference when they opened the door. there was also tray tables in the back, a car phone, TV's and sat nav all featured in the 7 in the 1990's! No wonder it cost upward of $170k when it was new. Nowadays however a mere 6 grand will get you into one and in the case of the car I found below it could be a real peach, listen to my podcast for more details.     
2000 BMW 735i; $5999

No run down of luxury Euro sedans would be complete without taking a look at the Mercedes Benz line up. And to be honest with Australia having always been such a strong market place for Benz I was bit overwhelmed by the choice on the used market. Following the theme of the above cars I could have lumped for an big S-Class, there are too many to choose from for under $8k, but I thought it might be funner to push the hypothetical budget and get something a little rarer from the slightly smaller E-Class stable.

I give you the sub $15k E55 AMG, sitting purposefully on classic Merc mono block alloys the E55 is an autobahn stormer if ever there was one. Unlike the AMG's of today which shout about their intentions and actually go around corners without falling over the old W210 E55 was designed to obliterate long distance drives and overtake everything in its path thanks to a 5.5 litre V8. Corners came second and the lazy auto box didn't exactly reward the spirited driver. In saying that that though the W210 chassis still underpins the Chrysler 300C some 22 years after it was released! Yes the very 300C that the Police now use in SRT8 form along with those BMW's, so much like I said at the start if its good enough for the law...
1999 Mercedes Benz E55 AMG; $13590

I have also rambled on and given some more details about these cars, specifically the ones for sale on my podcast. Please go and have a listen if you can spare the time.
The Podcast
 

New Cars, Audi, Alfa and Peugeot

Wow, what a week it has been for interesting new European cars. I give you a Peugeot with its mojo back, a gorgeous Alfa and the long awaited new Audi A4. Yes usually my blog is the hiding spot for all that is old and slightly crusty in the used car world Down Under but sometimes new cars appear that I have to share and today is going to be one of those days.

Peugeot 308 GTi by Peugeot Sport

The first car which surfaced last week was Peugeots 308 GTi, could this finally be a return to form for Peugeots wearing GTi badges? Can the 308 take the fight to the all conquering Golf GTi? Peugeot certainly have VW in their sights judging by the understated appearance of the new 308 range topper. No spoilers or lairy body kits here. Just a big set of brakes, some twin pipes and a gentle reworking of the bumpers set this car apart from lesser 308's.

Performance of course will also set this car apart, and it comes courtesy of the RCZ R's 1.6 litre turbocharged four. Two power outputs will be available either 184kw or full fat 200kw, the more powerful car able to reach 100km/h 0.2 of a second quicker and provide a little more mid range shove. Peugeot Australia are currently in negotiations to secure the model for release here, but given Aussies appetite for that pesky Golf I think Peugeot would be silly not to offer it down these parts.

 

Alfa Romeo Guilia 

Next new car to catch my eye, and I mean literally catch it and not let go is the stunning Alfa Guilia sedan. A brand new rear wheel drive Alfa set to take the fight to the German elite. I'll go into more detail about the car later though, for now, just look at it.

New Audi A4

Lastly, with the images only released today we have the exact car that that Alfa is going up against, the mid size sedan heavy hitter, the new Audi A4. With a focus on reduced weight more tech and better driving dynamics Audi's new A4 looks crisp and clean, just as we have come to expect from Ingolstat of late. As a big A4 fan I'm eager to see how this car drives, my only concern is does it look different enough to it's smaller A3 stablemate?

These three new cars mean that if you weren't already enjoying 2015's stellar crop of new vehicles, then its about time you did.

Car of the Week: Alfa Romeo 166

This weeks car is another quickie and one that I hope gets back to the premise of my whole blog; the reality that interesting European cars can be had in Australia for surprisingly little money.  This week is the Alfa Romeo 166 complete with stonking V6 and enough Italian style to out catwalk any big saloon rival.

Totally unique 

So on the theme of catwalks lets examine just how beautiful the 166 is starting with what I've always felt is it's most striking feature, those tiny headlights. Unlike other cars bestowed with massive units the Alfa makes do with 2 little ones pushed right into the front wings that make it look a bit like a hamerhead shark, not traditionally beautiful but certainly striking. Small lights also mean your attention is drawn to other aspects of the car, the crease that runs down the sides for example, connecting said headlights with the rear lights eliminates any worry of the 166 being slab sided. At the risk of using an Alfa cliche, the 166 really does oozes character compared to its contempory rivals.

 A rare beast

This cars other rather characterful feature lurks under the sculpted bonnet, Alfa's venerable 3 litre V6 as featured in a previous car of the week, the 147 GTA. Australia was only ever offered this engine, so it seems it was a case of go hard or go home with no 4 cylinder or diesel available like it's euro rivals. This probably accounts for the 166 remaining a niche choice when new, it's reported that globally less than 100,000 cars were sold. A real shame as reviewers rated the 166 rather highly. The NRMA thought "when driving the 166 the sports nature of the model is immediately apparent" thanks to direct steering and a firm yet still pleasant ride. Unfortunately though the 166 was only offered with an auto box in Australia, that at times was a little bit slow to react. But to offset this it was at least Alfa's top of the range car so it came with a fair amount of standard kit; like heated leather seats, climate control, cruise control and rain sensing wipers to name nut a few.   

Will it break down?

Now as we are talking about an Alfa, that ugly word reliabilty is going to rear its head again. However reports seem to suggest the only major fault is rear suspension arms wearing out, everything else with regular servicing should be just dandy. Of course everything being fine doesnt account for how well the car was put together in the first place so each individual car might have its own unique problem, again though a full service history should protect you somewhat.

Go get yourself one

My hope though is that when you relise just how little this super rare, super sexy sedan could cost you to buy you might forgive some of its flaws. As you will see from the car I've picked below a decent 166 should cost you no more than $8000, not a lot of money for a car that will definately make you stand out in a crowd. The car I have picked is at a dealer, but it is very well priced given its low km's, recent cambelt change and importantly it's service history. It looks immaculate from the pictures and given it was probably a bit of a car enthusiasts who bought it in the first place I reckon it has been well cared for.   

2002 Alfa Romeo 166, $7990

Super Cheap Euro's

I think it might be time for another round of super cheap Euro. I scour the internet for potentially your next European car in Australia, with current rego, for ridiculously low prices. As before I can't vouch for the actual hands on condition of these cars, I just go of some motoring intuition, read into what the adverts say and base my opinions on that. The reason; though I'm sure your aware by now is, just to continue proving my point, that European cars in Australia need not be as expensive as people would have you believe.

I've picked different cars from last time to show some diversity, although I have still included a classic Alfa as I'm drawn to the flaky Italians for some reason. All the ads date from the last couple of days but of course the older they get the less likely the car will be available. In saying that most cars are for sale for at least a month before they reel someone in. More info on the models listed can be found by clicking the link in the cars name.

Italy

Praised in its day for being one of the finest handling hatchbacks around the 33 uses a 1.5 litre boxer engine to hurry it along. Deep down it was a good engine and car, but unfortunately Alfa's electrical systems in the 80's blighted the 33's reputation. The small matter of rust also consigned most Alfa's of this vintage to the wreckers yard prematurely, so it would appear this ones a well cared for survivor.

A mid 80's 4 wheel drive performance Alfa Romeo? What could possibly go wrong? Looking in a little need of TLC cosmetically the seller says this Alfa 33 runs well. The car appears to be fully original and even comes with a full set of 5 Alfa Speedline alloys. Details like this make the car more collectable and given it's relative rarity already this little Alfa could prove to be an investment opportunity for the right enthusiast. It's so cheap it might be worth a punt if your in Victoria.

1985 Alfa Romeo 33 Quadrifoglio Verde, $950

Spain 

Not keen on the Italian? How about another Mediterranean offering, this time from Seat. A company that only existed in Australia for 4 years (95-99) before poor sales forced them out of the market, a few cars survive though and I'm pleased they do. In Europe Seats are commonplace and for good reason, they offer people on a budget a car of VW quality for less. (VW have owned 99.99% of Seat since 1990). Seat nowadays is seen as the fun, youthful arm of the VW group, it's just unfortunate that Australians didn't see that in the late 90's, things could have been a whole lot different.

This is a Seat Toledo and by the looks of it a rather well cared for one, red cars have a tendency to fade in the Australian sun and the fact this one hasn't shows its been loved. Essentially a Mk2 Volkswagen Golf under the pretty Giugiaro styled body the Toledo has solid mechanical's and with proper maintenance posses the ability to just go on and on. This ones done a poultry, by VW standards, 226,000km's, plenty of life left in this rarity yet.

1995 Seat Toledo, $1500

       

Sweden

Ok maybe Mediterranean flair is not your bag, so lets go further north to Scandinavia, the home of Saab, a car company that when they were not bankrupt the Aussies seemed to quite like. The Saab 900 I've picked is a car that GM hoped, by providing Saab with the already tried and tested GM2900 platform could save the company a lot of money in the mid 90's. However the innovation first, worry about the cost later nature of the Saab boffins meant the platform was so heavily re-engineered you cant really call it a GM product in Scandinavian clogs anymore. It is very much it's own car and a good one at that as back in the day the number of awards the 900 won was staggering.

There isn't a great deal to say about the 900 S I've picked, mainly because the advert amounts to 6 words! But let me try anyway, the wheels for starters might not be to everyone's taste but the tyre tread looks reasonable, there could be money in selling them on if you could pick up a set of cheap steels to put on it. The bodywork from the 2 pictures doesn't look too bad either, nothing a weekends polishing couldn't sort out I'm sure. Although the real selling point of this car has to be that 10 months NSW rego and relatively low km's.

1997 Saab 900s, $1500

Germany

I think I've saved the best super cheap Euro for last though and rather unsurprisingly its a German, the legendary Mercedes Benz 190E. Now I say legendary because if you've been to any continental European city in the last 25 years the chances one of these was your airport Taxi was pretty dam high. These cars, of which over 1.8 million were produced, literally do not die, I went to the Mercedes Benz Museum last year where they actually have one on display that a cabbie gave back to Merc after he racked up over 1 million miles without major mechanical failure. The white one I've picked, showing just 282,000 km's is barely run in by comparison!

Now this car in particular is an Australian delivered 180E, a parred back 190 that allowed Mercedes to dip under the pesky Australian luxury car tax and ultimately sell this car at a reduced rate back in the early 90's. The 180 did away with such frivolities as leather seats and electric windows to avoid taxation. At the time this might have annoyed buyers but nowadays I cant help think this means less things to go wrong on what is already a bulletproof car. This one appears to come from a loving family who've owned it over half its life and got it serviced by Mercedes specialist, the body work looks immaculate as does the interior, so you can't ask for better really. 3 months South Australia rego left too.

1992 Mercedes Benz 180E, $1500

I hope I've given car buyers out there in Aus something to think about again when it comes time to look for a second hand motor

Bruce's Car of The Week: Alfa Romeo 147 GTA

Iffy reliability, horrendous understeer and the ability to depreciate in value faster than a politician loses credibility after an election, not a great set of credentials to kick of my latest car of the week is it? These though are just some of the afflictions which hang over this weeks car, the Alfa Romeo 147 GTA and come to think of it the Alfa brand as a whole. My goal then is to educate you, undo the myths and focus in on what a wonderful buy the GTA could actually be.

Italian beauty 

Let us begin by getting some Alfa cliches out of the way before I inevitably slip them into my write up later on, starting with appearances. The 147 GTA is a very pretty car, it embodies all that is good with Italian design and squashes it into a neat hatchback package. Just admire it for minute, the pert rear, short overhangs and low sculpted face of the normal 147 are just enhanced by GTA's wide bumpers, low stance and flared nostrils either side of that iconic vertical grill. The GTA wears it's looks with a certain smugness, it knows how good looking it is, as any true Italian should!

Reliability

Electronic malfunctions shouldn't be an issue in modern Alfa's 

I guess the next thing your thinking is, like any Italian, I bet it can be a bit of diva when it comes to reliability. Well, no, unreliable GTA's are a bit of a myth. The GTA was and still is a proper performance car, which means the buyers, usually Alfa enthusiasts parted with a lot of cash to own one brand new. This tends to mean they wanted to look after their Alfa and do anything they could to keep it going, so fully documented service books are almost the norm when you start looking at used ones. The common weak points like a cam belt that needs replacing every 60 thousand km's tend to have been done, combine this with regular servicing and your looking at a very reliable engine. Dodgy electronics is also another myth, at least on modern Alfa's, so don't be worried about the ECU suddenly deciding it'd like a day off or the window wipers only working every second Tuesday, that's just no the case any more.
           

The oily bits

Alfa didn't mess about when it came to picking a power plant for GTA. By drawing on decades worth of producing what can only be described as engine pornography Alfa chose to squeeze into the 147 the last incarnation of their in house V6. Bored out to 3.2 litres and 24 valves it produced 184kw and could take the GTA to 100km/h in 6.4 seconds. With the move for economy and small cc turbo charging well under way the Alfa V6 is an engine of the likes we will never see again, especially squashed into a hot hatchback.

Phwor.... check out those manifolds!

Oily bits cont.

The Q2 diff, if you care for what it looks like

Naturally though shoving a heavy V6 into a FWD hatchback and expecting it to cope when the road got twisty was a tough ask. The GTA suffered with terrible understeer and the standard front differential didn't cope too well with the load, often blowing itself up. However there is a fix for this, a stronger Q2 differential, a direct and easy replacement it not only betters the cars road holding and mechanical strength but is cheap and readily available as it came standard on other Alfa Romeo models. Around $800 should get your GTA set up with a Q2 or you could just buy one with the diff already installed!

Depreciation 

Lastly I come to depreciation, it's what years of bad press will do to a brand and unfortunately the aforementioned foibles, no matter how much they can be disproved have hurt Alfa resale values. Although for potential GTA buyers in Australia I don't see this as a bad thing. What other car can give you so much soulful V6 Italian flair for relatively little cash? I'm struggling to think of one. However, if I do I'll be sure to let you know, after all I wouldn't have much of blog if I couldn't show you awesome European bargains. Which brings me onto this weeks selection of lovely GTA's.

The cheapest well maintained GTV I could find in traditional Alfa red. A whole heap of new parts have been fitted to keep this V6 signing for many more km's, also has the uprated Q2 diff. Bit of lacquer peel on that pretty red paint might be whats pushed the price down. Nothing a good polish shouldn't fix.
2003 Alfa Romeo 147 GTV, $9500




Another 2003 car, this time in silver with black leather. The seller thinks its the best one in the country. It's certainly priced very well and again has been fastidiously well maintained. No mention of the Q2 diff being installed though so might be worth factoring in a bit extra cash for it.
2003 Alfa Romeo 147 GTV, $10000 






My last pick is a little bit more expensive, justifiable I feel as it has very low km's and is a year younger than the other tow above. Again it appears to be another cherished example having been serviced regularly, it also features the uprated diff.
2004 Alfa Romeo 147 GTV, $14000

Left field choice

Not everyone needs nor can afford the mighty GTA though, so this weeks alternative is a 2 litre Twin-Spark 147. Still achingly pretty just minus the body kit. This particular car appears very loved with a recent cam belt change and low km's, it also features a gorgeous red leather interior. How very Italian!
2003 Alfa Romeo 147, $7500