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Not quite Porsche related 156/147 GTA - opinions/experience?

Gooey36

Well-known member
Joined
23 Aug 2017
Messages
151
Hi all,

Decided I'm bored of the family daily dad wagon and the wife wants a change as well of her daily.

Currently got a 2016 A4 avant Sline/dizzle etc.

Wife has a 2005 R53 Cooper S.

The wife misses her old Abarth 500 and as such has taken a liking to the 500x. Basically a jeep renegade with an uglier 500 body on. 2.0d awd, auto 'cross plus" so all the bells and whistles. We've been for a test drive in a few and it's as you'd expect from a car in the same category as a juke/mokka etc. We'll just leave that there!

For me though, if she wants me to get her that it means I can get something less dull and more fun...

I've always liked the GTA's and the peach of an engine up front. Has anyone on here got one or had one and am I mad for considering one as a daily?!

I know a good specialist Indy (in Huthwaite) who use to look after the Abarth so at least that bits sorted!

Any thoughts?
 
You'll want one of the later ones with the updated gearbox oil cooler. The first shipment that came to Aus came with the smaller cooler and in the Summer months they would be lunching on their on gears. The importer was a shifty SOB and wouldn't pay out warranty. £5k later....
Failure rate was upwards of 40%
Edit- the engine is a f****** peach by the way. The noise is tremendous and highly addictive.
 
FZP said:
You'll want one of the later ones with the updated gearbox oil cooler. The first shipment that came to Aus came with the smaller cooler and in the Summer months they would be lunching on their on gears. The importer was a shifty SOB and wouldn't pay out warranty. £5k later....
Failure rate was upwards of 40%
Edit- the engine is a f****** peach by the way. The noise is tremendous and highly addictive.

Was that the manual or the auto? I was only really considering the manual as I've been advised the auto is err fault-prone!
 
Manual.
 
Bit late to the thread sorry.
I owned an 03 plate 147 GTA for 5 years, it was a beast of a car! I can honestly say I did not have a single issue with it in the time that I owned it (60 odd k) other than a warranty claim which I put through not long after purchase as their was a recall on the cars that had the smaller brakes, upping them to the 330mm 'F40' size and calipers.
Mine was red with tan and black leather, had a supersprint box and a carbon intake and it was an immense sound! I bet they are all a bit leggy now. Used to absolutely slaughter the Mk 5 Golf R32's of the time. Would love to see pics if you buy one :thumbs:
 
Forgive me for my frank thoughts, but I think your wife must be at least a little deranged to want an ugly FIAT but she must be pretty tough if she's being manhandling an R53 all this time, so maybe you don't want to take that fight. :eek:

As such I'd probably be trying to steer her into something more appropriate and handsome (ish) like an Alfa Stelvio from the same stable.

And yes, you should get a GTA, along with some fresh tyres. A friend of mine had one, there never was a car he loved more than that thing.
 
Ha!

I mean of course not (in case she reads this :eek: )

We ended up with an Evoque as she sat in one and that was pretty much that...found a very nicely spec'd prestige lux model with low miles so stumped for that. She loves it. She just needs some Hunter wellies and more Barber attire to suit now. The Stelvio would be nice but over budget! Plus I'd want the Bi-turbo!

As such I'm pootling (well hooning) around in the R53 (the 996 will be hibernated at the end of November) at the moment and think I'll keep it through the winter but with one eye on the GTA market. Driven manual ones of each and preferred the 156 over the 147. It seems more suited to the V6 over the hatch and looks great. The 147 wasn't bad but had done a chunk (28k) more miles so maybe it was just a bit tired.
 
Gooey36 said:
Ha!

I mean of course not (in case she reads this :eek: )

We ended up with an Evoque as she sat in one and that was pretty much that...found a very nicely spec'd prestige lux model with low miles so stumped for that. She loves it. She just needs some Hunter wellies and more Barber attire to suit now. The Stelvio would be nice but over budget! Plus I'd want the Bi-turbo!

As such I'm pootling (well hooning) around in the R53 (the 996 will be hibernated at the end of November) at the moment and think I'll keep it through the winter but with one eye on the GTA market. Driven manual ones of each and preferred the 156 over the 147. It seems more suited to the V6 over the hatch and looks great. The 147 wasn't bad but had done a chunk (28k) more miles so maybe it was just a bit tired.

As it turns out, there are a couple of R53s lurking in this forum, so you're in good company. How non-standard is it?

And as to the 156 v 147, I agree that the 156 is a better looking car.
 
No offence to any Alfa fans but they're bloody awful things. :nooo:

I had a 156 estate once as a daily. Loads of stupid niggles that cost a fortune to sort due to stupid design making jobs way more complicated/hard to access than they should be.

I'm sure the GTAs sound nice and the styling and interiors are nice enough but my god the build quality is terrible.

I'd have a new one under warranty if someone else was paying (that M3 rival with the daft name is nice) but I'll never buy another.
 
MaxA said:
Gooey36 said:
Ha!

I mean of course not (in case she reads this :eek: )

We ended up with an Evoque as she sat in one and that was pretty much that...found a very nicely spec'd prestige lux model with low miles so stumped for that. She loves it. She just needs some Hunter wellies and more Barber attire to suit now. The Stelvio would be nice but over budget! Plus I'd want the Bi-turbo!

As such I'm pootling (well hooning) around in the R53 (the 996 will be hibernated at the end of November) at the moment and think I'll keep it through the winter but with one eye on the GTA market. Driven manual ones of each and preferred the 156 over the 147. It seems more suited to the V6 over the hatch and looks great. The 147 wasn't bad but had done a chunk (28k) more miles so maybe it was just a bit tired.

As it turns out, there are a couple of R53s lurking in this forum, so you're in good company. How non-standard is it?

And as to the 156 v 147, I agree that the 156 is a better looking car.



It's had the obligatory 17% pulley reduction, intercooler, air box modification, DS2500 pads and braided lines all round. Crucial front wishbones and ball joints done! It's also an LSD model so gets the power down well.

I think the build quality issues can be forgiven just on how it looks/sounds! Know what you mean though. Part of me thinks it wouldn't be the most sensible daily!
 

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