The Alfa 164 is a truly beautiful car. Produced from 1987 to 1998 it was a 4 door saloon that was designed by Alfa Romeo to go head to head with traditional German executive saloons like the BMW 5 series and the Meredes Benz W124 series. Of course, being an Alfa Romeo, it was drop dead beautiful. I spotted a beautiful example earlier today, an 164 3.0 in full Cloverleaf specification - bodykit and 17 inch telephone dial wheels. I thought I'd say a few words about it.
The 164 was based on something called the Type Four platform. The 'Type Four' came from the fact that development of the chassis was shared between Alfa Romeo (164), Fiat (Croma), Lancia (Thema) and Saab (900). According to legend, the 164 had the most variation when it came to chassis design and had a special front suspension setup compared to the rest.
Anyway, of the four, the Alfa Romeo 164 was the best looking. It had a body designed by Pininfarina. An it looked stunning, especially with the bodykit and telephone dial wheels (I had to say it again). At an era where BMW and Mercedes Benz had stately and traditional lines the 164 was unique. It also came with a rorty sounding twin spark plug 2.0liter 4 cylinder engine and the most beautiful looking 3.0liter v6 in the world which sang as if it were angels trumpeting. You couldn't get better than this when it came to engines. Of course, when it came to everything else other than looks and performance, things started to go slightly downhill.
It was Front Wheel Drive. To some this wasn't traditional enough. But the 1980s was an era where almost every car manufacturer started using front wheel drive. It was quite a handler even though it had it wheels driven by the ones in the 'wrong' place. The steering was sharp and the car felt smaller than what it was. For left hand drive markets there was the all-wheel drive 164 QV which added all weather grip and abit more 'cred' to its specifications.
It also suffered from the typical Alfa Romeo reliability issues especially in humid Malaysia. Electrical gremlins and slightly underbuilt controls like the ones that controlled the air conditioning broke. Spares were slightly expensive as not many people wanted to cater for Alfa Romeo here. So the car was sold to local Alfistis and a smattering of people who were curious and wanted to know why were there grown men going 'ga'ga' over the brand. This basically caused Alfa Romeo second hand values to be lower compared to other brands. Of course, this benefited Alfa Romeo enthusiasts who couldn't afford splurging the required RM215,000 or thereabouts for the 3.0 v6 in the early 1990s.
Anyway, the 164 (also called 168 in Feng Shui sensitive countries) was, and is a fabulous car. Typically Alfa Romeo with its idiosyncrasies, flaws and all (if it were a Proton it'll be thrown into the drain, nuked and covered up in a landfill) yet still wanted and yearned by many.
So now if you wanted one and scoured the local wanted ads, like this one plucked from mudah.my, you could be the owner of an Alfa Romeo 164 for about RM13,500.00 for the 164 3.0 Super pictured below or even cheaper (below RM10,000). And the prices are negotiable too. Of course, you could be digging your own grave buying one and may be a frequent visitor to the workshop. The boss of the workshop will be your best friend and he will be on your speed dial. But it isn't all too bad. You would be owning a fantastically beautiful modern classic of a car.
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