Don't touch it. It's been involved in the most serious type of crash it's possible for a car to be in and still be allowed back on the road.
Insurance will be a problem (though not impossible) and if you do have a claim they'll pay peanuts for it since it's already been written off.
£1600...
You're talking about a very old car, you should check everything about it and accept it's going to need work regardless of what make it is. Anything can be wrong with a car that age.
Also, there's a button three up from the bottom on your keyboard. Please press it.
I had one a few years back and in my experience it was 100% reliable and a fantastic car to own for 4 years.
HOWEVER... they are all very old cars now, and most of the ones you'll see advertised are in very poor condition.
The thing about these cars is they don't tolerate abuse or neglect, so...
Blipping the accelerator on a down-shift hasn't been necessary on a car for about 40 years since the widespread introduction of full syncromesh gearboxes.
Either you're not pushing the clutch down far enough or the gearbox is worn. On a 14 year old Punto I'd suspect the latter.
Short answer, no.
French cars are at their best when basic and simple. When they start loading them up with massively complicated Diesel engines, automatic gearboxes and lots of electric toys they have all sorts of problems.
If you insist on buying one, don't buy this one, £6k is WAY...
Like any modern car, if it's been looked after it should be OK.
Despite whet the pub bores will tell you Alfas are no worse reliability wise than a lot of other modern cars, except the Japanese who always do well in the reliability surveys.
The important thing is to get it checked out...
Sounds a bit steep for a Punto, especially without labour charges. Is this at Kwik Fit or Halfrauds by any chance?
Parts should be no more than £50, hour and a bit to fit them, plus VAT, shouldn't be much more than £100 to supply and fit from a small local garage.
The better question to ask is "Is ANY 8 year old car likely to be reliable?", and the answer is always, 'it depends how it's been treated'.
Anyone who thinks you can tell in advance over the internet if one specific old used car is likely to be a better bet than another old used car is talking...
Is the battery in the keyfob needing replaced?
Other than that, there's not much you can do yourself, some people will recommend disconnecting the car's battery for a while and seeing if that helps but in practice it rarely does.
Probably going to be a job for either a Citroen dealer or...
Doesn't say a lot for the driving style of whoever owned it, that's for sure. How sure are you the mileage is genuine?
Personally, that would be enough to put me off the car unless it was very cheap.