Is Alfa Romeo 147 a reliable car?

Well, if you are looking for a reliable alfa, your best bet is a diesel.

To be honest, my 08 reg Alfa GT has never let me down. Already 88k miles on her, 1.9 JTDm, drives better than when it was new, seriously.

Few things like clutch and dmf, cambelt etc may have to be done but every car needs one.

Honestly, modern Alfa, especially diesel is no more or less reliable than most of cars.

I'd say it'd do better than Golf as my mate has to say fuck every time he gets into his car.

reliable alphas is a contradiction in terms

No. Alfas are lovely cars, but they are in no way reliable.

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 crap, though that doesn't stop a lot of them....

You'll no doubt get the usual idiots berating Alfas (some of whom can't even spell the name right...) but in reality they're as good as any other European car these days.
I always laugh when I hear people saying things like "Alfas are crap, buy a VW" - a mate of mine swapped a dreadfully unreliable Audi A3 for a Alfa 147 and ran the Alfa to over 120,000 miles without a hitch.

Bear in mind a lot of people who own Alfas love them and care for them very well, a lot of VW owners get told that "VWs are bulletproof and last for ever" and as a result they don't look after them that well.
As with any used car, the only thing to do is check it out thoroughly.

About as reliable as an Italian Politician!