Alfa Romeo Giulietta Speciale

[the-norseman]

Thought I would do a thread on my daily driver a 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Speciale 1.4 150 petrol.

I'd been looking at all sorts of cars as daily drivers for a while and had settled on a Abarth 595 Competzione, but the car will occasionally have my nearly 2 year old son in it and wife and decided the 595 wasn't going to be practical, I still fancied an Italian motor though so looked at the Alfa Mito Quadrifoglio but decided that was also still quite small so moved on to the Giulietta. Initially I looked at the 1.7 240ps Quadrifoglio Verde & Launch Edition but I really wanted a manual car and they all come in Auto, you can get the pre-facelift in manual but I wanted facelift.

I found a Giulietta QV-line local for sale that was perfect but it had sold within minutes so I went about an hour away to look at this Speciale which is a 150 rather than 170, apparently they map the same anyway!



Most important bit was it had the bucket seats


I will get some more pictures in a bit.

The car needs a good mopping with a machine polisher its not perfect, the wheels need refurbing (thinking anthracite). Its also got a warranty on it that I dont think is going to be worth the paper its written on, so I've booked it into Autolusso on Friday for them to have a look over to see if we can claim on warranty. If not going to ask for my warranty money back!

The car has a squeaky front suspension and rumble (suspect wheel bearing) at 60-70 so hopefully them bits can be sorted.

I think a remap will also be in order in a few weeks once I'm used to it! Oh and another child seat! either Recaro or Ferrari.

[the-norseman]

So I have a few issues haha, hopefully between Autolusso, the dealer and warrant they can be sorted.

1 handbrake warning light comes on when driving along, noticed the handbrake leaver doesn't sit flat when its off, its very springy.
2 squeaky/creaky front drivers side suspension
3 service light still on , I checked the oil yesterday it has definitely had new oil


I have the yellow cable for the service light but it doesn't want to play ball yet.

[the-norseman]

Car is going to Autolusso today for them to look over a few bits hopefully its all easily sorted! Thought I would post some more pics in the meantime, been a little busy so not really been out in the car.

Here she is the morning after wahey


As you can see the wheels need some attention, I also want to get the wheels off and clean up the calipers


The car feels quality compared to other hatches I've had of this era, things like the carbon fibre lookalike headlights are nice details


I need to get a cotton bud on this and clean out the gunk, thinking of dropping some red paint in there to highlight the numbers/R


DNA switch for Sport, Eco and all weather


Dash is quite nice, shame this doesn't have Android Auto built in






I've always been very anti putting badges on cars that dont belong, but I have purchased a set of Quadrifoglio Verde side badges, I'm a life long Scuderia Ferrari fan and understand the importance of Alfa Romeo in the Enzo Ferrari story, with the car being red I thought it was only right as a nod to the early F1 activities to have the badges on the side. They also sent me a Sportiva badge which I'm going to cut the little Quadrifoglio Verdge badge off and might put the little badge onto the boot.


The next post will either be, little bits getting sorted under warranty or I'm arguing with the place I bought the car!

[the-norseman]

Not great news from the specialists, gonna have a fight between the dealer and warranty now! i'll post up some details in a bit.

I think the seats were an option extra on a few models and standard on the QV

[the-norseman]

So the car has the following issues;
rear brake caliper drivers side sticking which is resulting in the handbrake light coming on and the discs/pads cooked.
DAB aerial not working.
leak from manifold.
front top mounts need replacing.
all rear suspension bushes are shot - this is apparently very common and a 10 hour job to replace, this is what Auto Lusso have told me, however they have said that they aren't shot enough that they would fail an MOT.

The warranty is unlikely to cover/wriggle out of most of these issues so I have given the dealer I bought the car from an ultimatum, either they sort the issues or I reject it.

I've had a look for other speciale/QV/Veloce in red with the seats in manual and there isn't any more for sale, so I kinda want to keep the car. I could just get an auto but then id want a Quadrifoglio Verde and they are more money.

The dealer has said they will sort the issues, however they are 1.5 hours from me and I'm on 12 hour shifts till Tuesday now so they are going to have to come and get it.

[the-norseman]

Killer2005 said:

The DAB is a common thing.

On the bushes, I had mine checked last year at Alfatech on Huddersfield. They said they could now replace the rear suspension arms rather than the bushes, it made it a much easier and quicker job.

I'l look into this as they have said they wouldn't be an MOT failure at the moment I'm not too bothered about that. its the other issues that need sorting now.

I have noticed, on the few journeys I've made, people looking at it when I go past, Alfa aren't that common but suppose the red draws the eye even more.

[the-norseman]

Fessia fancier said:

We also had to change the DAB aerial on ours. It seems to be a weak point but otherwise ours has been good.

Any guides on how to do it?

[the-norseman]

Really want to get the Quadrifoglio badges on the wings but dont want to do that until I know the supplying dealer is 100% gonna fix the issues.

[the-norseman]

The ALFA went back to the dealer yesterday I'm hoping they fix most of the issues without being too much of a pain to deal with.

[the-norseman]

I'm really hoping they sort the car, it is a real stunner compared to all of the modern boring generic cars you see now.

[the-norseman]

Car is apparently fixed or nearly fixed hopefully will have it back in the next few days! I suspect though it will have new discs/pads on drivers rear side but not passenger rear side.. so that will be job #1 for me.

[the-norseman]

I just want to drive it in anger.. realise 150ps isn't enough (my 2.5tonne Volvo has 215ps) and get it mapped up

[the-norseman]

The few Alfa groups I'm on are littered with issues, more than any other group I'm on/been on.

[the-norseman]

jamesbilluk said:

Just don't use the dash storage compartment

The clip will snap if you look at it the wrong way!

Mine seems to work well at the moment haha.

[the-norseman]

Hopefully getting the car back tomorrow!

I googled where the car had been serviced a few times (Scotland) and had a quick look around the local streets on Google maps and look what I found! looking very sorry for itself.

[the-norseman]

It's back! Will do a full write up when I get home.

[the-norseman]

So I'm home, even achieved 40mpg on the way home!

So the dealer has spent about £600 including labour on the car they reckon, its had a rear drivers side caliper, new discs and pads on the rear, new front drivers side wheel bearing, 2 part worns on the front (I mentioned when I was there that the front tyres were cracked), adjusted handbrake and turned service light off.

The handbrake warning light was coming on when driving and the handbrake would come up 5 or 6 clicks and wouldn't sit flat when off, now it sits flat and only comes up two clicks.



Because its a 1 hour 20 minute drive each way to the garage, we stopped at a soft play centre on the way home to cheer up our 21 month old who was bored in the car!

Once arrived home... I did what I've never done before and "up badged" a car


I'm not trying to claim its a Quadrifoglio Verde, but as a lifelong Scuderia Ferrari fan, I have always been interested in the intertwined history of Scuderia Ferrari and Alfa Romeo and a red Alfa with the badges on it just seemed right.

So whats next?
1- rear brake dust guards have been badly painted silver at some point, want to strip them off and paint them black.
2- wheel refurb in dark grey
3- remap, I actually wanted a 170 not 150 and the car definetly needs a little more poke
4- Android auto integration
5- change the multiair filter on the engine, I bet this hasn't been done.
6- check the pollen filter as well.

[the-norseman]

It definitely needs more power, the 170 might be ok but the 150 feels a little flat. Saying that I've been driving turbo diesels for the last two years so used to planting the torque.

I remember years ago, I went from a 240ps modified diesel to a 265ps standard petrol and found it slow. Just need to adjust my driving style again.

I think I want to fit a dual rear exhaust to finish off the rear end, problem being the facelift rear valance with dual exhaust is quite sought after so £££ and I didn't want to start spending stupid money on mods haha.

[the-norseman]

You can get dual exit diffuser quite easily but the facelift one that looks more aggressive is a lot harder to get, tempted just to cut two holes in the one I've got .

[the-norseman]

I have noticed people glancing at it when I drive past or park up, I've had this in the past with my modified hatch backs but that's mainly been because they are either loudish or bright (Yellow Cupra R with white wheels).

The interior is very nice, there are bits of the car where I think jesus that feels cheap though. I think AR put a lot into the design and looks and not so much into the build quality compared to somebody like VW/SEAT/Skoda who are a lot blander but slightly better quality.

Dilemma at 6am on Wednesday morning, which to take? the bike won. Thursday morning though I took the Alfa as the threat of rain was high.


Really need to start sorting yellow bulbs out!


I need to tend to a bit of rust on both front arches, got some rosso alfa paint coming, I'm also going to check the spark plugs and multiair filter.