Changing from G JTDM TCT to 1.6 JTDM

[Alfahorn]

I've owned my TCT for the last 22 months and covered 35,000 miles in that time. Unfortunately. My car had a superb first 12 months but has been beset with problems since January this year. I've had so much warranty work done it's unbelievable.

My car turns 3 years old in January and it's been so problematic I'm not prepared to own it outside of warranty. I've been offered a deal on a 63 plate Giulietta 1.6 JTDM Sportiva, which I think makes good sense to me.

I do 22-23,000 miles a year at my own expense and I've decided to rationalise my monthly motoring expenses. I expect to save approx. £600-£700 a year in fuel alone before taking in to consideration other motoring costs such as insurance& servicing.

I've taken the 1.6 on a good long test drive which included various types of road and found it to be a very engaging car, more so than the TCT in fact. Obviously to get the most out of the car from a performance point of view you have to work it but in spite of this the car still returned 52 mpg on the test drive.

Just wanted to know of there are any owners on the forum who could share their experience on the 1.6 diesel variants?

[Squadrone Rosso]

Time to look outside the brand mate

[Alfahorn]

Squadrone Rosso said:

Time to look outside the brand mate

There's nothing that appeals mate without spending considerably more money. Anyway, I think I've done a deal. 63 Plate Giulietta 1.6 Sportiva in Etna Black if the figures work out right.

[errek72]

Mine's a 1.6Jtdm. Mainly because anything faster gets taxed silly in my market. Nice enough, has oodles of torque but gets astmathic higher up the revs. Wife runs a similar horsepower Volvo and the Giulietta is still much more fun to drive and has more grunt - although I have to admit, the Volvo is clearly a generation ahead on all other counts.

What you describe has happened to you, happened to me with Peugeot and after that with a Golf. Not to mention the cars I drove for work.
The Alfa's before or since have never acted up that way so I was wondering if there is something in my driving Alfa's can live with but makes other cars fall apart. From your experience it seems to come down to luck. Or perhaps I am just more careful with the Alfa's because I like the more...

[Alfahorn]

errek72 said:

Mine's a 1.6Jtdm. Mainly because anything faster gets taxed silly in my market. Nice enough, has oodles of torque but gets astmathic higher up the revs. Wife runs a similar horsepower Volvo and the Giulietta is still much more fun to drive and has more grunt - although I have to admit, the Volvo is clearly a generation ahead on all other counts.

What you describe has happened to you, happened to me with Peugeot and after that with a Golf. Not to mention the cars I drove for work.
The Alfa's before or since have never acted up that way so I was wondering if there is something in my driving Alfa's can live with but makes other cars fall apart. From your experience it seems to come down to luck. Or perhaps I am just more careful with the Alfa's because I like the more...

I've put it down to misfortune. To be honest, the car as a package is great aside from the issues I've had with the transmission, drivers seat, rattles, instrument cluster etc, etc.

With hindsight I should have opted for the 1.6 originally, I did consider it but got swayed by the novelty of TCT, the footrest and the power.

With the decision to part with the car primarily for reliability reasons it's also meant I've decided to reevaluate my priorities. I do 60 miles a day on my commute and it's at my expense. knowing I'll get between 50-55mpg instead of 41 from the TCT just sweetens the deal.

I drove the 1.6 on an extended test drive and found it to be actually very good fun. Low down it struggled but once I had Sussed out how to compensate for that the car was absolutely fine.

Been offered an absolutely superb deal so helpfully I'll get sorted in the next few days.

[Chris Cousins]

My girlfriend's dad has a 62 plate 1.6 diesel. It had to have a new body computer thingy at 2 or 3 months old but other than that has been fine and he loves it. I'm running a 63 plate Sportiva too and have had no issues. Etna black is nice but shows the dirt up a lot more easily than Giaccho White, as you'll find out....

[Alfahorn]

Cheers Chris. Hoping to get something tied up tomorrow if I can.

I'm settled on my decision now. The white one is great but having had; a new clutch, driveshaft, instrument cluster and drivers seat amongst other things has made me nervous about owning a car on which the warranty runs out in 3 months.

I could have extended the warranty at a cost of £500-£600 with Alfa, however I still would have changed the car at 4 years old anyway. I'm intrigued by the 1.6 and I'm rather looking forward to it strangely.