Alfa Giulietta buying advice

[Draculaw]

I’m looking at commuter vehicle, but something a little different. I know the typical guidance would be something like a Golf, Focus, Scirocco, but I find the Focus a bit dull and can’t stand VW styling.

I’m looking at an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and wanted to find out people’s opinions. I know Alfa have historically had a reputation for breaking down. The MOT history on the one I’m looking at is spotless, no advisories since it’s been tested. Is there anything which commonly goes wrong with them to check in the service history?

The vehicle I’m looking at is http://www.evanshalshaw.com/search/VehicleDetails/...

Alternatively open to suggestions for something with a sub 10s 0-60mph, a bit of flair (I like BMW styling, but they’re pricey for the spec) and decent reliability. I was sold on a 1 series, but the recall is right in the era I can afford (c. £6,000).

Edited by Draculaw on Monday 28th May 10:52

[Kinky]

I've had mine for a year now, and not had any problems with it at all

In fact it's been one of the best I've had. And overall, the Gs quality is much better than the historical perception that people had. I think it's also in the top 5 in the JD power survey, or one of those (I can't recall).

I'd have a look through the AO G forum as that's where you'll get the best view : http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-giulietta/

Some might say to avoid the early cars (as that '10 plate is). I don't know. But I do think you can get later and better for the same price

[IanJ9375]

The 11 plate G we had did nothing but break down (5 or 6 RAC call outs iirc), it was a Diesel and compared to petrol one in work it did seem to be most unreliable so hopefully the 1.4TB is a safer bet for you.

Fuel pump had a leak of some sort, it emptied the whole tank of diesel going down the M6 and left the other half stranded on the motorway - back of the car layered in oily diesel residue!

Specced the upgraded Brembo "Red" brakes but to be honest any high speed stops would show that those brakes shouldn't be fitted to a car with such a boaty ride as under braking it had such a floating sensation rather than a nose digging in which you normally get.

Whilst it was being investigated/repaired we had a Fiesta, Dacia Duster and a BMW 330d as courtesy cars from Lex....the car ended up being taken back early by Lex and we had another go at picking a company car and bought a 330d, the o/h Grandparents loved the Duster they have had 2 since then and I've since bought a Focus RS - thanks Alfa for opening us up to other brands lol

[nmd87]

Ran one from new in 2015 until March this year. No breakdowns. I was recommended to change the oil at the first service and did, but this optional so check if it's been done.

[velocemitch]

I ran an 11 plate JTDm 140 for three and half years, never missed a beat.

I really don’t think they are less reliable than the average Car and more interesting than the majority.

[IanJ9375]

velocemitch said:

I ran an 11 plate JTDm 140 for three and half years, never missed a beat.

I really don’t think they are less reliable than the average Car and more interesting than the majority.

Ours was an 11 plate JTDM 140 - we did @70-75k in it and as above was very unreliable, the dealerships shonky, to the point that having been "repaired" twice by different Alfa dealers it was eventually resolved by a local garage prior to being taken back by Lex

The styling was interesting but the rest of the car wasn't imho

[Draculaw]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Certainly a mixed bag. I'll be doing ~16k a year, so reliability will be a big deciding factor for me. I took a look through the AO threads and saw fixes for the common errors occurring with certain parts, but not incidence of those problems. Is there particular work I should look out for (i.e. cambelt at 50k) or similar, or is it just a case of fixing as and when?

[V6Alfisti]

Draculaw said:

Thanks for the replies everyone. Certainly a mixed bag. I'll be doing ~16k a year, so reliability will be a big deciding factor for me. I took a look through the AO threads and saw fixes for the common errors occurring with certain parts, but not incidence of those problems. Is there particular work I should look out for (i.e. cambelt at 50k) or similar, or is it just a case of fixing as and when?

Cambelts are every 72k/5 years whichever comes first, from what I have seen on the Giulietta forums it is a reliable model with less of the minor quibbles of the older models. Although loose trim which I never found a feature of older cars despite reputation, does seem to raise it's head more in the Giulietta.

You should be aware that the multiair system can be troublesome on early cars, I think something to do with the threads. Make sure it has had lots of oil changes and google the symptoms to check. I think they can be repaired now though, and not replaced like they used to.

All very similar to the problems large Audi diesels have.