RE: Alfa Giulia vs. BMW M3 vs. Mercedes-AMG C63 S

[swisstoni]

Tints. Always with the tints.

[Cliffc63]

Ed Straker said:

popeyewhite said:

MB all the way. Don't drive on a track to work, so don't need the M3. And I'd like to get there, so don't want the Alfa.

Edited by popeyewhite on Thursday 18th May 10:53

This
All day long....

I am with these guys. I love driving my 63 to work, what a noise.V8 all the way

Edited by Cliffc63 on Friday 19th May 13:53

[robsco]

Dale7355 said:

V8A*ndy said:

What a massive fecking balls up!

Hope you get sorted.

[
Thank you but it is down to solicitors and if I lose fair enough I will have to have it back and get rid of it or give it my son for a weekend run about long has he don't go far in it , don't want him calling me to tow him back
When I broke down Sunday night and called Alfa romeo in Italy for a break down service they turned up in a rusty old white transit full of new batteries and at one point tried to sell me one as Alfa romeo don't cover warranties on battery's on there cars if they have covered more than 100 miles and must be under 4 weeks old my car had covered 103 miles and was 4 weeks 1 day old so out of Alfa romeo warranty for battery's , but I never bought a battery he got the car running and guess what 10 miles later it broke down again so another call out this time with a rusty old pick up , and words from Alfa romeo mechanic , can't get that on back of my low loader car is to low
I will give you another battery back boost to get you going ,
I did ask him do you get many Alfa romeo's break down calls , his reply I came on shift at 8pm and your the 3 rd Alfa tonight, I really think Alfa are proud of there cars breaking down

While I do truly feel for you, I do believe you are beating the drum unnecessarily and unfairly. So, you have bought a new car and as unfortunate as it is, it has teething troubles. The dash is out of the car because the dealer you purchased from are investigating the fault; how else would you expect them to approach the situation? You are not the first person to have issues in the early stages of buying a (extremely complex) motorcar, and you won't be the last. Whether a customer has spent 10k on a new Panda or 70k with every option ticked, is irrelevant. I wish you all the best but I do believe that people are far too hasty in throwing the towel in these days - it is a car with hundreds of thousands of components all working to the strictest of tolerances, is it not reasonable to accept that the odd component may fail?

Still, you could always give it to your son to use, you clearly have the wealth to buy yourself an M3 or C63.

[w8pmc]

Denorth said:

May I remind about Porsche GT3 spectacularly fiery failure and followed recall of all of them? Did they lose the room as well?

EDIT: and how about BMW M5 and M6 driveshaft failures and recall?

Edited by Denorth on Thursday 18th May 14:03

What driveshaft failures are these you speak of?? I owned 2 F10 M5's & never had an issue with the driveshaft or summoned to have any recall carried out.

[smarty156]

Just one question for Dale.
What's the reason for engaging solicitors when the dealer is clearly in the process of fixing it?

[vz-r_dave]

smarty156 said:

Just one question for Dale.
What's the reason for engaging solicitors when the dealer is clearly in the process of fixing it?

He has tried to give the car back.... they wont take it back.... given he has more than one car (by the sounds of it) not sure why its so a huge problem just to give it back and let them fix it. Not as if he needs to drive around in a Fiat 500 courtesy car is it

[MegaCat]

Interesting article and posts. So, having read, watched and driven each of the option (plus the Audi RS5) I have to say the Alfa is easily the loveliest car - it just felt right! Mine is being delivered next week, I am excited, yes it could be a wrong'un, but so much more likely not to be - will keep the forum informed, with all the good news ; )

[Dale7355]

The reason for using solicitors is I feel that buying a new car the boot should not have to be repainted , also once all of the dash as been removed and put back , will it go back the same ? Or will I end up with rattles etc..
when I went to dealership yesterday to collect my personal stuff from the car they had already marked the centre consul , yes they were very sorry this had happened and would order a new one from Italy
And now been told I will be without the car for another 2 to 3 weeks
So in my opinion I mean my opinion not asking for anyone's else I feel in this case I should be given a replacement car , not changing colour or spec asking for like for like
Today Alfa romeo customer service phoned and were very sorry with my experience of the quadrifoglio and have offered the carbon fibre front grill carbon fibre gear leaver and compensation payment for every day I am without the car so as for using a solicitor this his how far in the process he as got talking to them , so I will know more when car is back in 3 weeks and full inspection of the work is carried out to my satisfaction if not the car will remain at the dealership and probley a full refund instead of the car being taken back

[Driver Rider]

Wills2 said:

Chris Harris once wrote an excellent article on the M3 through the generations and how each new iteration gets poor reviews initially only to become loved by the journalists as time goes by, by the time the next new one comes out they love the outgoing one so much they start to slag off the new car...

I see it's starting to happen again, a nice and not before time win for the M3.

Do you have a link please?

[The Vambo]

robsco said:

While I do truly feel for you, I do believe you are beating the drum unnecessarily and unfairly.

Jeez, that TVR has really lowered your expectations of new cars......

[smarty156]

Dale7355 said:

The reason for using solicitors is I feel that buying a new car the boot should not have to be repainted , also once all of the dash as been removed and put back , will it go back the same ? Or will I end up with rattles etc..
when I went to dealership yesterday to collect my personal stuff from the car they had already marked the centre consul , yes they were very sorry this had happened and would order a new one from Italy
And now been told I will be without the car for another 2 to 3 weeks
So in my opinion I mean my opinion not asking for anyone's else I feel in this case I should be given a replacement car , not changing colour or spec asking for like for like
Today Alfa romeo customer service phoned and were very sorry with my experience of the quadrifoglio and have offered the carbon fibre front grill carbon fibre gear leaver and compensation payment for every day I am without the car so as for using a solicitor this his how far in the process he as got talking to them , so I will know more when car is back in 3 weeks and full inspection of the work is carried out to my satisfaction if not the car will remain at the dealership and probley a full refund instead of the car being taken back

So you're going to give them the chance to fix it and then make sure it's perfect before taking it away. Sounds sensible but isn't that what the dealership were doing from day one anyway? I don't understand the need for a solicitor. If it comes back "fixed" and it's not right then I guess you'd have a right to reject it but again you wouldn't need a solicitor unless they then contested it. Seems like a waste of money to me but guess you're not short of it.

Don't you have to give them 3 chances to fix it to be able to reject it or is that just myth?

[phalfalan]

Ordered a QV first day the dealer could up load the details on the system. The Car arrived in late January 17. Have done 3,300 miles in it and it has been faultless. I absolutely love it, in the past I have had Maserati 4.7 Granturismo Sports, a very brief encounter with a 997 Gen 1 3.8 S manual 2 wheel drive with all the sports toys, a variety of TVR's including a mad 4.5 Cebera but nothing holds a candle to the Alfa QV! Yes it is disappointing that it had a software clinch and went into normal mode but if I read the article right it didn't actually stop. It went in this week for a software update, the dealer in Northern Irelandwas fantastic and it came even sharper to drive. Do I regret buying - no way! If I won the lottery I wouldn't sell it, it takes my family around in comfort, yet proves serious fun when on my own and is so understated.

Grazie Mille Alfa!

[Cpb1702]

Bit controversial but wouldn't a C43 merc and S5 muller these in any kind of damp conditions!?

[981C]

Cpb1702 said:

Bit controversial but wouldn't a C43 merc and S5 muller these in any kind of damp conditions!?

M4, C63, sure. Not sure about the Alfa as it seems to have really great traction. Tbh, most 4wd cars with >300bhp will muller these 0-70 in the wet.

[Dale7355]

smarty156 said:

So you're going to give them the chance to fix it and then make sure it's perfect before taking it away. Sounds sensible but isn't that what the dealership were doing from day one anyway? I don't understand the need for a solicitor. If it comes back "fixed" and it's not right then I guess you'd have a right to reject it but again you wouldn't need a solicitor unless they then contested it. Seems like a waste of money to me but guess you're not short of it.

Don't you have to give them 3 chances to fix it to be able to reject it or is that just myth?

It's not about whether I have money or not when dealer got the car back they found 62 faults the most they have had in any model Alfa romeo which alarmed me the car was going in anyway to have boot repainted as it came from factory with this mark in paint work and attempts by dealer to polish it out failed in fact made it worse
Then I was told dash including infotainment system etc.. had to be removed and many more parts including plastic trims around door frames to get to wiring loom and the dealership were being told by tec guys in Italy both of the relays needed to be changed parts not arrived also battery needed to be replaced which dealership had in stock
I just want it put back as if had had been put together at the factory and as I said in other post they already have damaged the centre consul which don't give me much confidence
And remember I bought this car to drive not many miles for sure but it would be in my garage when I needed it
But it looks like 3 to 4 weeks without the car
I don't think I am being unreasonable spending over60 k and wanting to drive the car
If you bought a new TV and it packed up after a few hours and was told will take 3 weeks or more to repair it but we can lend you a little portable to to to get you by for 3 to 4 weeks would most people except it? I don't think so
As for using solicitor they know the laws better than I do and as part of compensation package he will get paid from Alfa and dealership

[Wills2]

Driver Rider said:

Wills2 said:

Chris Harris once wrote an excellent article on the M3 through the generations and how each new iteration gets poor reviews initially only to become loved by the journalists as time goes by, by the time the next new one comes out they love the outgoing one so much they start to slag off the new car...

I see it's starting to happen again, a nice and not before time win for the M3.

Do you have a link please?

https://www.goodwood.com/grrc/road/the-goodwood-test/2014/11/chris-harris-why-are-people-beating-up-on-the-bmw-m3/

[Wills2]

Cpb1702 said:

Bit controversial but wouldn't a C43 merc and S5 muller these in any kind of damp conditions!?

You'd be smiling an awful lot more in the other 3, it's not a race, no one wins.

[urquattroGus]

If 62 faults refers mostly to error codes thrown, it could be mostly just down to one major wiring or controller issue. No doubt the tricky bit is working out which code is linked to the main causal fault.

[turbobungle]

RSK21 said:

I love the old "it's not acceptable in a *insert arbitrary value number here" line.

Are cars which cost less than £60K expected to ?

At what price point does it become acceptable for cars to go wrong ?

The fact is that this is a digital problem the like of which impacts plenty of cars. It has been diagnosed and a remedy applied. What's annoying is that it could have been prevented.

As an owner of a Giulia Q and somebody who has previously had M cars and AMGs all I can say is go and try one first hand so you can get your own take on the various positives Dan picked up on.

Whatever you do not listen to the advice of the PH forum sages who haven't driven one.

Edited by RSK21 on Thursday 18th May 15:40

I tried, First Lady year before I gave up waiting for the delayed launch and bought my M4 CP, then again in January when the local Alfa dealer assured me I'd be tempted out of my 3 month old BMW as soon as I'd driven their QF demo once it arrived in a few weeks. I'm still waiting for the call!!

[Pooh]

It is a real shame that people are having issues with this car, it is a new and very complex car, many manufacturers have had similar issues but Alfa needed to avoid this sort of situation given their largely undeserved reputation.
I have never broken down and had to be recovered in any of my seven Alfas. The two most recent where:
A Brera S which I took to 105k miles, the only issue was that it needed a new cam chain at 96k miles other than that is was superb, no squeaks or rattles, nothing broke or fell off and it still looked fantastic inside and out when I sold it, it looked like it had done less than half the miles.

These photos where taken after I stupidly traded it for a Honda Civic (pile of junk) and Amari bought it from auction.

I also had a 2012 Gulietta Multiair 170, it did 50k miles with no issues of any sort.

I hope and expect that the Giulia will be fine once the initial teething troubles are sorted out.