RE: MY20 Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio | Driven

[Howard1650]

Having driven the Alfa Giulia and Volvo S60 T5 back to back , imho the Volvo wins. The Alfa is good , but take the badge away the Volvo is better, plus you can get the V60 wagon.

[Wills2]

The 2.0l 4 pot, 280hp, £46,000 Giulia's biggest issue is the straight 6 3.0l 374hp £48,000 M340i, it needs to be a lot cheaper.

[chelme]

usualdog1 said:

Slightly off-topic but clearly Alfa are strapped for cash, so why are they spunking millions sponsoring a midfield F1 outfit? If they'd put the cash into product development a few years earlier the 4C could have been a contender, not an also-ran like Sauber F1

Edited by usualdog1 on Tuesday 19th November 16:54

Edited by usualdog1 on Tuesday 19th November 17:00

Fair point. The 4C was arguably a missed opportunity, though it was by no means ' a bad car'. More dealers performing as well as some of their good ones and reputable independents would help too.

Notwistanding these, a Giulia is definitely going to be my next car. Loving the look of this model and by all accounts (quite literally), it is the driver's car of choice within its segment.

[147lusso]

I worked for ARUK a while back. Some really great, passionate people within the brand who are unfortunately stifled by FCA Group functions who are useless and don’t care about the brand. Oh and don’t forget the crazy unorganised Italians! The current product line-up is great but unfortunately no budget is given to appropriately market them.

[ITP]

Wills2 said:

The 2.0l 4 pot, 280hp, £46,000 Giulia's biggest issue is the straight 6 3.0l 374hp £48,000 M340i, it needs to be a lot cheaper.

It is a lot cheaper, Giulia veloce’s can be had new for not much more than 30k. As I’m sure a m340i can be had for less than 48k, they seem to be about £44k, so a massive difference in reality. Not that anyone ‘buys’ either.
And although sadly lacking a 6 cyl engine the ride/handling/steering is on a higher plane than a 3 series too.

[1878]

Tim16V][... said:

Apart from the dealers (but not the specialists) the problem for Alfa is the unbelievable discounting on new German machinery. BMW's - 30%?...'step this way sir'....very difficult to compete.

Maybe but even as a st haggler by PH Powerfully Built Director standards I had no problem getting 20% off a Giulia Veloce.

[generationx]

Ares said:

768c said:

Ares said:

My Alfa is possibly the best car I've every owned. It's certainly the best 4-seater I've owned. It's the first car I'm not starting to get excited about replacing after 2yrs.....but I won't have another purely down to customer service, Dealers AND ARUK.

What will you replace it with?

No real idea at present. Powerful SUV is a favoured option.

This is the question I'm struggling with too. I've had my Quadrifoglio for nearly three years (from new) with 25,000 miles without a single issue. It's definitely the best car I've ever had and now the GTV has fallen off the radar I am stuck.

[SidewaysSi]

Howard1650 said:

Having driven the Alfa Giulia and Volvo S60 T5 back to back , imho the Volvo wins. The Alfa is good , but take the badge away the Volvo is better, plus you can get the V60 wagon.

It's not better if you want RWD.

[stuart_83]

ITP said:

It is a lot cheaper, Giulia veloce’s can be had new for not much more than 30k. As I’m sure a m340i can be had for less than 48k, they seem to be about £44k, so a massive difference in reality. Not that anyone ‘buys’ either.
And although sadly lacking a 6 cyl engine the ride/handling/steering is on a higher plane than a 3 series too.

I currently have a well speccd 440i GC which I "paid" £38k for ... The almost base spec Veloce I had cost me £32k ... And the 4GC was a fair bit more expensive than the 3er at the time.

Agree though, the Alfa's steering was in a other league.

Just annoying that I get far better performance, sound and fuel economy (ave 35mpg instead of 29mpg) from my 4 than I ever did in the Alfa.

Plus BMW so far have been great whenever I've needed the car looked at. Alfa were atrocious.

[sam.rog]

I needed a new company car. Went round the usual car makers and Alfa. I have now picked a bmw 330e. No one else makes anything close. I would have loved the Alfa but they don’t make anything that appeals to the company car drivers. They need to get volume sales to make this work. They have a great car but the visibility isn’t there. As un petrol head as this sound Alfa need a hybrid or full electric as presently the powertrain looks old fashioned compared to its german rivals.

[Alfahol Addict]

Autoexpress gave the Giulia 4,5/5 stars https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/alfa-romeo/giulia/10... while Autocar only gave the MY2020 Giulia and Stelvio 3,5/5 stars

[greenarrow]

Auto Express tend to give brands from countries other than Germany a better review than Autocar who are a Haymarket publication and therefore by definition pretty biased to the German marques....they gave the original Guilia QV 4.5 stars as I recall, so a bit weird they now feel its worth just 3.5

[belleair302]

I would love a Stelvio, but not over a C Class AMG Wagon!

[MStroud80]

Such underrated cars. The Giulia isn't a new savior of the brand in driving quality terms in recent times. Has anyone actually properly driven a Giulietta Quadrifoglio/QV/Veloce recently? After owning a few decent cars I have a Quadrifoglio Launch Edition and the way it handles, sounds, goes in a straight line, economy if you need it (i can get a real world 44mpg from a 250bhp twin-clutch turbo petrol) and feels inside is very good indeed and has bags more character than the mundane and soulless Audi/BMW/Merc brigade. They are very reliable too would you believe! But, due to years of negative vibes from the press for Alfa they always get overlooked. Harry Metcalf (of EVO and Harry's Garage fame) preferred it to equivalent Golf GTi in a road test on his youtube channel on most fronts.. so come on press, stop licking BMW's arse and appreciate character, proper good looks and feel over the generic dirge.

Edited by MStroud80 on Wednesday 20th November 09:48

Edited by MStroud80 on Wednesday 20th November 09:50

[Fonzey]

There's a chance that one of our stboxes will need to make way for a commuter car next year, a Giulia QV is very high on my list and I will be testing one alongside the M/AMG contemporaries but I will be biased towards the Alfa purely because that's the one I want.

It's a shame as I seem to be in a minority with that. From my research it seems the Alfa dealer network is a huge part of the problem

[Gio G]

Given the Alfa range is now so small, they should employ the same strategy as Alpine. Even though there is a strong Renault connection, make it a bit more boutique, have their own network with passionate individuals who are motivated by the brand and can serve the customer well.. This was part of my reason I did not invest in a QF..

G

[Bluehawk]

Ares said:

My Alfa is possibly the best car I've every owned. It's certainly the best 4-seater I've owned. It's the first car I'm not starting to get excited about replacing after 2yrs.....but I won't have another purely down to customer service, Dealers AND ARUK.

I very much second this, i have a 2018 Veloce model, the car is fantastic, so engaging to drive, enough space for 4 adults (just), sensible sized luggage compartment and really nice interior trim with all the modern toys, the only thing lacking in my opinion is the infotainment, it's a bit aged, BUT, all the functions are there you would expect from any car in it's class.

Quite a few people around my office ask me if i would have another Giulia...my answer is always this

"Yes, i'd love another Giulia, if i never had to deal with an Alfa Dealer ever again".

The sales and after sales are truly woeful.
I could go into further details, but the long and the short of it is they simply take too long to do anything, that at any other dealership, would be "yes sir, we'll get that sorted for you".

[Black S2K]

Bluehawk said:

Ares said:

My Alfa is possibly the best car I've every owned. It's certainly the best 4-seater I've owned. It's the first car I'm not starting to get excited about replacing after 2yrs.....but I won't have another purely down to customer service, Dealers AND ARUK.

I very much second this, i have a 2018 Veloce model, the car is fantastic, so engaging to drive, enough space for 4 adults (just), sensible sized luggage compartment and really nice interior trim with all the modern toys, the only thing lacking in my opinion is the infotainment, it's a bit aged, BUT, all the functions are there you would expect from any car in it's class.

Quite a few people around my office ask me if i would have another Giulia...my answer is always this

"Yes, i'd love another Giulia, if i never had to deal with an Alfa Dealer ever again".

The sales and after sales are truly woeful.
I could go into further details, but the long and the short of it is they simply take too long to do anything, that at any other dealership, would be "yes sir, we'll get that sorted for you".

So the evidence from owners is that after the initial early electronic, etc calamities (see also XE) that ALFA have made a really decent car but as always, their dealers would be expelled from Ebay as rogue traders and as a result their Last Chance Saloon has been shot dead.

That's actually quite annoying as well as predictable....

[cerb4.5lee]

I'm hoping that they've tuned the exhaust to actually make some noise. A Giulia Veloce went past me at quite the lick whilst I was out running and it was a quiet as a mouse. I was gutted, and even though it only has a lowly 4 cylinder engine I was still expecting some noise from the exhaust at the pace that he passed me.

[NGK210]

Hope the lesson has been learnt: punters value perceived build quality, straightline speed and the illusion of reliability above all else - just ask Audi.
Let’s hope Aston, Jaguar and Lotus cotton on fast too.