Am I crazy? Bought a 113k Giulia Quadrifoglio!!

Am I crazy? Bought a 113k Giulia Quadrifoglio!!

Author
Discussion

croyde

24,022 posts

238 months

Monday 28th November 2022
quotequote all
Nice one and an interesting thread.

I'd love one of these but sadly even a Veloce is beyond my pay grade these days.

I almost spent my retirement money on a dark grey Veloce with the red seats and the QF wheels but dithered and it was gone.

It's the only one I want now and I can't find the same anywhere.

Are you happy to say what you paid?

Certainly shows Alfas in a different light concerning reliability seeing as all you have found wrong is down to the dealer.

Well done.

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,572 posts

215 months

Monday 28th November 2022
quotequote all
ecsrobin said:
It’s been well documented on one of the forums the boost is not consistent and being controlled by the ECU when ESC is on, when pressing ESC button and putting into expert it removes the control/limits.

So just thought that removing traction control might stop the torque control on the Alfa.
Race mode in the Alfa does give the car more torque / boost but the actual 1st and 2nd gear are limits in the gearbox TCU tune, no doubt to protect the car and drivers from binning it.

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,572 posts

215 months

Monday 28th November 2022
quotequote all
croyde said:
Nice one and an interesting thread.

I'd love one of these but sadly even a Veloce is beyond my pay grade these days.

I almost spent my retirement money on a dark grey Veloce with the red seats and the QF wheels but dithered and it was gone.

It's the only one I want now and I can't find the same anywhere.

Are you happy to say what you paid?

Certainly shows Alfas in a different light concerning reliability seeing as all you have found wrong is down to the dealer.

Well done.
I paid 26k.

So far I've spent:
- £400 on all the service items and around 2-3 days of my own time servicing, machine polishing and little touch ups around the car
- £210 on a better condition steering wheel with the carbon inserts, not yet installed.


One sold last week on Collecting Cars for £29,500 plus fees, so was around £31,700 with fees, that had 51k miles, was in need of an MOT, Major service and was remapped, the latter might have hurt resale.

Car market is softening for sure, I knew the history of my car from speaking to its one and only owner the mileage did not scare me off as its essentially been a companies directors car and done mostly motorway miles and has full service history but judging by spark plugs when I removed I'd question if the official Alfa dealer in question even changed the plugs, though service history shows they clearly charged for it.

Car is still on its factory rear brake disc, now heavily worn but lasted 114k miles, proof of a relatively gently driven car. It had new front disc around 30k miles ago.

ecsrobin

17,857 posts

173 months

Monday 28th November 2022
quotequote all
Gibbo205 said:
I paid 26k.

So far I've spent:
- £400 on all the service items and around 2-3 days of my own time servicing, machine polishing and little touch ups around the car
- £210 on a better condition steering wheel with the carbon inserts, not yet installed.


One sold last week on Collecting Cars for £29,500 plus fees, so was around £31,700 with fees, that had 51k miles, was in need of an MOT, Major service and was remapped, the latter might have hurt resale.

Car market is softening for sure, I knew the history of my car from speaking to its one and only owner the mileage did not scare me off as its essentially been a companies directors car and done mostly motorway miles and has full service history but judging by spark plugs when I removed I'd question if the official Alfa dealer in question even changed the plugs, though service history shows they clearly charged for it.

Car is still on its factory rear brake disc, now heavily worn but lasted 114k miles, proof of a relatively gently driven car. It had new front disc around 30k miles ago.
I’d say that’s a lot of car for the money!

croyde

24,022 posts

238 months

Monday 28th November 2022
quotequote all
Gibbo205 said:
croyde said:
Nice one and an interesting thread.

I'd love one of these but sadly even a Veloce is beyond my pay grade these days.

I almost spent my retirement money on a dark grey Veloce with the red seats and the QF wheels but dithered and it was gone.

It's the only one I want now and I can't find the same anywhere.

Are you happy to say what you paid?

Certainly shows Alfas in a different light concerning reliability seeing as all you have found wrong is down to the dealer.

Well done.
I paid 26k.

So far I've spent:
- £400 on all the service items and around 2-3 days of my own time servicing, machine polishing and little touch ups around the car
- £210 on a better condition steering wheel with the carbon inserts, not yet installed.


One sold last week on Collecting Cars for £29,500 plus fees, so was around £31,700 with fees, that had 51k miles, was in need of an MOT, Major service and was remapped, the latter might have hurt resale.

Car market is softening for sure, I knew the history of my car from speaking to its one and only owner the mileage did not scare me off as its essentially been a companies directors car and done mostly motorway miles and has full service history but judging by spark plugs when I removed I'd question if the official Alfa dealer in question even changed the plugs, though service history shows they clearly charged for it.

Car is still on its factory rear brake disc, now heavily worn but lasted 114k miles, proof of a relatively gently driven car. It had new front disc around 30k miles ago.
Thanks for answering.

Sounds like an absolute bargain. All the best with it.

billshoreham

358 posts

133 months

Monday 28th November 2022
quotequote all
excellent purchase. I paid more for my nearly new Hyundai Kona.

Fessia fancier

1,186 posts

191 months

Monday 28th November 2022
quotequote all
Just to say this is a good thread, thanks for posting. Been watching these for a while now, and that was very well bought in my view.

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,572 posts

215 months

Wednesday 30th November 2022
quotequote all
Hi there

I need to find a specialist reasonably local to me to do following:
- Belt, coolant and AC re-gas service
- ZF gearbox oil change
- Differential oil change.


Are there any Alfa specialist who have worked on the Quadrifoglios, namely done the belt service anyone can recommend in the Midlands / Northwest region please?

Highway Star

3,597 posts

239 months

Wednesday 30th November 2022
quotequote all
Gibbo205 said:
Hi there

I need to find a specialist reasonably local to me to do following:
- Belt, coolant and AC re-gas service
- ZF gearbox oil change
- Differential oil change.


Are there any Alfa specialist who have worked on the Quadrifoglios, namely done the belt service anyone can recommend in the Midlands / Northwest region please?
You could try Motormech in Birmingham. I have seen QVs in there before when our Alfa has been there and Paul the owner had/has a QV.

StescoG66

2,216 posts

151 months

Thursday 1st December 2022
quotequote all
Gibbo205 said:
Hi there

I need to find a specialist reasonably local to me to do following:
- Belt, coolant and AC re-gas service
- ZF gearbox oil change
- Differential oil change.


Are there any Alfa specialist who have worked on the Quadrifoglios, namely done the belt service anyone can recommend in the Midlands / Northwest region please?
Neil at Italia Autos gets a good rep. Check out his You Tube channel. Ex QF owner too

abucd4

532 posts

152 months

Friday 9th December 2022
quotequote all
Huge amount of car for the money.

The bad servicing by the dealer doesn’t surprise me and is the reason I recently sold mine (regretfully).

They lied about completing the belts which thankfully I spotted, they initially argued it wasn’t scheduled, and eventually admitted it was and did the work. They wanted to follow the “Stoneacre schedule” instead of the proper Alfa schedule on the Alfa/MOPAR service plan which effectively amounted to an oil change.

Despite full servicing at less than the correct intervals it needed a new multiair unit as it was clogged up at 40k miles £1000+ to replace, 2 months without the car, and it always ran rich afterwards. Suspect they hadn’t been using the proper oil. Sold it when it was finally running right.

All this is a 2.0 veloce by the way.

The lights are all false usually, code reader will give you totally random codes when it does this. Using the heated seats throughout winter will trigger a few sometimes. They’ll reset after 3 or 5 restarts (with the car being off between). Lock to lock on the wheel works sometimes too.

Despite all this I want back in one of these, a 147 GTA or perhaps a 911. Next time I’ll use an Indy though.

Nice Ferrari by the way, I can only dream!

cjstott

69 posts

63 months

Tuesday 3rd January 2023
quotequote all
amazing car - amazing thread!

daviekiwi

174 posts

213 months

Sunday 8th January 2023
quotequote all
Gibbo205 said:
croyde said:
Nice one and an interesting thread.

I'd love one of these but sadly even a Veloce is beyond my pay grade these days.

I almost spent my retirement money on a dark grey Veloce with the red seats and the QF wheels but dithered and it was gone.

It's the only one I want now and I can't find the same anywhere.

Are you happy to say what you paid?

Certainly shows Alfas in a different light concerning reliability seeing as all you have found wrong is down to the dealer.

Well done.
I paid 26k.

So far I've spent:
- £400 on all the service items and around 2-3 days of my own time servicing, machine polishing and little touch ups around the car
- £210 on a better condition steering wheel with the carbon inserts, not yet installed.


One sold last week on Collecting Cars for £29,500 plus fees, so was around £31,700 with fees, that had 51k miles, was in need of an MOT, Major service and was remapped, the latter might have hurt resale.

Car market is softening for sure, I knew the history of my car from speaking to its one and only owner the mileage did not scare me off as its essentially been a companies directors car and done mostly motorway miles and has full service history but judging by spark plugs when I removed I'd question if the official Alfa dealer in question even changed the plugs, though service history shows they clearly charged for it.

Car is still on its factory rear brake disc, now heavily worn but lasted 114k miles, proof of a relatively gently driven car. It had new front disc around 30k miles ago.
Thanks for the great thread! What a beautiful car for for the money, they looked awesome on Top gear.
That would be my dream daily driver?
keep us updated!

Brisvegas 997C2S

54 posts

23 months

Friday 13th January 2023
quotequote all
Great thread, love it when people take a punt on high milers, they're not always the write off that many people think they are.

Makes me want to trade in the Macan for a Stelvio QF now.... hmmm

jm8403

2,515 posts

33 months

Friday 13th January 2023
quotequote all
Brisvegas 997C2S said:
Great thread, love it when people take a punt on high milers, they're not always the write off that many people think they are.

Makes me want to trade in the Macan for a Stelvio QF now.... hmmm
Well, he's only had it a couple of months.... fingers crossed for OP it goes well over the coming years.

cayman-black

12,950 posts

224 months

Wednesday 18th January 2023
quotequote all
What a car, i love it . well done OP just shows how strong these are.

Rob 131 Sport

3,161 posts

60 months

Friday 20th January 2023
quotequote all
Like many others of said, it’s a great thread and certainly one to keep going. What is the effectiveness of oil extractors. Whilst I haven’t changed the oil on a car for a couple of years I’ve always drained it from the sump plug.

I changed my main car recently and my son pointed out that as I’m (his words) ‘such a so called Italian Car Fan, I should of bought a Guilia Quadrifoglio’.


Rob 131 Sport

3,161 posts

60 months

Saturday 21st January 2023
quotequote all
Gibbo205 said:
Hi there

I need to find a specialist reasonably local to me to do following:
- Belt, coolant and AC re-gas service
- ZF gearbox oil change
- Differential oil change.


Are there any Alfa specialist who have worked on the Quadrifoglios, namely done the belt service anyone can recommend in the Midlands / Northwest region please?
There is an Italian Car Specialist All Italia on the outskirts of Wrexham. I use to get my Alfa 159 serviced there and now the Mito. The owner Howard and the guys that work there are real enthusiasts, and in my experience there work is first rate.

Whilst it might be a little out of your way, there are some lovely walks and a nice cafe in the area. When running a car such as a high mileage QF, being on first name terms with a Specialist is always good.

I love the colour, which I think suits it more than Alfa Red. This is unusual for me as with other Alfa’s I prefer the solid red to the metallic. Back in the day I had a 155 Wide Body 1.8 Twin Spark in Metallic Red. Being a P Reg it would have been one of the last before the 156 came out.

I always wished it was a 2.0 in Alfa Red with the Black Wheels.

r159

2,329 posts

82 months

Monday 23rd January 2023
quotequote all
Rob 131 Sport said:
Gibbo205 said:
Hi there

I need to find a specialist reasonably local to me to do following:
- Belt, coolant and AC re-gas service
- ZF gearbox oil change
- Differential oil change.


Are there any Alfa specialist who have worked on the Quadrifoglios, namely done the belt service anyone can recommend in the Midlands / Northwest region please?
There is an Italian Car Specialist All Italia on the outskirts of Wrexham. I use to get my Alfa 159 serviced there and now the Mito. The owner Howard and the guys that work there are real enthusiasts, and in my experience there work is first rate.

Whilst it might be a little out of your way, there are some lovely walks and a nice cafe in the area. When running a car such as a high mileage QF, being on first name terms with a Specialist is always good.

I love the colour, which I think suits it more than Alfa Red. This is unusual for me as with other Alfa’s I prefer the solid red to the metallic. Back in the day I had a 155 Wide Body 1.8 Twin Spark in Metallic Red. Being a P Reg it would have been one of the last before the 156 came out.

I always wished it was a 2.0 in Alfa Red with the Black Wheels.
I had an Alfa Red P reg 2.0 sport pack with the anthracite wheels…it was great.

Kuwahara

1,050 posts

26 months

Saturday 25th February 2023
quotequote all
What’s the latest on the QV…