An Italian dilemma...
Discussion
My current company funded car (I get an allowance) is a 2018 Guilia. It is a fabulous thing and wonderful to drive and look at. Owned for 18 months
However, it has now been off the road for 6 weeks with an engine light fault related to the turbo intercooler pump.
4 weeks wait for pump to arrive from Italy, fault went away, fault came back, software update, fault went away, fault came back, replacement diverter valve, problem persists. Now into realms of taking to horribly expensive main dealer to put on Alfa's own diagnostic tools and get a latest from Alfa software update. I am not impressed and am rapidly losing confidence in the car as do I need it available for work.
One of our other cars is a 2013 Fiat 500 which has basically been a solid little workhorse, hilarious to drive and owes us nothing. The other 2 cars are a 1994 TVR Chimaera and a 2000 Alfa GTV v6.
I have to have a car < 10 years old for work. I am very seriously considering selling the Guilia and the 500 and replacing with a 500 Abarth.
I don't do crazy mileage for work at mo because current work is a significant distance and I can use the train.
Do Abarths have a similar reliability to their 500 cousins in folks experience? Or am I just going to swap one set of problems for another? As you can see by the other cars, I am not a stranger to fixing stuff but I do need something a bit more reliable however I do not want to go dullsville. I will not buy any VAG or BMW in the same group as the Guilia. Various reasons, mainly totally shallow, but hey, that is my prerogative.
I welcome the collective thoughts of the Italian car buying cognoscenti here. Thank you in advance.
However, it has now been off the road for 6 weeks with an engine light fault related to the turbo intercooler pump.
4 weeks wait for pump to arrive from Italy, fault went away, fault came back, software update, fault went away, fault came back, replacement diverter valve, problem persists. Now into realms of taking to horribly expensive main dealer to put on Alfa's own diagnostic tools and get a latest from Alfa software update. I am not impressed and am rapidly losing confidence in the car as do I need it available for work.
One of our other cars is a 2013 Fiat 500 which has basically been a solid little workhorse, hilarious to drive and owes us nothing. The other 2 cars are a 1994 TVR Chimaera and a 2000 Alfa GTV v6.
I have to have a car < 10 years old for work. I am very seriously considering selling the Guilia and the 500 and replacing with a 500 Abarth.
I don't do crazy mileage for work at mo because current work is a significant distance and I can use the train.
Do Abarths have a similar reliability to their 500 cousins in folks experience? Or am I just going to swap one set of problems for another? As you can see by the other cars, I am not a stranger to fixing stuff but I do need something a bit more reliable however I do not want to go dullsville. I will not buy any VAG or BMW in the same group as the Guilia. Various reasons, mainly totally shallow, but hey, that is my prerogative.
I welcome the collective thoughts of the Italian car buying cognoscenti here. Thank you in advance.
I have a similar affliction - I simply can’t own a mainstream car brand.
When I needed a daily driver shed for my 30,000 miles a year, almost any Merc, BMW or Audi diesel would have been just perfect. Instead, I chose an Alfa GT, which to be fair, rewarded me with amazing reliability and excellent practicality. It had 268,000 on the clock when I sold it.
The Giulia is another example of a drop-dead gorgeous Alfa that is slightly tainted by less than perfect reliability, but then completely spoiled by a mainly incompetent dealer network. There’s no wonder there’s a selection of well-regarded Italian indies….
I guess the answer you’d like to hear is that you should persevere with the Giulia - it’ll be back on the road eventually and you’ll soon forgive its indiscretions.
At five years old, I’d stay well clear of the main dealer network - seek out an indie with strong feedback from other owners - it’s about the only way you’ll make Alfa ownership tolerable.
Or buy a Volvo…. Still a bit cool, generally reliable, very good dealers and most importantly, not German.
PS - a 500 Abarth is great fun when you’re in the mood, but not nearly as nice as a Giulia.
When I needed a daily driver shed for my 30,000 miles a year, almost any Merc, BMW or Audi diesel would have been just perfect. Instead, I chose an Alfa GT, which to be fair, rewarded me with amazing reliability and excellent practicality. It had 268,000 on the clock when I sold it.
The Giulia is another example of a drop-dead gorgeous Alfa that is slightly tainted by less than perfect reliability, but then completely spoiled by a mainly incompetent dealer network. There’s no wonder there’s a selection of well-regarded Italian indies….
I guess the answer you’d like to hear is that you should persevere with the Giulia - it’ll be back on the road eventually and you’ll soon forgive its indiscretions.
At five years old, I’d stay well clear of the main dealer network - seek out an indie with strong feedback from other owners - it’s about the only way you’ll make Alfa ownership tolerable.
Or buy a Volvo…. Still a bit cool, generally reliable, very good dealers and most importantly, not German.
PS - a 500 Abarth is great fun when you’re in the mood, but not nearly as nice as a Giulia.
Edited by Nigel_O on Sunday 19th November 08:49
I think you're being a little unfair, I had a Giulia Veloce for a number of years with zero faults (only getting rid after a very generous offer to buy it for dealer stock during Covid). My wife has a Stelvio Veloce, which is close to three years old and again has had zero faults. Both cars do / did about 12k miles a year and just had regular servicing.
We might have been spoilt as we have an independent dealer almost on our doorstep who were very efficient and knowledgeable.
(Alexanders of Teesside BTW)
We might have been spoilt as we have an independent dealer almost on our doorstep who were very efficient and knowledgeable.
(Alexanders of Teesside BTW)
OP's OH here with an update.
We got the car back yesterday and they say everything is now sorted. The prolonged issue stems from the absolutely crap technical communications from Alfa Romeo with the garage I use - they aren't Alfa specialists, but a very good general operation (I've been using them for years and I trust them implicitly). Their diagnostics told them the intercooler pump had failed and they removed it, tested it and confirmed it had seized. They ordered a new one from Alfa Romeo, which took four weeks to come from Italy. What AR didn't bother to tell them, even though it's a 'well-known thing' is that not only should the pump be replaced, but also the diverter valve needs changing as this can often be the cause of the pump failure. Oh, and it will need a software update as the part numbers have changed. Hence the clusterf
k merry-go-round of the car being 'fixed' only to throw up the same error a short time later. Eventually, my garage got all the facts from Alfa and took it over to a main dealer for an extortionately-priced software update. Through all this, my garage has only charged me labour on the initial pump replacement - they said they couldn't in good conscience charge me for failed work (that's how nice they are!).
Not had a chance to give the car a good run yet to find out if the fix has truly worked, but my garage did take it for an extended test drive (I told them to give it an Italian tune-up) so I'm pretty confident it's sorted.
Just need to get my GTV over to them next to fix the blown head gaskets
The jury is still out on whether the Giulia stays or goes at present. It's a lovely car, but Alfa Romeo's dealer network is still as useless as ever and the nearest independent specialist is just that bit too far away for comfort.
We got the car back yesterday and they say everything is now sorted. The prolonged issue stems from the absolutely crap technical communications from Alfa Romeo with the garage I use - they aren't Alfa specialists, but a very good general operation (I've been using them for years and I trust them implicitly). Their diagnostics told them the intercooler pump had failed and they removed it, tested it and confirmed it had seized. They ordered a new one from Alfa Romeo, which took four weeks to come from Italy. What AR didn't bother to tell them, even though it's a 'well-known thing' is that not only should the pump be replaced, but also the diverter valve needs changing as this can often be the cause of the pump failure. Oh, and it will need a software update as the part numbers have changed. Hence the clusterf
k merry-go-round of the car being 'fixed' only to throw up the same error a short time later. Eventually, my garage got all the facts from Alfa and took it over to a main dealer for an extortionately-priced software update. Through all this, my garage has only charged me labour on the initial pump replacement - they said they couldn't in good conscience charge me for failed work (that's how nice they are!).Not had a chance to give the car a good run yet to find out if the fix has truly worked, but my garage did take it for an extended test drive (I told them to give it an Italian tune-up
) so I'm pretty confident it's sorted.Just need to get my GTV over to them next to fix the blown head gaskets
The jury is still out on whether the Giulia stays or goes at present. It's a lovely car, but Alfa Romeo's dealer network is still as useless as ever and the nearest independent specialist is just that bit too far away for comfort.
Edited by judas on Thursday 23 November 15:51
Update on this: my GTV came back last week - head gaskets done, new readiator and other bits. The OH was straight onto Autotrader the same day looking at Abarths! 
Just done a deal on a 2021 595 Competizione 180 - trading in the Giulia and collecting next weekend
We'll get the 500S tidied up and sold as well, taking us down to a slightly more sensible three car fleet.
Just done a deal on a 2021 595 Competizione 180 - trading in the Giulia and collecting next weekend
We'll get the 500S tidied up and sold as well, taking us down to a slightly more sensible three car fleet.
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