Hmm, not sure but I think I like that & hasn't it got the Golf R engine in it?Sent from my moto g(8) plus using TZ-UK mobile app
Many, many small niggles. But, far too much to forgive on a day to day basis of a £40+k car let alone a £60+k car in the case of the Quadrifoglio.
You don’t say what kind of Mercedes you have but I went to the Veloce from a fairly long list of German stuff and they are in a totally different league in terms of quality. I don’t completely regret doing it and I’ve scratched an itch for just over 2 years and 20k+ miles - but it was an expensive itch and I’d never do it again. For reference, the QF is exactly the same as a Veloce where quality is concerned.
@MarkJS can you give more details as I’ve been looking at the QF.
Ok, the below summarises my 2 years with an Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce from new with 7 miles on the clock. It has now covered just over 20k miles.
I loved the car at first – especially the way it handled – and still does to be fair. It’s very agile and light on its feet with extremely sharp steering. I was also hugely impressed with the ride quality on run-flats coming from an E92 BMW, albeit on 18” staggered wheels rather than the BMW’s 19” staggered set-up. The engine is also pretty gutsy with 275bhp but always struggles to get to the redline – it seems a little asthmatic at the top end which I’ve heard from other owners & road tests. It is still a quick car though!
As far as the rest of the car is concerned, I just think it’s a pretty poor-quality product in comparison to every other car I’ve owned - and I don’t enjoy saying that (I also made the decision to get one after all). The list of issues that I can recall over the last 24 months:
Sometimes the gear-selector is totally unresponsive – ie, you pull up at home/wherever and select Park (which is a button) or Reverse & nothing happens – I then either have to pull both paddles which will select Neutral or shut the car down to reset whatever it is that causes the problem!
The bonnet failed to open after about 3 months and had to go in for that to be rectified.
The alarm goes off for no reason probably 3/4 times per week. This is a very common problem if you look at any Alfa Romeo forums – so, when I ordered my car I asked if the alarm could be ‘turned down’ (apparently this can/could be done) and I was told by the dealer not to worry as the factory was now doing this to all cars as a matter of course. Yeah, right – my neighbours still hear the alarm going off for absolutely no reason. Then they fitted a new, updated alarm module at the cars first service which was designed to solve the issue. It didn’t. The alarm still goes off 3/4 times per week.
The Infotainment sometimes pairs with my phone – sometimes it doesn’t. Currently won’t show SMS’s from an iPhone 8, but would with an iPhone 6s – it’s not an Apple thing either as I have the same problem with my partners Samsung. Our Volvo & previous BMW work/ed faultlessly with any phone paired with them.
Staying with the Infotainment – that shuts down intermittently and won’t return to normal unless you leave the car shut down for a period of time – not ideal when you’re relying on the navigation to get you where you need to be - and simply disconcerting when it happens.
(I have always ensured that my car is running the latest version of software & maps etc)
The drivers door sill kick-plate won’t stay stuck down and needs to be re-glued.
Underside of the boot-lid & rear door paint (Alfa Red) transfers to the rubber seals – this was addressed by the dealer at first service – their solution was to wipe the red paint off the seals – not fix the actual problem with the paint transfer. Needless to say, this problem has reoccurred…
The boot-lid is supposed to spring gently open when opening using the remote – the springs aren’t strong enough to make this happen unless the car is parked dead flat. When you are loading things into the boot, the lid has a an endearing habit of dropping back and clonking you on the top of the head.
The nearside door mirror rarely unfolds completely upon ignition so some fiddling has to be done as I need the mirror to get out of my tightly configured drive.
The rear-view mirror wobbles.
The fuel gauge and fuel range display bear no relation to how much fuel is actually in the tank. I have also had the fuel range display show - - - miles and then filled the car to find that there was over 2 gallons still in the tank.
There is a rattle from within the dashboard when the car is fired up. I’ve managed to trace this to the blower/fan and if I put the blower in Max setting for about 10 seconds and then return it to a normal speed, the rattle stops. I have to do this most mornings.
Rusting wheel weights on 3 out of 4 wheels.
Bubbling paint on both rear wheels.
All Trip A & Trip B data gets deleted occasionally for no reason.
The final straw was at Christmas – we’d been away for 11 nights and the Alfa was parked at the airport. We arrived back to the car from our flight at 1am for me to find the car wouldn’t start due to a flat battery. To sit for 11 nights for a 22 month old car with 17k miles shouldn’t be too much to ask, should it? It took days for the fault codes to erase themselves and I simply don’t trust the car anymore.
The fuel flap. This is a huge issue on the Giuila (and had been since launch) where the fuel flap starts to warp in cold temperatures (below 4c in my case) and you can actually poke your little finger through the gaps that appear when the flap is till closed. It is a recognised problem and any dealer will fairly happily replace this under warranty with a painted brand new one if you leave the car etc. What the dealer will also tell you is that Alfa Romeo have never bothered to modify the part and the new one will do exactly the same to some degree. Utter madness!
Now don’t get me wrong - I am well aware that most of the above are very superficial issues (niggles?) and most could also be called first-world problems, but I do struggle to find them acceptable on a £40K+ car. Also, my car is not a Monday morning/Friday afternoon build vehicle as there are lots & lots of consistent, more serious issues that affect many owners out there and my car never showed any of those. Thankfully.
In comparison, I did 80k miles over 6 years in my E92 BMW that preceded the Giulia with the only fault being blocked washer jets due to a clogged filter in the fluid reservoir.
Cabin space is pretty limited in the rear but this never really bothered me and I still managed to get 2 650B mountain bikes into the car along with all the required paraphernalia for biking weekend away. The driver’s seat has an annoying feature where it powers back to its furthest point when you switch off the engine & open the driver’s door – this can crush the feet of anyone sitting behind you who doesn’t get out of the car at the same time as you…!
Now, at just over 20k miles, the car has averaged around 26mpg – this is hard to pin down as the trip computer keeps resetting itself as previously mentioned. It has required 2 services at 9k mile intervals totalling £820 & required 1 rear Goodyear F1 RFT at £180 as it had a screw in it and couldn’t be repaired. The original remaining rear tyre is at approximately 3mm & the fronts are at just over 4mm. At it’s 2nd service a couple of weeks ago, I was advised that I would soon require new rear brake discs as they were starting to pit – I would be very annoyed about this if I was keeping the car. The Alfa Romeo dealer network is relatively tiny and I have to travel over an hour from home to my nearest dealer for any work to be carried out so not very convenient.
The standard Xenon lights are pretty weak and I would advise anybody buying a Veloce to seek out the higher-powered Xenon’s.
The car does draw quite a bit of positive attention at petrol stations etc and they are still a relatively rare sight on the road.
One thing I have learnt is that Alf Romeo owners are a hardy & fiercely loyal bunch. They will not hear a bad word spoken about the brand or any model. It’s like a cult!
In conclusion, I don’t think I’ll miss the car and I definitely wouldn’t have another Alfa Romeo which is a shame.
I can’t think of anything else right now, but if there is anything you’d like to know, feel free to ask.
Hope that’s comprehensive enough... ;)
Mark
This has got me smiling about driving again
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Wow that’s some list, thanks for taking the time to post Mark!
Hoping mine is better. I have an Audi A4 currently, but I have ordered a Veloce in red, arriving in April. A few updates for 2020, but they are relatively minor. My audi is a 17 plate and the interior is so much better than the Alfa, but the looks of the Alfa are stunning, and it’s rare.
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Wow, quite a list. Think I’ll be sticking with my 335i for the time being, maybe look at the new M340i if I decide to swap.
Lovely garage set up there behind the M!
Interestingly having had the Cayenne from Porsche it got me thinking again. Drove the wife’s 981 Boxster & decided I prefer it to the M, the M4 is too practical as a weekend toy & too large. Great as a GT car but have to be breaking speed limits considerably before it feels fast or fun.
Long story short, deposit on a 981 Cayman GTS done this morning, go and see it Saturday to trade the M4 against.
So if anyone wants an Mineral White M4 CP drop me a note before Saturday lol.
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Some serious levels of motor here. I’m always amazed at some of the hi-rollers buying brand new top-end 5 or 6 figure cars! I come from the school of bangernomics, and whilst have elevated myself out of sub-£1k motoring, I still can’t bring myself to spend 5 figures on any car!
This old girl is doing well - pretty much undoctored WRX with PPP (although had to fit an STI front bumper a few years ago after a prang), ProDrive tuned 273bhp from the very last of the 2.0 models. Tons of fun. Inexpensive. Reliable. Really capable point to point car. What’s not to love!
Love the couple of Volvo estates above... always wanted a V70 R or whatever the mental fast one the cops used 15yrs ago.
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How many points do you have? Can't imagine it's 0 in a car like that.
New daily that I treated myself with in September, wanted something smaller for running around in
Will allow me to make my M235i more track focussed
The dullest car in the world, wish I’d never bought it! I thought 60mpg and £20 tax would be a good thing, it isn’t....
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I think 60mpg and £20 tax is not the combo for fun, but it’s a cracking car for what it does / is needed to do. Never going to break a lap record, but wasn’t designed to.
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True. I get pence per mile from work so I had a similar decision to make.
a) 60mpg and £20 tax = no fun
b) 35mpg and £235 tax = lots of fun ( when you can use it )
I chose option (b) - lightly used BMW M135i
Sure I don’t ‘make’ as much money from the deal. But I am never miserable driving this pocket rocket. I just wish I could open the taps more often.
Also, depreciation / residual values help make the man maths work.
z
Last edited by zelig; 20th February 2020 at 20:42.
Sorry, only just saw this. Reliability is excellent, never had a single problem with it. Practicality? Back seats are genuinely useless as legroom is non-existent. Boot is OK. If you put the back seats down you an carry a fair amount in it. The rear visibility is poor but parking sensors mitigate this somewhat.
To be fair it is an excellent car with tons of room, first diesel I have owned but after two years it’s not for me. I owned the 2ltr petrol version prior to that which was much nicer, back to petrol me thinks.
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I succumbed to the lure of the Alfa in the past, only to bitterly regret it. Lesson learned, at least as far as a daily driver is concerned. The only one I would want now is a ‘70s Sprint or a GT Junior. I think I’ll stick with the C207 Merc and Boxster combination with a ‘banger’ for workhorse duties.
Incoming 2nd March, after a VERY long wait
There has been a couple of changes to the Rumpus fleet:
I do love a big estate. Picked this up just after Christmas.
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Any Audi q3/q5 owners here? I’m heading to test drive today having owned a a3 it’s too small due to the incoming of my first baby, but having a debate with the mrs I’m saying q5 she is saying q3 just wondering if anyone has any recommendations space wise!
Cheers
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Girlfriend has a Q5 quattro, 2 litre engine reasonably punchy but would like to try the 3 litre version. Lots of rear space for passengers and good boot size. Very refined finish and quality interior but hate the uncomfortable driver seat/position (for me). We towed a twin axle caravan with it last year and managed ok but only just, we now have VW Amarok for towing duties and personally find it a whole more comfortable drive position and ride
Take your pushchair (if purchased already) and see if it fits with relative ease whilst leaving room for your other baby essentials.
I have a Golf mark 5 which fits the pushchair etc but it has to be placed methodically. When it's raining and you are tired/annoyed, this further adds to the frustration.
Congrats btw!
I don’t imagine there will be much difference between the A3 and Q3 space wise. It will be a tight fit getting your little one in the child seat of the Q3, especially as they stay rear-facing for longer now. I would go with the Q5. I went from an A3 to a 3 series touring when my first child was born.
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A3 and Q3 very similar. You would ideally want the next step up - Qashqai, Tiguan, GLC, X3, XC60 etc. Skoda SUV meant to be very good. Congrats on the little one.
Let’s get real now, if only for a couple of minutes. An A3 can easily cope with a family of 2 adults and one child, be it infant or teenager.
So any 4 doors SUV, saloon or estate will do.
Therefore you can choose the one you like best, based on other criteria (ease of parking for your wife, driving position, economy, wow factor, etc.)
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Thanks for all the help guys well most likely 3 will become 4 before I come to trade the car for something else again, and yes I could have rammed 3 kids into my old vw polo haha but just working out what suit most, I guess it’s down to the wife’s parking in all honesty, as when I baught my a3 the first thing she did was take a lump out of the alloy haha!
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My wife’s just traded in her A3 for Q3. It’s a larger car overall and the boot is much bigger. The Q2 is the same floor as the A3.
We found the Q5 too big for what we need and certainly much bigger when parking etc. Good idea to take the pram to see how you get on.
Andy
The Cayman has gone (never thought I would let it go!).
New toy to be collected in the next day or so.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........