This was a goodly while ago, but after three years in a 164, got a new BMW325i. It lasted 9 months before I did straight- traded plus $500 on a Fiat Coupe because the BMW was then, and remains, the worst car I've ever owned. The dealers were all "This a BMW and it has no faults" when in fact it had spent more time being "repaired" than on the road in those 9 months. Since the first trade for the Coupe, after 5 years there was another Coupe, after 6 years a 156, after 5 years a MiTo QV, and now, after 9 years, a Giulia Veloce for the past 14 months. Combined, those five cars have spent time less at a dealer being serviced than the BMW did in 9 months. I suppose I must be a "Fiat and Alfa fan-granddad", but you couldn't gift me a BMW.

 

OK lets look at this. What is Alfa responsible for? Alfa make their engines (hardly ever problematic). They put the whole thing together (occasional minor problems). They have to arrange delivery, service and organise a dealership network (occasionally problematic). Most of the bits and pieces, such as electronics which can really be problematic, are not made by Alfa but are made by a plethora of other suppliers which also make the bits and pieces on the other cars which some of you and many others believe are "bulletproof". This is illogical fairy tale stuff. Many owners of Benzes, BMWs etc such as myself will attest that all cars can have problems. Some dealership issues remain but they really cant be expected to warranty cars pushed to the limit 24/7, of which there have been may such whiners on this forum

 

Alfa owns the onerous task of integrating all those components. All of our have been leased and relatively trouble-free.
Service side of the dealer (at a CDJR store) has been OK. The showroom (excuse me, studio) experience has been awful.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. Going through issues myself as well; on both Alfa’s I’ve owned.

The biggest challenge from what I can tell is that Alfa simply doesn’t sell enough of these cars to have the ability to effectively diagnose issues and source parts. So it becomes a process of trial, error, and waiting.

Love the car but this is likely the last Alfa I’ll own. Yes, all cars have their problems, but I think it’s a better use of our time and money to buy brands that sell enough and whose dealer network is established enough that they can understand and resolve the root cause of issues expediently.

Sad truth.

 

The biggest challenge from what I can tell is that Alfa simply doesn’t sell enough of these cars to have the ability to effectively diagnose issues and source parts. So it becomes a process of trial, error, and waiting.

Love the car but this is likely the last Alfa I’ll own. Yes, all cars have their problems, but I think it’s a better use of our time and money to buy brands that sell enough and whose dealer network is established enough that they can understand and resolve the root cause of issues expediently.

I had this issue on my last BMW I owned. So if you are going down that road make sure not to just buy from a higher volume manufacturer but also make sure you are buying one of their higher volume models. I saw a BUNCH of perfectly good cars that needed about $1k or less in work lemoned because the service techs didnt know how to diagnose and fix the issues. Also saw 10s of thousands of vehicle owner money wasted once they got outside of warranty because they still hadnt figured it out, even though online forums and even the higher volume dealerships had most issues and fixes well documented. In other words, if you want something that never fails OR is certain to get fixed the first time around you need to be buying something that sells 100k units+ per year

 

@Chymerix, evidently, you can own and sell any car that you want. It's your money, your desires and your plans. It is probably not accurate to say that "... buy brands that sell enough and whose dealer network is established enough that they can understand and resolve the root cause of issues expediently....". I assume you have read all the threads and post in this Forum from current Alfa Romeo owners who had Subaru's, BMW's, Porsche's and Mercedes Benz's, all them selling 5X - 10X more than Alfa Romeo, with hundreds of more dealerships and experience. I also hope you have read about all the capable Alfa Romeo dealerships that exist in the USA, unfortunately not all them, and for sure, not the one where you are servicing your NRING.

 

It's more helpful to hold Alfa accountable than it is to explain away the problems people are having. That's the only way the brand will improve.

 

You are both right IMHO

 

I sold mine due to service issues also. Car was great, didn’t have any of the issues you mentioned but your experience was my fear. They were terrible at small stuff, I couldn’t imagine what they will do with bigger issues.


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sorry to hear about lemon car issues, but glad to say with almost 2.5 years and 16k miles, my daily-driver (short commute) ‘18 Quad has had only 2 quality issues. Interior passenger footwell water leak when raining hard; took 2 visits to fix under warranty. Center display in instrument panel had to be replaced as well. Dealer in Philly suburbs is excellent.

 

BTW The so called reliability superiority of Mercedes and BMW is so much bull, but does anybody have experience with Lexus and Infinity? Just wondering because where I live so much of the prestige market is dominated by people of Asian backgrounds and Alfa has yet to crack that market in a significant way, yet these other 2 brands have.

 

Lexus/Toyota on on their own level of reliability. After them its a hodge podge depending on vehicle models, years in production run, etc.

 

I think cross shopping a Lexus LC500 is in the ballpark. I realize the LC500 is more of a grand tourer but it's not grandma's Lexus either.

 

1 -2 year old cars im shoping right now in the 60k dollar range are:

QV
LC500
RS5 (coupe or sportback)
Gran Turismo

Cars I would be shopping but already have...
C8 Corvette

Cars i ruled out
C63
M3/M4

 

Huh, I would definitely not consider a 2 door, effectively 2 seat, grand tourer to be in the same segment as a QV but I suppose they could be cross shopped if a buyer just didnt really know what they want but wanted to look at $80k cars. Not sure why anyone would buy the LC though if they were cross shopping them unless they prefer the look or reliability. Performance and useful function metrics are WAY on the side of the QV.

 

Huh, I would definitely not consider a 2 door, effectively 2 seat, grand tourer to be in the same segment as a QV but I suppose they could be cross shopped if a buyer just didnt really know what they want but wanted to look at $80k cars. Not sure why anyone would buy the LC though if they were cross shopping them unless they prefer the look or reliability. Performance and useful function metrics are WAY on the side of the QV.

That was the spirit in which I suggested the LC. Just as there is a ton of value in a new QV in my opinion, there is a ton of value in many of the low mileage '18 LCs that are starting to show up in the market.

 

Friend got the C8. The engine sound is absolutely fantastic! Thanks for the great write-up. Cheers.

 

Just a FYI from a guy who built cars, wrote service, , resto,mods, machinist, racer, janitor, service manager, Indy shop operator...... 45 years in car biz on service side."f sales and parts!
worked 35 lines from Rolls,Bentley, Lambo.....all German lines,....American crap too unfortunately..,all the way down to Honda,Isuzu, bla,bla.., hot wheels, AFX...lol
I spent a month at BMW factory...watched blue haired little old ladies match up subframes w drivetrain and insert into vehicle...😮🥴😐🤣🤣🤣🇮🇹🇮🇹 I was OMG really...these folks are making our cars...😞🤪😡😂🙏🙏
oh btw...my dad from Italy...owned 20 Alfa’s...collectively we drove Alfa’s for 70 years.

Lemons happen....dealers suck........BC they are just a hapless tools / messengers..hacks.....they hire disinterested kids, lip service managers....folks who just wander into the cat biz..., I took it seriously...cared about customer and car.. yet..???
Degree from Cal Berkeley yet cars were cool.

So, let’s face it, these machines are so complex (they make the Apollo and space shuttle look like ole’ jalopies)
These things are grounded space ships with sunroof, rubber tires, plastic..steel......some really simple stuff mixed with Uber tech....cool yet Recepie for occasional disaster.
Moving forward...once Veh deemed a problem child....it’s best ignored, mitigated on a callous level and the customer(haha consumer) is just a pre hooked sheep only to be mitigated through abuse, neglect , . .... we get ignored, denied and frustrated....BC.....they really don’t care personally as it’s a NUMBER GAME!!
Don’t take it personally; sorry it happened, urn not alone, they didn’t mean it.. shyt happens...
Dont get me wrong as purchasing a car is generally speaking the 2nd largest $$ purchase the abs consumer makes..
It sucks u got u lucky...lawyer up quick and things happen quickly! Perhaps I get. QV for the price of a Ti?

 

These issues all seem to come down to dealer technicians damaging cars or not reassembling them properly. If you drop the engine, all kinds of things can go wrong both on the way out and the way back. If the tech does not have the right training and the dealership has not purchased the correct special tools, it is a recipe for disaster. The limited number of cars on the road means that the experience level for any major repair will be low. A car like the ones here need to be sent to a regional service center or repaired by a visiting specialist. My 2018 QV has been fine aside from 2 dead batteries. But I certainly don't abuse it.