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Giulia QV poor build quality and roar when driving

30K views 123 replies 36 participants last post by  MiMo28 
#1 ·
Hello!

About 7 weeks ago I switched from a Veloce Lusso 2019 to a new 2021 QV.

1. The poor workmanship of the body is striking:

  • Gaps in the driver's door are uneven (passenger door is OK)
  • The fender on the driver's side is screwed tightly in the direction of the A-pillar without a large gap, the paint is already peeling off (passenger side is OK)
  • The carbon bonnet is mounted about 10 mm too deep on the driver's side compared to the fender.
Workshop statement: this is due to the manufacturing quality of the hood and nothing can be done
  • The passenger door has a 10mm light spot in the paintwork (Rosso Competizione)
  • The transitions from the bumper to the fender are not that great either, but I leave it that way
Workshop action: adjust the door, dismantle and adjust the fenders, repaint the passenger door.
Comment: I have seen this poor manufacturing quality of other QVs, but not with the 4-cylinder models. Can someone confirm the problems?

2. The side bead of the rear bench protrudes approx. 30 mm. Somebody must have noticed that during quality control.

3. Roaring noises
At around 150-160 km / h, booming noises occur at a low frequency (I didn't have it at all with my Veloce). This was confirmed by the workshop master and a reference run was made with another new QV. Here, too, the identical noises were confirmed and thus found to be normal. Can anybody confirm this?

FYI: I've been driving AR with a lot of new cars since 1984, but I've never come across anything like that. This is how AR never comes up.
 
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#14 ·
Oh you Germans, so picky. ;)
We Italians call that character..

The hood can be adjusted.. Just loosen the bolts and tweak it.

I don't notice any of those issues on mine though..
As I mentioned, I owned several new ARs in the past and I am surprised that the quality is decreased. Guessed that the hood can be adjusted, but the dealer rejected due to the carbon made quality...
 
#4 ·
My 2018 QV overall fit and finish is ok when you get a huge discount . I would understand your concerns if you pay sticker for it. I did notice a few occlusions in the paint and the drivers door is probably 2mm too low. I thought the drivers door was starting to say but inspection the hinges and striker say it's been that way from day one and I never noticed it.
 
#5 ·
My MY21 QV is all fine in every way and in five months I have done 11,000 plus miles without a problem.

Maybe your car was built in the days before Christmas 2020 when the factory workers had other things on their mind.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: shpuncik
#6 ·
I'm trying to understand what is the objective of your thread. We're an Alfa Romeo Giulia Forums. We already know that the QV is shit, one of the worst cars ever made and that Alfa Romeo should be paying us to take those QVs from their dealerships. So, I wonder why did you just register to this Forums few minutes ago and wrote such a brilliant post.
 
#7 ·
My 2017 (05/17) just received a new engine. Total junk. :p


DOH!
 
#27 ·
@nipponalfa I agree it is looks like poor alignment. I guess yours was built by an apprentice robot who is cross eyed.
When you watch the nice production videos of the Cassino plant, all those issues should never happen. It seems that they gave up some robots and started manual production/assembling. My '73 Alfetta has a better assembling quality than the QV!
 
#28 ·
The point where the a pillar meets the quarter panel looks normal, although some of the pictures make it look worse than it probably is. I don't believe the was the point of your post. Both the door and hood do look to be misaligned from the images, and unless there is some kind of underlying structural damage, a good body shop should be used to adjusting such things. After looking closely at my car a few observations:

  • The overall panel fitment is pretty much spot on and nothing close to those images.
  • It looks like the back of my driver's side door could be adjusted in a tiny bit (just a couple of mm). Barely noticeable, but now it will probably bug me. Thanks for that. :p
  • My car needs a bath.
 
#31 ·
The point where the a pillar meets the quarter panel looks normal, although some of the pictures make it look worse than it probably is. I don't believe the was the point of your post. Both the door and hood do look to be misaligned from the images, and unless there is some kind of underlying structural damage, a good body shop should be used to adjusting such things. After looking closely at my car a few observations:

  • The overall panel fitment is pretty much spot on and nothing close to those images.
  • It looks like the back of my driver's side door could be adjusted in a tiny bit (just a couple of mm). Barely noticeable, but now it will probably bug me. Thanks for that. :p
  • My car needs a bath.
I guess the a pillar meets is not OK and this has been confirmed by the workshop already. When you look to my pics, you can see a little bit white color in the gap. The red color is already removed and it is to tight in comparison to the right side. The vehicle is now in the body shop contracted by the dealer and I will report, when they have fixed it. My front door is not in line with the rear door too - just 1- 2mm difference.
 
#30 ·
my '18 QV has perfect gaps and seams, so I wonder if for some reason much of the OP's car had its front removed and replaced. I think I read that in most states, a dealer is not required to tell the purchaser of a new car that it has been repaired. Maybe close inspection of the mounting bolts and fasteners will reveal them to be scratched or the like. I have a hunch a car dealer who repairs a new car isn't going to put that on CARFAX. And I think a good body shop can fix all that. But at whose expense?

NV
 
#32 ·
my '18 QV has perfect gaps and seams, so I wonder if for some reason much of the OP's car had its front removed and replaced. I think I read that in most states, a dealer is not required to tell the purchaser of a new car that it has been repaired. Maybe close inspection of the mounting bolts and fasteners will reveal them to be scratched or the like. I have a hunch a car dealer who repairs a new car isn't going to put that on CARFAX. And I think a good body shop can fix all that. But at whose expense?

NV
I checked the bolts in the a pillar area and could not see anything conspicuous. As a told in my thread there was another brand new QV with the same abnormalities. 4 cylinder models at the dealer did show good quality.
The costs of my QV are covered by a warranty.
 
#35 ·
Sometimes it's all about the angles. My QV is perfect.

115614

115615


I can almost make anything look bad or good with a camera.

Gaps in metal work above are just fine btw.

If there is an alignment issue why are you not taking it up with Alfa?
 
#38 ·
Sometimes it's all about the angles. My QV is perfect.


I can almost make anything look bad or good with a camera.

Gaps in metal work above are just fine btw.

If there is an alignment issue why are you not taking it up with Alfa?
That's exactly the level it has to be! My right side is looking like that.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my thread the vehicle is now in body shop and I wait for the results.
 
#66 ·
My 2.0T with the OEM muffler exhibited a sympathetic vibration IIRC when the engine is running at about 1400 RPM. This happens when accelerating gently at low speeds. No such behavior with my Fiammenghi exhaust. Also at 150kph the QV engine should be revved up enough to not exhibit such low frequency resonances.
 
#64 ·
Nah, it’s the starter relay.

Seriously, my best guess for OP is shipping damage. Volume brands have their own bodyshops at the ports of entry just to repair shipping damage (and handle PIOs: port installed options, but that’s a different story). Small brands like AR likely use contract repair facilities that deal with several brands. If the shop sees only a few QVs each year, they’re likely not going to perform master-level repairs.

In my experience, a dealer doesn’t know whether a particular car has been reworked in port —the OEMs keep it very hush hush.
 
#78 · (Edited)
Thank's for all your inputs so far. It's a great international community here.
  • Hopefully, I will see by next week what the repair status is (I returned the QV on Aug, 24 to the dealer, which is 150 km away)
  • As well, I requested the dealer 2 weeks ago to tell me the production date in Cassino. So far no response.
  • There was another red and brand new QV with the same body issues - was surprising me
  • At my local dealer, I checked a black 2017 QV, which has the same hood issue
  • I looked at a lot of 4 cylinder models at the dealers and on my vacation in Itay and Austria. All the vehicles did not have those body issues.
  • There are a couple of QVs closed to my home, which I plan to check by next week
 
#84 ·
Oh you Germans, so picky. ;)
We Italians call that character..

The hood can be adjusted.. Just loosen the bolts and tweak it.

I don't notice any of those issues on mine though..
I have a 2021 QV with nearly 4,000 miles on her so far, with absolutely no issues to speak of! The paint quality of the Rosso Competizione tricoat is stunning, easily as good or better than Porsches I have owned in the past, with incredible depth and consistency. Hood alignment is perfect, and door gaps are even and the doors are very nicely aligned and open and close perfectly. I think we have been pre-conditioned to EXPECT trouble with these cars, but problems I suspected I had turned out to be user error, like the time I thought the a/c shut off on a warm day ... after much panic, I determined that I had simply bumped the a/c button when plugging in my phone and putting it into the storage bin under the climate control panel! I couldn't be happier with this car.
 
#87 ·
I am a new 2.0 literGuilia owner, I rate the Giulia fit and finish among the best on any new car that I was shopping for. I cross shopped Audi BMW Lexus Acura VW Mazda Cadillac Subaru Merc, and my mom just bought a Tesla (The worst by a mile!). Alfa is easily top 3 in quality from what I saw. ...... Shit happens, but is don’t think build quality is something us Giulia owners have to worry about.

I am 100% satisfied so far (3 months and 3000 miles). I feel I made the right choice!!
 
#101 ·
I am a new 2.0 literGuilia owner, I rate the Giulia fit and finish among the best on any new car that I was shopping for. I cross shopped Audi BMW Lexus Acura VW Mazda Cadillac Subaru Merc, and my mom just bought a Tesla (The worst by a mile!). Alfa is easily top 3 in quality from what I saw. ...... Shit happens, but is don’t think build quality is something us Giulia owners have to worry about.

I am 100% satisfied so far (3 months and 3000 miles). I feel I made the right choice!!
I agree with you about the 4 cylinders!
 
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