I have had my new QV for two days now, and here are the things that need to be addressed by Alfa Romeo:
1.) The braking system is difficult to modulate when coming to a complete stop. The transmission seems to stay in gear and will continue to send power to the wheels even though at the same time the driver is pushing on the brakes. Achieving a full stop becomes a balancing act between the transmission and the brakes, which is made worse if a downshift occurs during the braking process. When a downshift occurs the brake pressure being applied will require an immediate adjustment to avoid hitting the car in front. This can be solved by programming the computer to recognize the point at which the transmission should be completely disengaged until a full stop has been achieved. This problem can be solved with a software update.
2.) The initial throttle response when accelerating from idle is very sluggish, and once the initial sluggishness has passed the power will come on too strong. This can be solved with a software update.
3.) The infotainment system only has a single row of six preset channels that can be accessed by pulling the big control wheel toward the back of the car. Why only six? There is also a favorites list that can contain a large number of presets, but the quick access list only has 6 choices. This can be solved by allowing the driver to cycle through several groups of six channels with repeated pulls on the control wheel. And the number of available groups could be determined by how many entries are present in the favorites list. For example, if the favorites list has 16 entries, then repeated pulls would cycle through 3 groups of 6, where the last group would only have 4 choices. This problem is easily solvable with a software update.
4.) The center display that displays information such as MPG etc. needs to be modified to make the identifiers brighter. The actual data that is being displayed is easily legible, but the identifiers next to the data (i.e. “MPG”, “MPH”, etc.) are almost illegible. The entire screen can be programmed to display just about anything, so this problem should be easily solved with a software update.
5.) It would be nice if the auto start/stop system defaulted to “off”. The feature is definitely useful in certain situations such as in drive-thru lanes or stop and go traffic, but it is very annoying that the system defaults to ‘ON’ each time the engine is started.
6.) It would also be nice if the 6-speed transmission was available in the U.S. The automatic transmission provides excellent shifts and performance, but it will never provide the same driving experience that a manual transmission can provide.
1.) The braking system is difficult to modulate when coming to a complete stop. The transmission seems to stay in gear and will continue to send power to the wheels even though at the same time the driver is pushing on the brakes. Achieving a full stop becomes a balancing act between the transmission and the brakes, which is made worse if a downshift occurs during the braking process. When a downshift occurs the brake pressure being applied will require an immediate adjustment to avoid hitting the car in front. This can be solved by programming the computer to recognize the point at which the transmission should be completely disengaged until a full stop has been achieved. This problem can be solved with a software update.
2.) The initial throttle response when accelerating from idle is very sluggish, and once the initial sluggishness has passed the power will come on too strong. This can be solved with a software update.
3.) The infotainment system only has a single row of six preset channels that can be accessed by pulling the big control wheel toward the back of the car. Why only six? There is also a favorites list that can contain a large number of presets, but the quick access list only has 6 choices. This can be solved by allowing the driver to cycle through several groups of six channels with repeated pulls on the control wheel. And the number of available groups could be determined by how many entries are present in the favorites list. For example, if the favorites list has 16 entries, then repeated pulls would cycle through 3 groups of 6, where the last group would only have 4 choices. This problem is easily solvable with a software update.
4.) The center display that displays information such as MPG etc. needs to be modified to make the identifiers brighter. The actual data that is being displayed is easily legible, but the identifiers next to the data (i.e. “MPG”, “MPH”, etc.) are almost illegible. The entire screen can be programmed to display just about anything, so this problem should be easily solved with a software update.
5.) It would be nice if the auto start/stop system defaulted to “off”. The feature is definitely useful in certain situations such as in drive-thru lanes or stop and go traffic, but it is very annoying that the system defaults to ‘ON’ each time the engine is started.
6.) It would also be nice if the 6-speed transmission was available in the U.S. The automatic transmission provides excellent shifts and performance, but it will never provide the same driving experience that a manual transmission can provide.
