Alfa Romeo Giulia

And don't forget rust issues, Mercedes had a lot of them this past decade.

 

I had so many german cars as my daily driver, so called high quality business cars. What a bs!
Currently I drive a Maserati Granturismo Sport as my daily, after 120'000 km I can say, I never had less problems with my business car and never had so much fun each kilometer behind the steering wheel.

 

My 2 cents: I own a new Giulia TI and after nearly 3 months and 3,000 mi. I've have no problems whatsoever and this car is ALL about driving. I absolutely love it. I'm also well aware of the rap on Italian cars and maybe I'm just that odd duck but I've owned 3 Fiats, 2 Alfas, a Ferrari and now the Giulia with essentially very few combined problems among the lot with the exception of my Ferrari. As I learned the hard way the Fcar needs the right person working on it and after a few years of crap and having it towed twice I got Dave Helms to FIX it right. After that it was sweet sailing for tens of thousands of miles. All of the s**t press I read about Italian cars just never surfaced for me and I drove them like they were meant to be driven (maybe that's the key just drive them don't let them sit).

As stated odd duck or not all of these cars gave me thousands and thousands of trouble free miles. Miles with smiles I like to say 'cause the other very nice and sporty cars I've had over the years just never gave me that feeling of pure driving passion like my Italian cars.

P.S. One thing about Sam Smith's take on the QV, how did Alfa get one to run the Nurburgring twice (one with a manual trans and the other with the 8 sp. auto) and both times break Porche's record for a 4 door sedan and become the fastest best handling 4 door sedan on the planet (and these cars were built way before Smith got his hands on one), and he couldn't get his to make one lap around a 3+ mile track. Hmmmmm, just sayin'.

 

Maybe having factory pit crew at ring was difference? No surprise they can keep it running vs magazine crew

 

That's been my experience with *all* foreign cars.

Including the Toyota.
I've gotten the Toyota out of a dealer shop with the "check engine" light still on.
(Failed level sensor in the air/water intercooler.)
I've gotten a Toyota back from the dealer with the alignment all wrong.
(They put the mirror on a wheel weight and that displaced the "align by numbers".)
(It took me over an hour to get them to recheck their work. They couldn't believe anyone could tell it was wrong just from driving it -- even though it was *very* wrong.) (I had to do the alignment myself. They didn't know what the factory camber bolt was, so they replaced it with a straight bolt. )
That was the dealer whose sales department tried to tell me there was "no such car" as a Celica GT-Four/AllTrac.

One reason I shied away from Bimmers, at one time, was because the local dealer specialized in ripping off Biff and Buffy the trust-fund babies.

(Ironically, I bought the 328 partly because that was one marque that I *could* get competently serviced in MA.)
(Most of the local dealers on any other brand were incompetent rip-offs.)

By now, Detroit machines also probably qualify as "foreign cars" as more components of those are made outside the US than some Nissans.
But I can't say from personal experience, as I haven't owned an American car newer than '67.

That's why I tell people to shop for a service department before talking to the sales department.

 

Doesn't anyone remember the Honda V6 / auto trans problem?

If not, I'll paraphrase. Honda had premature failures of automatic transmissions, in particular those coupled with their V6 engines that were predominant in the Accord and the Pilot. I had a Pilot (purchased new) and the trans went at 40,000 miles or so - at this point, it was out of warranty.

Brought it to a dealer, they replaced it for nothing. I was shocked - when I asked why, the service manager spilled the beans - Honda knows it has a problem, but they do not want to damage their reputation as a builder of high quality cars, so it's replacing these to keep people quiet.

I didn't believe it, but the service manager told me to Google it...I found it. He was right.

 

Amen brother, as I often tell people when discussing the purchase and maintenance of a Ferrari, especially with the all encompassing dreaded belt change, who performs the service is on your car is more important than what service has been performed on your car.

 

Well you can watch all 7 min. and 32 sec of the factory Alfa driver's run around the Ring on Youtube, the one that beat yet again the new and enhanced Porsche Panamera Turbo S (for a second time).

A couple of side bits here. The dealer where I purchased my car was telling me about the entire staff's learning experience with the Giulias. They were all sent to New Orleans where they had to drive every variation of Giulias made on a race track, which of course included the QV. They had to drive all of them as hard as they could to really get the true experience of the car and every member of the staff had to do this. Obviously they said everyone had an absolute blast the "funest" thing they had ever done. I asked about reliability of the cars and was told no issues with any car of any kind with any staff member. And they were there for 5 days. They said they can't wait to do the same thing with the new Stelvios.

Getting back to RT they picked the Merc over the other cars and were the only comparison testers, of which there were many from different car mags, that did that. The rest picked the QV. No harm there since everyone looks for different things when testing and they picked the Merc.
What got me to laugh out loud was in the next month's letters to editors one guy wrote that this comparison was a comparison among "sport" sedans and since the Alfa had the best 0-60, best 1/4 mile, best track time, best braking distance, best steering, etc. why did you pick the Merc.
Their answer: "The Merc did everything else better". And when I say laugh out loud I mean rolling on the floor laughing out loud.

 

That's what's missing from a lot of "sports car" dealerships.

They think if the car starts, it's "good enough".
But just because the car can push itself downhill doesn't mean it's "right".

To service a performance car correctly, they need to know what's expected of it.

 

If I remember correctly GM had such a problem with the Cadillac 4-6-8 engine it actually bought the cars back or gave people huge discounts to get another car with a normal engine.

 

This, in the Uk it is also their biggest problem and has been for years.

I've had three Alfas and the first was a 97 Spider. The others that followed I've now sold but still have the Spider. It's 20 this year and I admit today it had a problem, the master cylinder for the clutch (original master cylinder) failed.

They're not unreliable cars, read the UK forum The site for Alfa Romeo Owners. Granted some have had problems and a Brooking10 has had to eventually reject the car.

Here's the thing, I've had Audi and VW currently own a Mercedes and all but the Mercedes have equally had some issues. I find only Japanese cars tend to have the least issues (i've owned a few Mazdas and Hondas). Don't ask about the one French cars I had . However that was probably down to the abuse I gave it mostly.
PS I've only had the MB three months though.

It would appear the American press are following suit to the British. They love to drive a great Alfa down.

As ever the only upside for me is next year a secondhand QV might be affordable.
I'd sooner have one than an M4 or M5. AMG C63 might be nice though. However let me see in 9 months time when I have had the MB a year, I may well feel different

 

We test drove a well-optioned Giulia Ti this weekend and I was pleasantly surprised. The car is more attractive up close than the few I've seen in the wild at a distance. The interior was well fitted and although a little tight would be spacious enough for a daily driver. The car handled like it was on rails and it sounded slighly aggressive. I love the dash!

If I had a complaint it would be the steering wheel/stalk area. The wheel was a little thin for my taste. Also the turn signal stalk was hard to reach around the paddle shifters.

The saleswoman at the dealer I visited (Arrigo Alfa) was pretty knowledgable about the car as well. She knew the different models, trims and costs. It was obvious she was well trained. They had a wide selection on the lot, including a couple of QF's.

Impressive car, I must say I am tempted. I'm due for a new car late this year and I'll be comparing this to a few other vehicles.

 

2017 USA Alfa Romeo Giulia Sales:-

Jan - 70
Feb - 412
Mar - 484
Apr - 634
May - 883
Jun - 992
Jul - 1104
Total - 4579

 

Somebody please answer why the Giulia Quadrifoglio is being called the "QV"?

Shouldn't it be called the "QF"

I don't see a QV anywhere on naming the car, unlike the 308 QV Quattrovalvole...

Are people just missing it?

Robb

 

trajectory is looking better.

 

may be some good buys near end of year?

 

Quadrifoglio Verde (QV) means 'Green Cloverleaf'. It used to be the official title of the hottest Alfa models, like the 155 or indeed the Giulietta.

Since the Giulia came along, they just call it 'Quadrifoglio', no 'Verde', which people abbreviate to QF. Except, of course, it's still a green cloverleaf on the badge.

Choose whatever sounds best to you

 

So it is a Cloverleaf minus the green? I don't think there ever was just a cloverleaf, always a green cloverleaf ... both my older Alfas have the green cloverleaf badge.

I'm glad I now know where the term QF came from.
Pete

 

Good numbers. I was thinking 9000 cars this year but with the Stelvio coming on line they might even do 12,000-14,000 cars this year depending on Stelvio availability. 1000+ Giulia's a month plus whatever Stelvio's they can get from the factory. Fall might bring discounts, wich will drive up Giulia sales even more. This is a realistically good 1st year for US Giulia's, not a pie in the sky year like Mr. M thinks will happen.

 

There also used to be a Gold Cloverleaf (Quadrifoglio Oro in Italian) trim level which denoted the luxury version in a model range. The last model to get that designation was the Alfa 90 I believe.

 

Just learnt something. Thanks
Pete

 

Milano (75 in other than NA markets) came in quadrifoglio "silver", "gold", "platinum", and verde trim levels - from lowest to highest feature level.

 

My dealer in Vegas emailed me they have Stelvio's in stock

 

2017 Italy Alfa Romeo Giulia sales:-

Jan - 766
Feb - 755
Mar - 887
Apr - 708
May - 1339
Jun - 1466
Jul - 554
Total - 6475

 

The numbers you quoted for Italy are excluding the Quadrifoglio.

With the Quadrifoglio included, the numbers are:

Jan - 788
Feb - 789
Mar - 918
Apr - 728
May - 1374
Jun - 1491
Jul - 575
Total - 6663