Hi all, I've owned pretty much exclusively for the last 20 years nothing but cars from the VAG group but I fancy a change. I am a fan of small hatches with a bit of poke but which are fairly practical too. Knowing this, can I ask has anyone owned an Alfa Giulietta in the last few years and what they thought of the build quality, reliability, practicality etc. I'm contemplating the 1750 TBi Cloverleaf but could do with some honest first hand experience of the cars because if I'm honest it will be a difficult transition moving away from the German Marque that's done me proud since the beginning of time. Cheers all. (as it's Italian, do all the bolts vibrate free and parts fall off)
Lovely little car, reliability would be pretty good i'd imagine for the first couple of years at least.
A mate had one of the older ones with the flappy paddle things and the clutch pack went down, horrendous four figure bill. Best advice if you plan on keeping it, get one with an ordinary gearbox/clutch.
We got my wife a new Mito nearly three years ago now. It's had one service and NOTHING has gone wrong/dropped off/broken on it. She wants to swap it for a Giulietta and I have no issue with that at all. I drive a VW Touareg amd more's gone wrong with that than the Mito! It's a 1.4 Sprint and I love driving it, when she lets me! Alfas of the past were a bit iffy, but you could say the same about Ducati. Didn't stop us buying them though ;-) buy one and you won't regret it!
The difference between italian and jap/german/brit bikes is that the italian bikes are more involving and exciting to ride, they're an experience. Same's true of the cars.
Go for a test drive and decide after? All cars break. My missus said to me today that her car is just a breakdown waiting to happen. I thought, all cars are just a break down waiting to happen, you might as buy it because you like it, no matter what you buy you will have to spend money on it. That's just cars.
In 2 more tanks of fuel my 156SW will have clocked up its 200'000th km. In 13 years it's been totally reliable. The interior looks almost like new, the Momo leather seats have worn incredibly well. The exterior looks great too - but it does have the many-coated pearlescent blue paint. After 13 years the shocks have gone soggy and need replacing, which I will do shortly. It had a tiny bit of rust at the bottom of the driver's door, so I got it seen to and eradicated. It is garaged (was outside for the first 3 years) and I treat it much like my Ducatis. It gets washed now and again and vacuumed a few times a year. I don't scrimp on the services or oil changes. I don't explore the upper reaches of the rev range much (it's a 2 litre and quite uninspiring lower down) because if I do it drinks like a fish. I am very attached to it. It was always a cool looking car and it hasn't aged much compared to modern fare - still looks very pleasant. It's only mod is large alloys for the summer ( I run the original wheels with winter tyres at this time of year). You do hear horror strikes about Alfas but I think it's a bit like Ducatis. Give them some TLC and all should be well. The interiors are so much nicer than most cars. Would I have a VW? Not likely. The Alfa makes you feel cosy and a bit special. Incidentally I had a 33 estate for 10 years in the 90s. That also did about 185'000 km which were almost hassle free until the latter stages. Car lived outside and motor never gave any problems. It was a 1.8 2 valve motor.
My sister in law has had a Alfa 146 and a gt. Absolutely nothing went wrong with either of them. 2 years ago she fancied a change so bought a honda civic type r. Pretty much followed my experiences of the "legendary Honda build quality" where there were loads of stupid little things going wrong all the time. She got rid of it.
As an example, people rave about the Land Rover Discovery 4. We've got one at work and it's a piece of crap! It's in the dealers more than with us, and the seats makes my arse ache. It drinks oil, the tailgate opens when it wants too, and the air suspension has a mind of its own! I'm glad to get in my Touareg at the end of a day in it! But LR sell tons of them?
A perfect metaphor for life if ever there was one My ST2 was shit at everything on paper, but still one of the best bikes I've owned.
Keep taking the lucky pills, Hippo, they're obviously working. D3/D4s are keeping our friend's workshop very solvent indeed.
The Alfa is a pretty underwhelming package, it's built on Fiat underpinnings, so stodgy handling and wooden steering come as standard. you will regret coming away from VAG group cars to an Alfa, better bet is an A3, Octavia or Golf, they are all much better cars.
We all have our opinions based on our experiences, and thankfully, they are all different. Vive la difference!
Mmm had 3 x 3 litre V6 Alfas over the years - one drowned in a flood , ones front wheel fell off and the other was bought by some Polish gentlemen who drove it home - loved em
