Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs, BMW M3, vs Mercedes C63 AMG - Which One Fails To Complete The Road Test?

that's too bad

If you get a Giulia, the check engine light is an all-of-the-time occurrence. You get the impression that it needed a year or two more in prototype testing. When Alfa went from cobbled up Ghibli prototypes having barely appeared to unveiling the production model in a matter of weeks it seemed, I feared the worst.

In 1973 I bought a brand new Black Pontiac Grand Prix - 455 and a THM 400 - the best - most reliable automatic ever made in my opinion. The car never left the dealer lot when the trans literally exploded. Thankfully the parts did not come up into the car - but ended up all over the black top.

The 1973 was hard to come by - was very popular - and would have taken months to get another one - so they replaced the trans with a new unit - along with a few other things that had been damaged (The cross member really was literally twisted). New drive shaft too. Never had another problem with that car and it went to the grave yard with nearly 350,000 miles - and got two of my kids through college and medical school too. Never regret keeping that one.

Most failures in the first few days of a car are from defective parts - and that is why there are car warranties. If a part lasts for a year - it would likely last for quite a while back then in the times of over-engineering and few plastic parts. All cars get defective parts - and I would rather them fail early - that hold on for a while. (Yes -even ROLLS ROYCE has defective parts - and it also used the THM400 trans back then too) Today - the problem is the parts are made of lesser materials - and they don't last. Still - an early problem still is the best thing.

Indeed among any production run there will be random, isolated issues, but the Giulia's problems are PERVASIVE.

Alfa Romeo is hand holding customers because the issues are so widespread that if they don't get in front of the momentum of this train wreck about to happen, Alfa will be dead and buried.

Thankfully, the sales of the Giulia have been so pathetic that we're not talking about a large number of people. The Stelvio was to ride on the momentum of the Giulia but not only is there no sales momentum, word of the reliability nightmares is spreading like stink in church.

@BobM Giulias are literally going into limp mode and shortly thereafter into fully dead mode.

It's not a "VW thing" where the check engine light comes on incessantly but the car is drivable.

Giulias die and sometimes the technicians at the dealer are at a loss as to what is wrong.

This is especially bizarre because the Ghibli on which the Giulia is heavily based has nowhere near the issues.

The most obvious difference is that the Ghibli has a very dependable Pentastar V6 from Kokomo Indiana along with more reliable American-developed engine management systems whereas the Giulia Quadrafuqueistan has a Ferrari engine with two cylinders sawed off and God knows what inattention to detail there.

The Giulia with the Ferrari engine is especially unreliable which probably indicates that the electronics on that engine are not even remotely ready for prime time.

The problem is that the Ti with a different engine is nearly as bad, so it's more than just the shaky Ferrari V6 acting up.

I'm strangely not put off by this...almost to the degree that it makes the car interesting.

Well if sitting by the side of the road waiting for a tow truck to pick up your dead $75K car is something you find interesting, then buy one.

So here is the scoop I found out at my dealership today that sells Fiats and Alfa's. NEVER LEFT FOOT BRAKE IN ANY ALFA GIULIA! Doing so will cause the car to go into limp mode. Second disengage the STOP/START mode. It is also not very reliable. I drove a Giulia TI today while I was waiting for my car to be serviced. The car is Great to drive. Very smooth, great suspension, great steering and plenty of power. Also it was very quiet and refined(a little too much in my opinion). Interior-OK here I concede that Alfa needs to step it up a notch. There is a lot more in common with the controls and surfaces in the Giulia that there is in my Fiat 500X. The steering wheel is virtually the same. The Havac controls are very similar. The e-brake is identical. The push button start is on the steering wheel in the Giulia instead of the dash board as in my 500X. Even some of the plastic surfaces felt similar.The seating controls are the same although the seats were a little bit nicer. For roughly 12 to 15 grand more Alfa should offer a little bit better quality inside. Still everything seemed well screwed together and it would not stop me from buying one. If I were in the market for a near luxury sedan I would definitely consider one. Alfa needs to work on the teething problems. However my type of car is more the Honda Civic type R.