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Thread: Oh no...

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4 View Post
    Oh I thought Revo meant the current cars of the entire forum population....
    Hey, you've got twin turbo's!

    I have to do with a lonely single one...
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  2. #32
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    Congrats!

    Does this replace the Mazda or supplement it? This is a little blunt, but did you buy this car because of the discount or because of the badge (or because it was a car you actively desired)?
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  3. #33
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    It does replace the Mazda. Unfortunately I can't afford two cars right now, but don't worry I'll be back in a sportscar eventually.

    As for the reasons, well actually all came into play. The Giulietta has always been among my favourite C-Segment hatchbacks, the price and 175bhp engine were right, they valued my MX-5 at what I wanted for it (and far above what Mazda offered me) and top of all it's an Alfa Romeo.

    After ten days with the car I can say I'm happy with the result. It's not perfect, but it does what I need/want and it does it well.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    It does replace the Mazda. Unfortunately I can't afford two cars right now, but don't worry I'll be back in a sportscar eventually.

    As for the reasons, well actually all came into play. The Giulietta has always been among my favourite C-Segment hatchbacks, the price and 175bhp engine were right, they valued my MX-5 at what I wanted for it (and far above what Mazda offered me) and top of all it's an Alfa Romeo.

    After ten days with the car I can say I'm happy with the result. It's not perfect, but it does what I need/want and it does it well.
    Ah, that's unfortunate, but at least you're driving the cars you want!

    Maybe you'll get a Toyota GT-86/Subaru BR-Z in addition to the Alfa to get the sports car fix?

  5. #35
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    Toyobaru would be indeed an option.

    By the way, the local Alfa Romeo dealer is also the Toyota dealer and I've told the salesman that when they have a GT86 to test I want to have a go.

    He told me they had a red one for registration and that once it had been registered he'd give me a call.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  6. #36
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    So you've had it for some time. How is it going? What do you think of the interior?

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    For the moment N; I think I'd prefer D in terms of performance, but then the gearbox would keep the gears for too long when just cruising.
    My most-recent rental car was a Clubman with their dual-clutch 'box. I drove it around in sport all the time because in normal mode the EPAS was so light that I felt like I was driving a '70s Cadillac: the cognitive dissonance was deafening. This meant that I had to engage sport mode, which brought along with it stupid shift points and, like you say, an unwillingness to drop it into 6th (top) gear when cruising. It is the only automatic car that I've shifted manually pretty much all the time. The low-speed issues I'd had with other twin-clutch transmissions weren't as bad, but downshifts were pretty poor.
    It will be interesting to see what your impressions are after a few months behind the wheel. What are they now?
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    Hey, you've got twin turbo's!

    I have to do with a lonely single one...
    If I let the battery discharge a little bit, the alternator whine makes it sound like I have a turbo...
    An it harm none, do as ye will

    Approximately 79% of statistics are made up.

  9. #39
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    Well I've now had it for about 4 months and 7500km.

    First things first. I did make a mistake choosing an automatic; this further reinforces my belief that Italians can't fathom automatics. Speed and smoothness aren't bad (although not top of the class) but the worst is the shifting logic of the gearbox. Even in normal mode it takes far too much time to upshift and if for any reason you've got to touch the brakes it downshifts one or two gears. This is very annoying and the result is that you end up manually shifting yourself much more often than it would be normal. On the upside though it seems to have less low speed jerkiness than other dual clutch gearboxes I've driven.

    The engine is smooth and silent, for a diesel. Performance is much improved from my last car, but I'm not sure all the 175 brake horse powers are really there. In any case speed is plentiful for any normal driving. In terms of fuel consumption, again quite good (and much improved from the Mazda) but you are losing around half litre every 100km from the leaders.

    In terms of handling, well you've got to remember you drive a front wheel drive family hatchback. With that in mind it is not really in its element in the tightest mountain roads as it is not the most agile car in the class, however if the road opens up things improve considerably. In the fast sweepers the Alfa Romeo flows from corner to corner very naturally giving the impression of stability and poise in those circumstances. Also important is the ride which is very good, very comfortable; although it could do with a little bit more sound deadening: tyre noise is very present except when the road surface is perfect.

    By the way, I personally wouldn't bother with Dynamic mode. It weights up the the steering in a really artificial way; in normal mode it's not the most communicative steering ever but at least it's quite accurate. And also there's another problem, in vigorous driving if you brake hard and the car's brains thinks you are going to have a massive accident (even if you are not) it triggers the warning lights. There's no need for the ABS to actuate, and does it rather often and it is annoying.

    Finally the interior is a nice place to be, if not quite up to premium standards. Especially where you don't look or put your hand often there are hard plastics. In terms of space, well I'm coming from a two seater so it's vast.

    In conclusion, if you avoid the automatic is quite a decent car to have. It will not set your pants on fire, but it is a decent cruiser which can do the odd corner or two if we are not talking of the Stelvio pass. It looks good and it is spacious. And it is terrific value for money. And top of all it's an Alfa Romeo. In the right spec I would recommend it; and more importantly it is the type of car I needed now: I have now doubt I'll be back in something with a petrol engine, sporty, noisy and uncomfortable but for now the Giulietta fits my needs perfectly.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    In the fast sweepers the Alfa Romeo flows from corner to corner very naturally giving the impression of stability and poise in those circumstances.
    This is exactly how I would describe Giulietta's handling on slippery winter road conditions - very natural and very sure footed.

    In fact, the biggest surprise of my Giulietta experience is how good it works as a winter car. Not only does it handle well, it also warms up quickly. When starting from cold, max defrost function will start blowing warmish air almost immediately, which greatly helps when scraping ice from windscreen.

    Who would have thought of that - Alfa as a proper winter beater?

  11. #41
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    I don't think it is perfect, bodyroll and agility could be a little bit better (Mazda 3 is better in this aspect and possibly top of the class), but it's certainly much better than certain car in which in every corner it seems like the wheels and body want to set in different directions...
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  12. #42
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    By the way, it's been said that a product can't be truly Italian unless it has at least 5 catastrophic design faults:

    - Warning lights go off any time you go near to the break pedal
    - In Drive, the car downshifts or upshifts for no good reason: if there's a slope, if you are going downhill, you break or you have eaten a croissant
    - You can't lift the wipers because they hit the edge of the bonnet.
    - If you use the cruise control the only way of telling the speed at which you have set it is to guess-estimate by looking at the speedo.

    And I can't find a fifth one... maybe it isn't Italian after all? Revo, HALP!
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  13. #43
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    No need to worry - Giulietta is a proud example of Italian engineering.
    • "automatic brightness" setting for you radio unit actually means you have to adjust the display brightness manually for headlights on or off position.
    • front armrest in lowered position is a serious obstacle when shifting gears manually.
    • seat heating buttons are very well hidden from human sight.
    • steering wheel airbag creaks. This is actually an engineering solution to remind a driver that he or she is supposed to use the bloody horn. A lot of it and repeatedly.
    • instrument cluster lights reflect on a windscreen when driving in darkness. Fortunately the reflection can be undone by using sun(!)visor.

    I won't go on, because people might think Giulietta is a bad car. It is not, honestly.
    Last edited by Revo; 12-27-2014 at 08:11 AM.

  14. #44
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    Did you know that the Giulietta has two different engine service sensors?

    Well I just discovered it today, when a couple of weeks after its first service, the oil light came on. I rushed to the main dealer, worrying that the engine was just going to explode.

    Apparently the only problem was that while the engine-service sensor in the oil line had been reset, the one on the dashboard hadn't and hence it came on.

    Italian car idiosyncrasies, I guess.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  15. #45
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    How has the car been treating you?

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