Alfa Romeo Giulietta Questions & Answers

Join the Giulietta enthusiast pages on Facebook. Quite a helpful bunch. Multiair is relatively straightforward. Make sure the timing belt and water pump has been done recently (45000km, 4 years I believe on that engine).

Very nice little car! TCT is not something I have personal experience with, but I believe they’re okay with proper maintenance. I prefer the manuals. All comes down to price IMO! Deferred maintenance and a cheap car is t necessarily an issue as long as you’re aware what you’re going into.

Good luck!

This one is $9.5k, it is the base model but manual thank god and 1 owner. The first thing Ill do is definitely timing belt and tensioners then just service it regulary and drive it with some mechanical respect and see how I go! ill check the group out. cheers

The whole car is a big fault. As I was once told... You date an alfa, don't marry it. ‍

Hello, thanks for your reply. I Have owned 4 different Alfas previously but not one of the newer generation of Alfas ... did you own a Giulietta QV

I recently sold my 2014 Giulietta. Never missed a beat. A dream car to drive. Manual of course. I was sad when I sold it but that's the way it goes.

Mate. Really disappointed for you. That sucks.

My only experience of my Italian mistress is positive. She's done 60,000 since 2014 and hasn't missed a beat. In fact it is my favourite car of all time.

All I can say is this. Women!

Hi Nick. Thanks for your message. I think my situation is bad luck. Would be nice if Alfa came to the party on this one! Enjoy your car Nick.

Hi Mr D, Timing belts need to be changed every 4/5 Years or 120 kms which ever comes first, it looks like your service centre let you down, they should know that...

I didn't want their gps and i use google maps on bluetooth. I certainly wouldn't pay them one cent, $300 that's laughable. The company is by no means a generous one, with every new car I bought I got free car mats, they wanted money - pft, cheap skates!!! Glad you like your Giulietta

Thank you

They are a beautiful car to look at but full of problems. I was same as you, bought it brand new didn’t even have 10kms on the clock, custom ordered from Italy. mine started to play up at around 45000kms the turbo decided to just stopped working which what your talking about sounds pretty much what happened to me. Fast buzzing noise, I got it home as I was literally 5 seconds away then it didn’t want to start the next day when I got it all booked in at my Alfa dealership. I got it towed there instead and it sat there for 4 weeks before the part made its way from Italy.... at a cost of 6k and some change. I then had it back from that incident for 3 weeks before water pump decided to just stop working, not that it was old or anything just to the poor workmanship on the car Alfa mechanic said that this is a very common issue that they haven’t tried to fix at all in production, that cost me $1200 and 4 days luckily they had this part on hand because it’s a known issue, the electrics stopped working my power lumbar stopped and my indicators only worked when they wanted to and that was a rare occurrence not to mention the radio decided to work on the odd occasion too, had that rectified costing $2200 and 7 days, again all parts they needed were on hand again because it’s a common problem, the day I jumped in my car and it decided to not want to have power steering was when I gave up, I got it down to the dealership and was told again it was a common problem and they could have it all fixed, that was the last $4500 I spent on that car! I pick it up and drove it straight to a Mercedes dealership traded it in on a c63 and have never looked back..... Alfa’s are beautiful cars and still I would love to own one again in particular a 4C but they will always be a lemon. Everything goes wrong with them when they are still relatively new... now let me also put in there that I always took it to the dealership for services ect and they apparently check for all these common problems in their checks but it was always “ok”. Never again.... at least I can say I was a proud owner of an Alfa Romeo for 2 and a bit years.

Also resale value on them is shocking.... so don’t get your hopes up for a good sale if you do trade in, I got 8.5k for mine.

Hi I have the distinctive, I wouldn't buy one new, let alone second hand. This car is not recommended by me at all, the only thing it's got going for itself is the look of the front but even that gets spoiled by the fact that the top of the windscreen blisters and Alfa Romeo don't want to know about it (biggest cheap skates and great at shirking the blame onto you or some other factor.) Get a Toyota "anything" they are reliable, don't fall apart and cost an arm and a leg for every little thing !

Mine has not given me any issues whatsoever. Drive like the day it came out of the showroom.

I have a Manual QV 1.8L

Hi, Minor service can range from $200-$400 and major can go from $500-$1000. The car needs to service every 12 months or 15,000km; if the car only do less than 15,000km, the chances are you will probably on need to do a service every year at an Alfa specialist - a normal mechanic will not be able to reset the computer between for oil change & oil degenerate sensor unless they have the right tool. Random maintenance can easily be look after by your normal mechanic - breaks, battery, etc...

Use the following for a price guide.

external link 

The above mechanic is an independent Alfa specialist. The price I've mentioned looks pricey however at 15,000km or 12 months, it's actually more economical to service compare to some older cars which requires every 5,000km.

Good luck !

EDIT: My answer only applicable to Guilietta however other models may varies but use the link for a price guide !!!

Which model does he want to get ? He may have an addiction to Alfas. They are a life long love affair. I have had 8 Alfas so far. So in terms of feeding his passion it may be worth the cost. If he pays for it himself even better ! But It will be the same as any older BMW or Mercedes for a 10 year old car.

Strong word of advice is to go and see a recognised Alfa Specialist they will charge much much less than a dealer. Also get the very best car you can find with the lowest mileage that you can afford. Dont ever buy a bomb.

Also join all the Alfa websites you can to get advice on servicing it will save alot of money.

Lastly you can buy parts online overseas at almost half cost. So if you know what your doing your sevicing costs can be almost 1/3 to 1/2 price of a Dealer. Let us know if you need any more info.

I'd steer him away from buying one (they don't hold their value at all, in fact market value for my car is laughable). I have an Alfa Romeo Guilietta Distinctive (it's four years old). The interior is made of plasticky rubbish, my door handles have snapped off at least four times in the early days of owning this car (the whole inner door needs to be replaced when the handle snaps in half (they have to order them) not just the handle and that takes a long time. If you want the seats to recline be prepared for a clunky hard to turn wheel on the lower bottom side (reminiscent of the 50's, 60's not sure exactly when the wheel method was first invented, but a real pain to use). The shiny silver coating on the door handle peels off and "cuts your hands", Alfa tends to make out this has never happened but if you go on one of the Alfa sites (where people talk about their issues) you will see it's not unheard of. My sun visor is almost dangling off, you can't screw it back in. The black coating on top of the front windscreen has peeled off (make it look like an old abandoned car), again they try to blame you about it. Customer services is atrocious (you get passed around so many times), in fact I think they make you waste time so that you run out of time. Servicing is very expensive and you just can't go "anywhere", Alfa has made it so that only Alfa specialists can attend to the electronics. My blue tooth recently stopped working and the odometer kept flashing, it cost me $1,600 to replace the little computer box in the car.

The interior is a stupid design, if you want to use the usb for music you have to have the glovebox opened. There's really nowhere to even cradle your mobile phone. It uses a lot of fuel. These cars have a beautiful front, the rear is nothing special (the rear sensor acts up a lot). Maybe I got a lemon, who knows, but I would never buy another one.

We were really lucky ours only had 19k KMS. An older lady had had it but she passed away. Only advice is there seems to be a lot of ks, it would worry me too. We’ve had no issues thus far with engine/electronics, or anything else. Best of luck.

Well its up to you on the mileage. Personally I only buy cars around 50- 60 or 70Ks max. Although I drove a car like mine with well over 100K on the clock and I couldnt tell any difference to it and my current car with 40Ks on the clock. But what ever you deceide make sure the timing belt has been done recently or is within the servicing period. Also make sure you have documented evidence the timing belt has been done also from a reputable mechanic preferably an Alfa Specialist. Also I would suggest getting a full mechanical inspection from an Alfa Dealer or Alfa Specialist before purchase. Lastly its good to get a good price but more important to see the car has had an excellent service history with maintenance from a reputable Alfa Dealer or Specialist. This is much more important to the price you pay whatever it is.

You shouldn't worry too much. My car is fine and currently has 45,000km on the clock since 2016 which averaged around 22,500 a year. The electronic still work just like new. If the car has been maintained well and looked after, nothing that you need to worry about. As the engines in Alfas are quite sensitive to oil viscosity and specs, check if the car has been changed with the correct grade and specification e.g. my Alfa needs 5w-40 Fiat 9.55535 GH2.

No sorry no problems like that with my car but I’ve only done 9000ks. Would it still be under the 3 year warantee that comes with the car? Is so you should make arrangements to get to a service centre asap.

Hi Tess, sorry can't help as we never had this or any issue with our Alfa. Cheers, Alex

Unfortunately warranty ran out in February (3 yrs) which was before the 150 000 km mark. I am hoping the problem is minor, otherwise will need to a tow truck to drive it to the city:(.

Thanks for your responses though. Much appreciated.

If you like driving , get the manual. The feeling of powering through the gears is awesome.

I love my Alfa Giulietta Distinctive Diesel but I must caution you to ensure you have access to a good mechanic who can source reasonably priced parts first. My DPF temp sensor failed at 15,000kms and cost over $600 to replace. Resale values are poor also which may work for you if you are buying a 3 year old car. Reliability is generally good. If your budget will extend get a manual QV but watch out for the thrashed versions out there.

I own a Giulietta Distintive tct auto, dual clutch. And also a 2004 Spider, which is manual. Enjoy driving them both. The manual is, I suppose, the old fashion manual driving. You can also drive tct auto like a manual with paddle shift (also fun to drive)

As far as I know, the tct dual clutch, is one of the most reliable thus far. I believe that if you service the car regularly and don't drive it as if you're on a race track every day, the car will look after you.

Please don't think that you shouldn't enjoy the dynamics of it, but with experience in owning a few Alfas, have known people that just because it's an Alfa, that it has to be driven as if you're on the race track. Then, they hop in their wife's Toyota, or what ever, and drive it like an old man.

(No offence to the Seniors

I have a manual QV - great car, the feeling of shifting gears (double clutching and heel-toe) through windy road is beautiful however if you're driving in traffic a lot, it's a bit exhausting at times. I am used to it though but sometimes it's a bit much.

Hi Kaz, not sure whether you got my answer! I don't get the promised mileage but I only drive in sports mode and I live in the Adelaide hills. I get around 8.0 litres per 100k using 98 octane fuel. My car's done 44,000 so it has only had one service (it has 30,000K service intervals) and the service cost $385. No mechanical problems so far, touch wood!

thanks a lot Andy