I think it is safe to conclude that Neil got the car quite cheap given the look of the underside of it. Being an experienced mechanic ha can sort that out easily. Those plastic covers also keep the moisture in better and cause bottom to rust. Quite a common issue in Sweden on newer cars. Neil, you should remove all of them and rust proof your underbelly before replacing the broken covers to keep your car in perfect nick.
Hope you do some more of these! Not much information on UA-cam about Giulias from someone that actually knows what they’re on about. Good to see you got sorted with a new battery, should’ve been done before you collected the car really! Thanks for the video.
My original 2010 battery failed last month too. Girlfriend wanted to listen to the radio while I went shopping. She said the radio only went for about an hour. 159 Ti 2.2 JTS. And the original spark plugs gave up as well. It was not always starting on the first go. And only 104,000 Kms. 😁😁
The underneath is a mess. Doesn't look as though it was cared for very well either by the previous owner or the dealer. Being an early model this sits lower than the revised springs (from around 2018) which were too high, and then lowered a bit again from 2019. Then you've got the other two emerging major problems with the early models. First is water ingress into the ECU and loom. Alfa did not revise the scuttle panel for RHD cars so water just pours down onto the engine ECU. Scuttle panel was revised for later models. Second carbon build up in the inlet tracts and valves etc. It's a direct injection engine with all the usual associated carbon buildup problems. Engine revised for Euro6d models from 2019 with second set of port injectors (12 injectors in total). Good luck with this early model Quad, you're going to need it.
I love the fact that even new Alfa’s have hiccups just like the older cars. Though after 6 months of owning a 7 year old Giulietta I haven’t had a single problem. Still waiting 😁🤞
Giulietta is tempting as a future car, good looking Alfa. I just can't get over those horrible power window switches. I actually brought them up on the youtube channel Roadster Life on his video on the development of your car. He said "Sadly Fiat was in no position to splurge for model-specific window switches anymore..." Check out his channel, he has an interesting insight into Italian cars as a designer.
That was fascinating ! I've seen far worse under newer cars, and what I loved the fact that everything that wears out on the Guilia Cloverleaf is fixable - by anyone with a decent set of ordinary Alfa tools - Thank you so much for video, really appreciate the learning experience.
The 159 I drive now is my third Alfa, never had Gremlins in my Alfas other than annoying noises and rattles from the interior. I would say cars like any other car with their weak spots. Maybe I have great mechanic so my experience is really positive, or maybe because I buy my cars second hand so the previous owner sorted everything out during the warranty period. Well, 146 suspension needed new wishbones every 30k km,, 156 as well with those squeaky upper wishbone bushes, also TS used some oil so I needed to top it out from time to time, but only with 156 1.8 while the older 2.0 in 146 did not drink too much at all. With 159 I only had clutch dying when I was in Turkey, but that was Valeo 50k km after replacement. Maybe I am subjective, but I know many German car owners that brag about how their cars are superior so they do not need to visit mechanic ever, but they drive 30km at most while I can now sit in my Alfa and drive 6000 km to Portugal and back if I wish, without any problem. This is what I usually do with my family every summer, we love our Alfas.
@@wingonglingou2042 I own a 2009 sedan 1.9 JTDm 150hp. Objectively it is as good as any german car, interior quality is good, my car has 250k km on odometer and it still looks very good inside, nothing is broken, every light works and everything is functional. Maybe you can find few spots that can be better and probably are better build on Audi or BMW, for example wheels on air vents are turning smoother in Audi, maybe air con knobs feel more sturdy, however this is really neat-picking and I am sure there will be many things better made in Alfa, for example the steering wheel size, turning resistance, lock to lock speed, seating position, interior design, smell of the interior (oh yes), and so on. German cars are good, however not even close to perfect as many people religiously believes.
@@BojanBojovic How is it like to drive? Especially compared to RWD rivals? I remember reviewers praising its handling when launched and then doing somersault afterwards and criticizing for the same...
@@wingonglingou2042 Compared to Audi it is much more direct, pointed, focused and involving. There is a significant difference in steering speed and accuracy, VW simply does not care about those things, they made Audio to be generic and little bit boring so it can appeal to majority of drivers. Of course you can compare it with a regular A4 and S4, not RS. Compared to BMW, again you can not compare it to M3, however a regular 3 series is softer and the steering is not as precise. It has more body roll but someone may perceive it as more comfortable. I personally do not like soft suspension. BMW is close to what Alfa 159 offers, just for me personally it is a watered down experience. Alfa 159 is for me personally much more comfortable car, better seats, better handling, better seating position, ergonomics even BMW usually excels at this. As for FWD vs RWD, well in those normal cars that go up to 200 hp or even little bit more there is not much of a difference as you can not drift that easily with the car that weights over 1600kg. If you drive FWD car as it should then there is no difference below 250hp. The amount of grip you get in 159 is incredible, not only for a FWD car, however Audi does not show some major weakness in this area, just it is very boring to drive and not enjoyable at all. I would say you can not make a mistake with any of those cars, it all depends of what you are looking for. For me personally Alfa is the most beautiful of them, the most enjoyable and involving car in this comparison, if we are looking at those high spec versions, things look little bit different then.
@@BojanBojovic I see. The styling of 159 is something else. The road presence is unmatched. I am confused between this, the 'New Edge' Mondeo, 'Kinetic design' Mondeo and E90 3 series.
Neil....great video and an awesome car. However a warning to all QV owners. You do need to remove the middle under panel and check the condition of the rear silencer mounting brackets and the sub-frame those brackets are bolted to. I was shocked when I saw mine a couple of years ago (I've a 67 plate QV). Mine was an ex demo 6 months old car and had been run through a winter. If the road salt has got hold of your brackets as it had mine, you are in for a shock. There was serious bi-metal salt corrosion between the sub frame and the brackets. The air inside this area is very still part of the car due to the excellent under-car aerodynamics. But with the heat from the silencer its perfect conditions for this salt corrosion to get hold of the bracket and frame. I can see in some years to come many QV owners with their silencer dropping from the car. I had this repaired with the dealer under warranty who didn't quibble for a moment. Alfa doesn't need any more corrosion issues to plague it but in my opinion left unchecked this could be serious for the future. Im surprised there hasnt been a recall. But I do suspect this has now been corrected with later models, but Im not sure. So get it checked out and repaired if required. Apart from that my car has been faultless except for the dreaded battery issue too. Its a fabulous car. But I love my Alfas so Im probably biased :-)
A very honest review. One does wonder what all that underside covering will mean for rust. Will it help to keep stuff cleaner and thus more rustfree or will it trap moisture and lead to all sorts of problems. Time will tell. It will be a good subject for a later video. Removing any of that stuff will however be a pain in theeeeee (beep). My tip for that tear: Raid the wifes shopping bag for a HDPE bottom straightener insert, cut a piece out of it and use popnails to put it in place. These tiewraps will start to wear off at their connection loops almost emmediately.
All in all, this car looks well made and designed easy to work on. For 50k miles and 3 yrs, the undercarriage is not too bad. I like this car and think its awesome. Well done buying this. I think this undercarriage could benefit from a soapy power wash! Lots of road grime and dirt. If I had access to a lift, my car would be immaculate under it as well as on the paint.
@@ItaliaAutos I just like your car too much! So, it hurts to see it all dirty and muddy underneath. I own the Giulia 2.0 Veloce model myself. Love the car, its fantastic. I couldn't afford the QV or I would have bought it. My car is a 2019 with Nero Edizionne package and I installed tons of carbon fiber interior and exterior bits. Looks quite well actually. Cheers friend! Enjoy your car. Tip for the battery issue, keep your keys far away from the car whenever its parked. Also, keep the batteries in your keys replaced annually. They have something to do with losing car battery power, particularly if the keys are close enough to the car while being parked.
Awesome video with quality content! Keep it up. YT is full of people driving the QV around and hyping the exhaust note and blaming the center console all though the center console is just fine! Looking forward to YOUR future QV videos. You got yourself a subscriber!👊🏻
When I bought my Giulia Q (that was 1 year in the showroom), I demanded a new battery. When I don't drive it, it stays parked on the garage connected to a Ctek battery charger.
I owned 2 new Giulia’s (not company cars, enthusiast owned) both of which had battery issues. Both required new battery’s inside 9 months. Awesome cars and so much better than the equivalent BMW/Audi/Mercedes by a long shot (if you love driving)…
Sweet idea for a video mate. Cheers. Love all those covers for cooling and aero underneath. I trust you park this beast and look back at it sometimes as you walk away.
Thanks for your honesty with the issues with the the car Neil. I’m surprised the battery let go so early. Would expect it off a cheapo EFB battery but looked this up and can see it’s a AGM. Maybe they are just very battery dependent. I’ve seen AGM batteries last 10 years on other cars. Informative video as always :)
A non functioning start stop system is always a hint for some kind of defect. Most of the time the battery needs to be replaced, sometimes other things - but it has definitely a reason, at least a longer period of not driving the car or only short trips. Mine didn't work because of a marten bite. I had no check engine light.
I have a 2020 Stelvio, not had an issue so far but, I carry a Noco Boost HD Jump Starter under my seat so that I can connect it to the points in the engine bay. This allows enough power to operate the boot so I can access the battery. I then take the Noco and jump start the car. £100 piece of kit for peace of mind.
At last a great video of the underside, messing with trying to find a way to get mine on axle stands....tricky with the panels. The battery not charging is 'normal' apparently to keep the emissions down, off the ctek for a decent drive and mine's at 12.4 -12.6v! The warning lights can be reset by turning the steering fully each way. Will you be doing the auxiliary belt? That would be well worth a video!!
Glad it was just a battety and not intermittent electrical gremlins that you could of been chasing for ever...... I like the front strut top mounts....check out the strengthening braces cast into them.....they look solid. Be interesting to know the dealer price for the ripped undertray. Those look almost carpetted which presumably reduces spray and road noise. At least now with the new battery you should have peace of mind as far as starting is concerned but dont like the electric boot and handbrake meaning you cant do basics like push the car to the side or access items.
Had similar problems with my Abarth 500, my Giulietta QV. Both died at 24 months. According to the battery replacement guy, the OEM batteries are somewhat "budget" selections *cough* They were replaced with better batteries that have lasted well over 6 yrs each.
Nice! I suppose you're gonna spray most of the unprotected underside with rustwax? Oh yeah, i've been hunting those flapping cover panels on my Bmw and realized I always need large washers or they come loose again.
Greetings from OZ. My Z3 and my Alfa Spider both had sluggish batteries last month. No hesitation replacing both as the expense is nothing compared to the bastards not starting. That stop start rubbish has to go. The menu should stop it but I guess it all reset when the battery died 3 times. My daughter's X5 battery went flat but charged up ok. That still got the rocket. Fail once and it's gone. I was staggered at the scrape marks underneath. The previous owner went off roading? Best of luck with it.
Bottom of my Veloce front bumper looks the same . They are a low riding car as standard and Alfa even raised the ride height slightly on later QVs because of the scraping . Unfortunately it’s just a product of speed humps and a low car
Stelvio QV - yes, battery failed pretty early on. Alfa replaced it gratis. I've fitted a stop-start dongle to disable it unless I want to activate it. Well worth it. Have had spurious CEL and rough running after cold start on occasion - usually a restart clears it. Not sure why but that has not happened for a while now. We live in rural Oz, 370km from nearest dealer...so am planning to do most maintenance myself or locally. Just passed 50kkm. I'm concerned about the DI (2019 model, no port injection) and carbon buildup in the intake - still searching for a 'solution', if there is one. We don't drive it every day, or weeks at a time, and sometimes the key is very lazy to unlock the car, seems like it all hibernates and takes a while to wake up.
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
@@ItaliaAutos yes a very good point. My comment was more aimed at your emotional up and down during the battery issues! Top video as always and glad it's working out
Had mine from new, new rear shocks, front discs and sadly front spoiler at 45,000 miles. A early 2017 model so lower suspension so spoiler suffered. Same split on underfloor mat.
Sounds like an internal busbar problem within the battery. It can happen where either one of the welded joints is fractured & makes intermittent connection or where the posts are atteched to the end cells due to mechanical stress to the posts themselves. A battery cable which puts a lot of side loading on the terminal will cause it over time. It gives odd symptoms as the battery is actually good from a capacity perspective but every now & again it goes open circuit & hence is apparently completely dead. Dead cells give a different symptom as even when the battery is fully charged it seems flat as the voltage is low so slow crank & generally a dashboard full of warnings due to low voltage.
Thanks for the video Neil, and giving us a view after 3 yrs use. Overall its seems pretty good in terms of wear & tear. I guess good for you to get your eye in, as once warranty stops on these, they'll be heading your way :-)
Nice video congratulations, all in all the beast is fine, unfortunately the rubbing under the spoiler is inevitable due to the height, but I would have removed that canvas cover under the body which is useless.
0:31 hi, about your garage roof :) : underneath , I can see an isolation layer (polyurethane)? and then the interior visible part of the roof, is that plastic ? I just have the upper metal and I need to isolate without putting much weight on it. I see it opens so my guess is that is not too heavy. Great working place congrats.
Modern cars have all these weird errors when the battery is faulty. A stable, proper battery voltage is so important for all the different computers on a modern car. I think it is somewhat weird that a dealer doesn't simply replace it as standard when selling a 3 year old car. Its a 100 quid of insurance really.
I’ve never seen such a dirtier messed up bottom than this! Was it taken off road? Mine looks like brand new under it, all depends how the owner treats it and takes care of it and it really shows.
All those rusty assembly screws and bolts are quite disappointing. On my QV the carbon ceramic brakes, the bolts fixing the rotor to the bell were very badly rusted after 2 years, worth checking too.
I've had my QV for about 6 months now, also 3yo. Had battery problems too. Similar symptoms, mostly erratic S/S. Fortunately I worked out the battery was the problem early before it let me down. PS Great tip on that jacking point, I'll sort mine out!
@@ItaliaAutos I've got a minor barely audible hollow sounding rattle over some rough surfaces that I suspect might be the jacking point you mentioned. Also have a little creak that comes from the top of the instrument panel. Otherwise mine is silent. Mine is a 17 reg with 30k miles.
@@ItaliaAutos I've also got an airbag pressure error that occasionally comes up but clears with my OBD reader - my car gets driven one a week or fortnight, I think it might be related to battery discharge or maybe the car has a charging issue (?).
Nowadays i dont think we should use broken down anymore but rather Computered down!its the computer ,learning phase gonna be long, i learned a lot from my alfa 159 and next car going for a Lexus i want reliability.but i been a proud alfa owner since 2013- 202X
Looking at the rubbing in the underside, the front spoiler looks like parking over kerbs as it goes to the wings, but the rest looks like scuffing from race track kerbing and gravel traps (gravel in the undertray?). Has it been trackdayed?
Batterys are shitty these days specially in modern cars with all sort of electro things. Lifetime for battery is like 3 years or something like that here in Finland. Bought my myself brand new 159 turbo benzina back in da days 2011 and same problems as you did started to appear in 2014. Cause was the battery. Got myself gray hair for that and learned couple of new words 😀
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
Looking at the underside rash, that car appears to have spent some time on track days. Also get the dealer to replace the underfloor panelling. It is aereo and for NVH.unless you purchased it as a trade buy, they should never have sold a 3 year old car with those defects.
The exact reason old school is best,too many electronics.Italy and electronics don't mix.At least it's a beautiful beast,looking good stuck at the side of the road.
Batteries on the Giulias are shite. Got the battery on my 2017 2.2. Super replaced as well after quite a few situations as you describe. Had to go to a few different dealers before I found one that replaced it on warranty rather than just charging it though. Hopefully it just affects the early generations.
Thanks for this video Neil . It’s crazy to think that if like what happened to yourself no manual override is available to release the boot . Has the 2020 generation Giulia’s have one fitted ? If yes to above see if yours could be modified to have one fitted .
Any plans to do any videos on the regular Giulia now that they’re a few years old? I’m eyeing up a 2016 launch edition with only 13k miles so would be useful to know any model specific stuff to look out for
Unfortunately, these come standard with an 80ah EFB (Varta) in the UK. Europe has an option for a cold weather pack, this consists of a 95ah EFB and a larger alternator (apparently). This is a common issue, not helped by flawed IBS charging logic. If the EFB is left to stand without charge like mentioned in the video, like all batteries it degrades over time. As a result, the SOC according to the IBS lowers and the car is rarely able to charge it back to decent capacity on its own. Most Giulia owners also own a trickle charger too, alfa even sell one. AGM will help and is a good upgrade, but this is not standard from alfa so unless specified the dealer will fit an OEM EFB. The OEM on these cars has a rough life span of 3-4 years under normal usage, which isn’t great. A quick google of IBS and SOC will also highlight these issues with other brands too so not limited to alfa, I suspect emissions and fuel economy have something to do with this. If it’s a daily driver with regular long distance drives it will be fine, if it’s a weekend B road blaster or a low mileage, town driver invest in a trickle charger. I recommend CTEK but plenty of other brands around. I got mine from the same dealer and had the same issues as you. I truly wish they would regularly charge these batteries if the car is on the forecourt for any length of time. Would save a lot of trouble. Once you get past these battery issues the Giulia is truly awesome in every way.
i feel your pain with start stop. my mito acts funny when start stop actually wants to work. I've got into the habit of turning it off before i drive. i wish i knew more about ecu programming id just disable it altogether... in theory its a great idea in reality its a ball ache and very rarely works. great vid to actually see all the aero going on under the car, I've never seen it before. Id love it if you did go with pink pipe tips lol epic
Hi Neil, I like your chanel! I'm looking to buy a Giulia next year, can you give me an advice please: 1. 2.0 petrol or 2.2d, whats your opinion? 2. Is it worth it to spend more money for a facelift one (with the touchscreen) and why? Thanks!
Azam Chaudhri I got an Exide one from EuroParts. It’s about 50mm longer and packs more punch. This size is what they put on US cars I believe. There are 2 holes for the securing clamp to accommodate both sizes. The Bosch battery is the most expensive so I went with the second most expensive of 4 options at £270. That should do it for several years now. Piece of mind!! Battery prices have risen steeply since demand is higher due to COVID and cars sitting longer.
@@darrenedwards7078 Thanks for all the info. Much appreciated. Will check with Alfa first if they have ever changed the battery but otherwise will go ahead if its still on the original.. ☺️
Lovely car very expensive I would be disappointed with the battery issue and the other issues you have encountered: touchwood my mito which I purchased brand new but a fraction of the price is very good with only 6,300 miles .
Good video Neil. I would be really p_ssed off. I assumed it was an approved used car, did they check the underside or battery, obviously not, very poor preparation. Not acceptable on a car that costs that much. Underside looks like it's been used as a skateboard, that's crazy damage, why didn't the at least try to make it secure before selling it? Personally I would reject it. Look for another one, with a cleaner underside. The condition of that just shows me the previous owner hasn't given a toss about it, so what else has been abused?
These and alot of modern cars are just too low, evidenced by him needing to use wood to even get the lift under it. Even if you drive like an old lady, country back roads and british roads in general will tear them up in no time.Ferrari ground clearance on a regular car looks cool but thats all it does.
Neil, nice car mate. Unfortunately, looking at that damage on the underside, i suspect it has seen a trackday or 3.. I personally would take it back to them and demand my money back, just based on the underside damage alone. That’s the problem with buying these used unfortunately, chances are very good it’t either been tracked by someone having no business being behind the wheel of a 500HP car, or just plain been thrashed from day 1.. As much as i like these, and want one, i will have to wait till i have the money to get it new, i am wayyy too OCD to live with the knowledge that my pride and joy has been raped by some buffoon.. Same problem i found with 156 GTA’s (and 147 GTA’s..) I wanted a 156 GTA so bad, but the ones i went to look at all showed slight hints of some bit of unnecessary abuse mechanically, even though all of them were all polished up neat to look at, abuse is abuse unfortunately. Thats the nature of the beast with these type of exclusive cars. I ended up buying a mint condition rosso 156 2.5 V6 of another OCD owner, and still have it today. I enjoy it, and even though it’s not a GTA, i also know that it’s not been driven like one for the best part of it’s life. To be honest anyway, after having owned a GT 3.2 for a short while before the 156, i can honestly say that after a remap and CSC exhaust upgrade, the 156 is any day as fast and fun as the GT, and in my opinion sounds and still looks better..
Didn’t know the quad has a carbon prop. Must be very light. Hope to see it at some shows next year. Best sounding Alfa for a long, long time. Also I hope you gave the dealer both barrels down the phone for not checking the battery and for leaving you to sort the underside out considering how expensive these are. Alfa don’t half shoot themselves in the foot sometimes with dealer service. Must trade off people’s irrational love for the brand more than anything. Definitely worth keeping though, won’t depreciate for long these!
Not uncommon with all cars from all makes that have stop/start. I'm more surprised about the chrome coming off after three years. My GTA still has the original exhaust and the chrome tips are still like new after 17 years
Think I'd be pushing the dealer to replace the undertrays that are damaged. Unfortunately this illustrates exactly why Alfa dealers have a bad reputation, I'm sure you didn't pay sweetie money for the car, how difficult would it have been for them to put a tester over the battery when doing the pdi preparation?
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
@@ItaliaAutos wouldn't on a ramp as I don't have one but just rejected a 3yr old Focus ST-3 because it was so tatty underneath. Nice and shiny on the topside but deeply uncared for under and as a lot of your videos show the underside is what's going to cause problems.
Sorry, I'm as big an Alfa nut as anybody, and the 505bhp achieved from a 2.9 litre cutdown Ferrari engine is amazing, and this car does look incredible, but this really does just show how crap modern cars have become, the battery goes so you can't access the boot, the handbrake could be locked too because it electronic, the battery going leaving you stationary on a busy city junction and completely unable to push the car to some form of safety and convenience for you and every other road user going by, I'll stick with my old Alfas me thinks. My 164 has its battery in the boot too, but at least there is a key operated lock on the boot, I would love to meet the person who thought up keyless entry in the first place, I have a couple of things I'd like to say to them! It also looks to have the same problem as my Giulietta did, nearly new car with a load of rusted and buggered fixings wherever you look, strikes me they have really nailed the underside rustproofing on Alfas now, but have completely forgotten about the nuts and bolts which hold it all together
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
I really don’t get all of this underbody covering and air management on road cars these days, it’s not an F1 car doing 200mph all the time, I bet the average mph of a road car these days is about 30mph so, air management and aerodynamics on the underside is ridiculous. When I bought my 159 I took off the engine bay undertray, (which has about 20 odd screws and fasteners !), only to find that, where it sat under the front subframe it had a huge foam sound deadening panel, which was completely sodden and had started to rust the subframe. Needless to say, this thing went straight in the bin and the subframe got wire wheeled and wax oiled. IMHO these underbody covers are just a pain and only cause more problems later due to water retention and hiding stuff you would otherwise deal with before it’s too late. Just my thoughts and experience anyhow. Stunning car though Neil, since watching your first driving video on it, I have been quietly looking to buy one, (don’t tell the missus !) haha
So it looks good on the spec sheet , the higher the official top speed the better, thats why so much attention has been paid to the underbody air flow. I suspect that the designers and engineers were determined to beat the German competition and tried every trick in the book in the process.
@@greengrass9572 agreed, that's the only reason. It does nothing for aerodynamics or economy in normal use. Manufacturers probably use the Nurbugring or similar to outdo each other.
Aerodynamic drag is about 80-85% of power consumption at 70mph. So if you can knock off 5-10% of aerodynamic drag, you can improve fuel efficiency (and more importantly for Alfa, the official MPG and g CO2/km). Not to mention the QV is a performance car with a functional rear diffuser that needs a flat underbody to feed it, Ferraris have a totally flat underbody with a similar diffuser.
Aerodynamic drag underside of the car is exactly as power consuming as the one on the upper body. What's ridicolous is that many manufacturers don't put any attention to what happens there.
If in warranty why not just ask Alfa to sort those things on underside which have failed? Shame they have occurred so early on in ownership. Like you said cable tieing stuff already isn’t good.
green grass did he say he spends his days smashing the underside up on speed bumps? If he did I apologise, skipped some of it. If that’s happened in general in that space of time, it isn’t great. I’m not dissing Alfa, I have a 159. Just saying isn’t great....mate
@@Jackanackanorie its a second hand car so no he hasn't been hitting speed humps himself in souch a short period of ownership I suggest the previous owner did and he said that the previous owner used it as a daily so that means its more likely the previous owner got tired of dodging the same speed humps daily and accepted the bangs and crunches. I don't think there is any component failure in this car , apart from the battery.
Dealerships, thay always do the absolute minimum don't they. Could they not have cleared those stones out, replaced a few missing clips, fixed the jacking point or prechecked the battery before selling it on? I'm not sure what you payed for it but even second hand these aren't exactly cheap. I bought a 145 cloverleaf (also 3 years old) many years ago I had to take that back at the time to replace the rear shocks and the exhaust which was rotten... they claimed they hadn't noticed yet they had serviced the car its entire life.
I've been thinking about buying a used Giulia 2.0 and this video has put me right off; it seems like Alfa still can't be bothered to develop their cars properly.
Yes please don't buy it. it's not a car for you. There are plenty overpriced German junkmobile with diesel engine and base specs out there for you. They don't use undertray or batteries, they use alien technology so they never break down.
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
It seems this car has been tracked unfortunately (and gone off once or twice..) No other explanation for the large amount of damage on the underside. I live in a place where potholes and bad road surface is the norm, and my 2002 Alfa is easily as low slung as the Giulia, and still doesnt have damage anywhere close to this extend. Please Neil, take that car back and demand a refund. I would certainly not be willing to accept damage like that. That’s the problem with these. They were mostly bought new by yobbos with way too much money, having no business being behind the wheel of a 500 HP car, and end up being taken to a trackday, or being thrashed from day 1. That said, there are surely a small number of owners who would have taken good care of their cars from day 1, and not driven it like a tool. So, there will be another better one out there. Take this one back.
Italia Autos hi Neil. In that case i apologize for my assumption that it was tracked, the damage just seems a bit excessive for everyday road rash. Being in contact with the original owner can be helpful. Whatever you decide, i hope it works out well. BTW, i really like your videos, i work on my ‘84 GTV6 and 156 V6 myself (kind of have to, as there are NO specialists where i live. In fact, nobody i would even consider to touch my cars) Your videos is not only of entertainment value, but very helpful as well. Keep it coming. I am amazed/shocked by the crazy amounts of rust under some of the cars you work on. I guess thats normal for the UK. I am quite fortunate to be in a dry climate, none of my cars have rust. Yet..😂
Sort of comforting to know even an expert is as vulnerable as the rest of us to Alfa’s little annoying quirks
It's what happens when you have unproven faith in a dealer.
if its a known problem the dealer should just put a new battery on at the time of sale. especially an expensive car like this
I think it is safe to conclude that Neil got the car quite cheap given the look of the underside of it. Being an experienced mechanic ha can sort that out easily. Those plastic covers also keep the moisture in better and cause bottom to rust. Quite a common issue in Sweden on newer cars. Neil, you should remove all of them and rust proof your underbelly before replacing the broken covers to keep your car in perfect nick.
I was thinking about doing that.
Hope you do some more of these! Not much information on UA-cam about Giulias from someone that actually knows what they’re on about. Good to see you got sorted with a new battery, should’ve been done before you collected the car really! Thanks for the video.
More videos hopefully coming in the future
My original 2010 battery failed last month too. Girlfriend wanted to listen to the radio while I went shopping. She said the radio only went for about an hour. 159 Ti 2.2 JTS. And the original spark plugs gave up as well. It was not always starting on the first go. And only 104,000 Kms. 😁😁
The underneath is a mess. Doesn't look as though it was cared for very well either by the previous owner or the dealer. Being an early model this sits lower than the revised springs (from around 2018) which were too high, and then lowered a bit again from 2019. Then you've got the other two emerging major problems with the early models. First is water ingress into the ECU and loom. Alfa did not revise the scuttle panel for RHD cars so water just pours down onto the engine ECU. Scuttle panel was revised for later models. Second carbon build up in the inlet tracts and valves etc. It's a direct injection engine with all the usual associated carbon buildup problems. Engine revised for Euro6d models from 2019 with second set of port injectors (12 injectors in total). Good luck with this early model Quad, you're going to need it.
I love the fact that even new Alfa’s have hiccups just like the older cars. Though after 6 months of owning a 7 year old Giulietta I haven’t had a single problem. Still waiting 😁🤞
Giulietta is tempting as a future car, good looking Alfa. I just can't get over those horrible power window switches. I actually brought them up on the youtube channel Roadster Life on his video on the development of your car. He said "Sadly Fiat was in no position to splurge for model-specific window switches anymore..." Check out his channel, he has an interesting insight into Italian cars as a designer.
rogue yeah that’s a point, my blue and me system doesn’t work either...
rogue yeah that’s exactly what I’ve done too, works an absolute treat!
Adam N you can’t let window switches put you off the car though... for what it worth I absolutely adore my Giulietta!
Oh they're coming trust me.
That was fascinating ! I've seen far worse under newer cars, and what I loved the fact that everything that wears out on the Guilia Cloverleaf is fixable - by anyone with a decent set of ordinary Alfa tools - Thank you so much for video, really appreciate the learning experience.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The 159 I drive now is my third Alfa, never had Gremlins in my Alfas other than annoying noises and rattles from the interior. I would say cars like any other car with their weak spots. Maybe I have great mechanic so my experience is really positive, or maybe because I buy my cars second hand so the previous owner sorted everything out during the warranty period.
Well, 146 suspension needed new wishbones every 30k km,, 156 as well with those squeaky upper wishbone bushes, also TS used some oil so I needed to top it out from time to time, but only with 156 1.8 while the older 2.0 in 146 did not drink too much at all. With 159 I only had clutch dying when I was in Turkey, but that was Valeo 50k km after replacement.
Maybe I am subjective, but I know many German car owners that brag about how their cars are superior so they do not need to visit mechanic ever, but they drive 30km at most while I can now sit in my Alfa and drive 6000 km to Portugal and back if I wish, without any problem. This is what I usually do with my family every summer, we love our Alfas.
Which version of 159 do you own? And how would you compare it with its German rivals?
@@wingonglingou2042 I own a 2009 sedan 1.9 JTDm 150hp.
Objectively it is as good as any german car, interior quality is good, my car has 250k km on odometer and it still looks very good inside, nothing is broken, every light works and everything is functional.
Maybe you can find few spots that can be better and probably are better build on Audi or BMW, for example wheels on air vents are turning smoother in Audi, maybe air con knobs feel more sturdy, however this is really neat-picking and I am sure there will be many things better made in Alfa, for example the steering wheel size, turning resistance, lock to lock speed, seating position, interior design, smell of the interior (oh yes), and so on.
German cars are good, however not even close to perfect as many people religiously believes.
@@BojanBojovic How is it like to drive? Especially compared to RWD rivals? I remember reviewers praising its handling when launched and then doing somersault afterwards and criticizing for the same...
@@wingonglingou2042 Compared to Audi it is much more direct, pointed, focused and involving. There is a significant difference in steering speed and accuracy, VW simply does not care about those things, they made Audio to be generic and little bit boring so it can appeal to majority of drivers. Of course you can compare it with a regular A4 and S4, not RS.
Compared to BMW, again you can not compare it to M3, however a regular 3 series is softer and the steering is not as precise. It has more body roll but someone may perceive it as more comfortable. I personally do not like soft suspension. BMW is close to what Alfa 159 offers, just for me personally it is a watered down experience.
Alfa 159 is for me personally much more comfortable car, better seats, better handling, better seating position, ergonomics even BMW usually excels at this.
As for FWD vs RWD, well in those normal cars that go up to 200 hp or even little bit more there is not much of a difference as you can not drift that easily with the car that weights over 1600kg. If you drive FWD car as it should then there is no difference below 250hp.
The amount of grip you get in 159 is incredible, not only for a FWD car, however Audi does not show some major weakness in this area, just it is very boring to drive and not enjoyable at all.
I would say you can not make a mistake with any of those cars, it all depends of what you are looking for. For me personally Alfa is the most beautiful of them, the most enjoyable and involving car in this comparison, if we are looking at those high spec versions, things look little bit different then.
@@BojanBojovic I see. The styling of 159 is something else. The road presence is unmatched. I am confused between this, the 'New Edge' Mondeo, 'Kinetic design' Mondeo and E90 3 series.
Neil....great video and an awesome car. However a warning to all QV owners. You do need to remove the middle under panel and check the condition of the rear silencer mounting brackets and the sub-frame those brackets are bolted to. I was shocked when I saw mine a couple of years ago (I've a 67 plate QV). Mine was an ex demo 6 months old car and had been run through a winter. If the road salt has got hold of your brackets as it had mine, you are in for a shock. There was serious bi-metal salt corrosion between the sub frame and the brackets. The air inside this area is very still part of the car due to the excellent under-car aerodynamics. But with the heat from the silencer its perfect conditions for this salt corrosion to get hold of the bracket and frame. I can see in some years to come many QV owners with their silencer dropping from the car. I had this repaired with the dealer under warranty who didn't quibble for a moment. Alfa doesn't need any more corrosion issues to plague it but in my opinion left unchecked this could be serious for the future. Im surprised there hasnt been a recall. But I do suspect this has now been corrected with later models, but Im not sure. So get it checked out and repaired if required. Apart from that my car has been faultless except for the dreaded battery issue too. Its a fabulous car. But I love my Alfas so Im probably biased :-)
Maybe Neil could do a video on this, checking his. ?
A very honest review. One does wonder what all that underside covering will mean for rust. Will it help to keep stuff cleaner and thus more rustfree or will it trap moisture and lead to all sorts of problems. Time will tell. It will be a good subject for a later video. Removing any of that stuff will however be a pain in theeeeee (beep). My tip for that tear: Raid the wifes shopping bag for a HDPE bottom straightener insert, cut a piece out of it and use popnails to put it in place. These tiewraps will start to wear off at their connection loops almost emmediately.
All in all, this car looks well made and designed easy to work on. For 50k miles and 3 yrs, the undercarriage is not too bad. I like this car and think its awesome. Well done buying this. I think this undercarriage could benefit from a soapy power wash! Lots of road grime and dirt. If I had access to a lift, my car would be immaculate under it as well as on the paint.
Thanks for sharing
@@ItaliaAutos I just like your car too much! So, it hurts to see it all dirty and muddy underneath. I own the Giulia 2.0 Veloce model myself. Love the car, its fantastic. I couldn't afford the QV or I would have bought it. My car is a 2019 with Nero Edizionne package and I installed tons of carbon fiber interior and exterior bits. Looks quite well actually. Cheers friend! Enjoy your car. Tip for the battery issue, keep your keys far away from the car whenever its parked. Also, keep the batteries in your keys replaced annually. They have something to do with losing car battery power, particularly if the keys are close enough to the car while being parked.
I use a faraday box for my car keys so that wouldn’t cause an issue. I’ll be enjoying the car don’t worry.
I'd take it straight to a tuner, not to get more power, but to disable the stopstart and cillinder deactivation completely 👍🏼
Awesome video with quality content! Keep it up. YT is full of people driving the QV around and hyping the exhaust note and blaming the center console all though the center console is just fine! Looking forward to YOUR future QV videos. You got yourself a subscriber!👊🏻
Thanks! Will do!
When I bought my Giulia Q (that was 1 year in the showroom), I demanded a new battery. When I don't drive it, it stays parked on the garage connected to a Ctek battery charger.
I owned 2 new Giulia’s (not company cars, enthusiast owned) both of which had battery issues. Both required new battery’s inside 9 months. Awesome cars and so much better than the equivalent BMW/Audi/Mercedes by a long shot (if you love driving)…
Yeah it's very common.
Sweet idea for a video mate. Cheers. Love all those covers for cooling and aero underneath.
I trust you park this beast and look back at it sometimes as you walk away.
Every time
Thanks for your honesty with the issues with the the car Neil. I’m surprised the battery let go so early. Would expect it off a cheapo EFB battery but looked this up and can see it’s a AGM. Maybe they are just very battery dependent. I’ve seen AGM batteries last 10 years on other cars. Informative video as always :)
A non functioning start stop system is always a hint for some kind of defect. Most of the time the battery needs to be replaced, sometimes other things - but it has definitely a reason, at least a longer period of not driving the car or only short trips. Mine didn't work because of a marten bite. I had no check engine light.
I remember my modified Punto GT turbo used to get through plastic side skirts like nobody’s business with bloody ramps/jacking points.
That sounds like a nightmare man, good luck going forward 🍀
I have a 2020 Stelvio, not had an issue so far but, I carry a Noco Boost HD Jump Starter under my seat so that I can connect it to the points in the engine bay. This allows enough power to operate the boot so I can access the battery. I then take the Noco and jump start the car. £100 piece of kit for peace of mind.
There's a shocker battery problems glad the new ones come with the problems we're all used to. Bit surprised about the undertray things
I had that sound on my QV, and it was rear suspension end link. I had disassembled whole rear of my car to find out lol.
thats what alfa are doing to mine now. the jacking point wasnt the cause still. update video in a few weeks .
At last a great video of the underside, messing with trying to find a way to get mine on axle stands....tricky with the panels. The battery not charging is 'normal' apparently to keep the emissions down, off the ctek for a decent drive and mine's at 12.4 -12.6v! The warning lights can be reset by turning the steering fully each way.
Will you be doing the auxiliary belt? That would be well worth a video!!
Glad it was just a battety and not intermittent electrical gremlins that you could of been chasing for ever......
I like the front strut top mounts....check out the strengthening braces cast into them.....they look solid.
Be interesting to know the dealer price for the ripped undertray. Those look almost carpetted which presumably reduces spray and road noise.
At least now with the new battery you should have peace of mind as far as starting is concerned but dont like the electric boot and handbrake meaning you cant do basics like push the car to the side or access items.
Had similar problems with my Abarth 500, my Giulietta QV. Both died at 24 months. According to the battery replacement guy, the OEM batteries are somewhat "budget" selections *cough*
They were replaced with better batteries that have lasted well over 6 yrs each.
Nice! I suppose you're gonna spray most of the unprotected underside with rustwax?
Oh yeah, i've been hunting those flapping cover panels on my Bmw and realized I always need large washers or they come loose again.
Greetings from OZ. My Z3 and my Alfa Spider both had sluggish batteries last month. No hesitation replacing both as the expense is nothing compared to the bastards not starting. That stop start rubbish has to go. The menu should stop it but I guess it all reset when the battery died 3 times. My daughter's X5 battery went flat but charged up ok. That still got the rocket. Fail once and it's gone. I was staggered at the scrape marks underneath. The previous owner went off roading? Best of luck with it.
Bottom of my Veloce front bumper looks the same . They are a low riding car as standard and Alfa even raised the ride height slightly on later QVs because of the scraping . Unfortunately it’s just a product of speed humps and a low car
Stelvio QV - yes, battery failed pretty early on. Alfa replaced it gratis. I've fitted a stop-start dongle to disable it unless I want to activate it. Well worth it. Have had spurious CEL and rough running after cold start on occasion - usually a restart clears it. Not sure why but that has not happened for a while now. We live in rural Oz, 370km from nearest dealer...so am planning to do most maintenance myself or locally. Just passed 50kkm. I'm concerned about the DI (2019 model, no port injection) and carbon buildup in the intake - still searching for a 'solution', if there is one. We don't drive it every day, or weeks at a time, and sometimes the key is very lazy to unlock the car, seems like it all hibernates and takes a while to wake up.
The joys of owning an Alfa, Neil! Seriously though after spending that much money... :(
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
@@ItaliaAutos yes a very good point. My comment was more aimed at your emotional up and down during the battery issues! Top video as always and glad it's working out
@@tomwills918 battery is all sorted. Yes it was annoying but it wasn't the end of the world.
Good vlog neil if I ever get a fiat or alfa you will be the place I go to I live in Lincolnshire but I woud treat it as a day out lol
Had mine from new, new rear shocks, front discs and sadly front spoiler at 45,000 miles. A early 2017 model so lower suspension so spoiler suffered. Same split on underfloor mat.
Any other big issues? Why the shocks and discs?
Sounds like an internal busbar problem within the battery. It can happen where either one of the welded joints is fractured & makes intermittent connection or where the posts are atteched to the end cells due to mechanical stress to the posts themselves. A battery cable which puts a lot of side loading on the terminal will cause it over time. It gives odd symptoms as the battery is actually good from a capacity perspective but every now & again it goes open circuit & hence is apparently completely dead. Dead cells give a different symptom as even when the battery is fully charged it seems flat as the voltage is low so slow crank & generally a dashboard full of warnings due to low voltage.
Can't believe alfa didn't use stainless bolts underneath
name one manufacturer that does.
@@ItaliaAutos true that
@@ItaliaAutos My Koenigsegg Gemera has some S/S bolts but the remainder are titanium.
Thanks for the video Neil, and giving us a view after 3 yrs use. Overall its seems pretty good in terms of wear & tear. I guess good for you to get your eye in, as once warranty stops on these, they'll be heading your way :-)
Right on
Nice video congratulations, all in all the beast is fine, unfortunately the rubbing under the spoiler is inevitable due to the height, but I would have removed that canvas cover under the body which is useless.
Thanks for the info!
0:31 hi, about your garage roof :) : underneath , I can see an isolation layer (polyurethane)? and then the interior visible part of the roof, is that plastic ? I just have the upper metal and I need to isolate without putting much weight on it. I see it opens so my guess is that is not too heavy. Great working place congrats.
Fortunately for me my 1967 GTV has no such issues😹😹😹
Modern cars have all these weird errors when the battery is faulty. A stable, proper battery voltage is so important for all the different computers on a modern car. I think it is somewhat weird that a dealer doesn't simply replace it as standard when selling a 3 year old car. Its a 100 quid of insurance really.
They certainly ain’t £100!
@@darrenedwards7078 I would be very suprised if the dealer paid more than 100 quid for a battery. The customer however, oh boy...
Great vid mate got a 17 plate qv aswell 💪🏽
I’ve never seen such a dirtier messed up bottom than this! Was it taken off road? Mine looks like brand new under it, all depends how the owner treats it and takes care of it and it really shows.
Last owner lived in the country side and had to drive down tracks to get to his house.
All those rusty assembly screws and bolts are quite disappointing. On my QV the carbon ceramic brakes, the bolts fixing the rotor to the bell were very badly rusted after 2 years, worth checking too.
luckily i dont have those fitted on mine
Lovely Jubbly video, not just Peugeot's then whose stop starts are tempremental.
I've had my QV for about 6 months now, also 3yo. Had battery problems too. Similar symptoms, mostly erratic S/S. Fortunately I worked out the battery was the problem early before it let me down.
PS Great tip on that jacking point, I'll sort mine out!
Any issues with rattles and knocks
@@ItaliaAutos I've got a minor barely audible hollow sounding rattle over some rough surfaces that I suspect might be the jacking point you mentioned. Also have a little creak that comes from the top of the instrument panel. Otherwise mine is silent. Mine is a 17 reg with 30k miles.
@@ItaliaAutos I've also got an airbag pressure error that occasionally comes up but clears with my OBD reader - my car gets driven one a week or fortnight, I think it might be related to battery discharge or maybe the car has a charging issue (?).
Pressure sensor that is...
Fantastic informative video. (as always). Many thanks.
Nowadays i dont think we should use broken down anymore but rather Computered down!its the computer ,learning phase gonna be long, i learned a lot from my alfa 159 and next car going for a Lexus i want reliability.but i been a proud alfa owner since 2013- 202X
Looking at the rubbing in the underside, the front spoiler looks like parking over kerbs as it goes to the wings, but the rest looks like scuffing from race track kerbing and gravel traps (gravel in the undertray?). Has it been trackdayed?
no just the amount of speed bumps on the roads
Batterys are shitty these days specially in modern cars with all sort of electro things. Lifetime for battery is like 3 years or something like that here in Finland. Bought my myself brand new 159 turbo benzina back in da days 2011 and same problems as you did started to appear in 2014. Cause was the battery. Got myself gray hair for that and learned couple of new words 😀
I'd be very disappointed with the state of the underside.
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
@@ItaliaAutos good point. I may have missed the mileage, how many miles does it have?
Its in the title lol. 50k 😀
Looking at the underside rash, that car appears to have spent some time on track days. Also get the dealer to replace the underfloor panelling. It is aereo and for NVH.unless you purchased it as a trade buy, they should never have sold a 3 year old car with those defects.
There should be a lead under the backseat to open the boot with.
Had the same problem with my Porsche Cayman s. So I now have a solar trickle charger on my screen in the corner. Plugged in to my cig lighter
The exact reason old school is best,too many electronics.Italy and electronics don't mix.At least it's a beautiful beast,looking good stuck at the side of the road.
Right on
Good vlog. Cool car. Does the stop/start work with the new battery?
Yes it does
Batteries on the Giulias are shite. Got the battery on my 2017 2.2. Super replaced as well after quite a few situations as you describe. Had to go to a few different dealers before I found one that replaced it on warranty rather than just charging it though. Hopefully it just affects the early generations.
Thanks for this video Neil .
It’s crazy to think that if like what happened to yourself no manual override is available to release the boot .
Has the 2020 generation Giulia’s have one fitted ?
If yes to above see if yours could be modified to have one fitted .
didnt see one but in later cars the seat fold down and theres an emergency open inside the boot.
Italia Autos Well that is more practical Neil.
Now for Alfa to get them retrofitted to all Giulia’s .
Any plans to do any videos on the regular Giulia now that they’re a few years old? I’m eyeing up a 2016 launch edition with only 13k miles so would be useful to know any model specific stuff to look out for
as soon as people book them in for work yes. to new for me at the moment
Unfortunately, these come standard with an 80ah EFB (Varta) in the UK. Europe has an option for a cold weather pack, this consists of a 95ah EFB and a larger alternator (apparently). This is a common issue, not helped by flawed IBS charging logic.
If the EFB is left to stand without charge like mentioned in the video, like all batteries it degrades over time. As a result, the SOC according to the IBS lowers and the car is rarely able to charge it back to decent capacity on its own. Most Giulia owners also own a trickle charger too, alfa even sell one.
AGM will help and is a good upgrade, but this is not standard from alfa so unless specified the dealer will fit an OEM EFB. The OEM on these cars has a rough life span of 3-4 years under normal usage, which isn’t great. A quick google of IBS and SOC will also highlight these issues with other brands too so not limited to alfa, I suspect emissions and fuel economy have something to do with this.
If it’s a daily driver with regular long distance drives it will be fine, if it’s a weekend B road blaster or a low mileage, town driver invest in a trickle charger. I recommend CTEK but plenty of other brands around.
I got mine from the same dealer and had the same issues as you. I truly wish they would regularly charge these batteries if the car is on the forecourt for any length of time. Would save a lot of trouble.
Once you get past these battery issues the Giulia is truly awesome in every way.
Good info.
i feel your pain with start stop. my mito acts funny when start stop actually wants to work. I've got into the habit of turning it off before i drive. i wish i knew more about ecu programming id just disable it altogether... in theory its a great idea in reality its a ball ache and very rarely works. great vid to actually see all the aero going on under the car, I've never seen it before. Id love it if you did go with pink pipe tips lol epic
Hi Neil, I like your chanel!
I'm looking to buy a Giulia next year, can you give me an advice please:
1. 2.0 petrol or 2.2d, whats your opinion?
2. Is it worth it to spend more money for a facelift one (with the touchscreen) and why?
Thanks!
Watch my stelvio video that will give you more of an idea
Great video. Thank you for posting.
☺️
You are so welcome!
Makes me wonder if I should just bite the bullet and put a new battery on mine. Do the batteries have any date stamps on when they were made?
That’s what I did. Put a AGM type as an upgrade with 850 CCA. My cost as didn’t want the hassle of dealer visit and recharge etc.
@@darrenedwards7078 thanks for the reply. So was that a more powerful battery that standard. If so how much was it and what make was it please?
Azam Chaudhri I got an Exide one from EuroParts. It’s about 50mm longer and packs more punch. This size is what they put on US cars I believe. There are 2 holes for the securing clamp to accommodate both sizes. The Bosch battery is the most expensive so I went with the second most expensive of 4 options at £270. That should do it for several years now. Piece of mind!! Battery prices have risen steeply since demand is higher due to COVID and cars sitting longer.
@@darrenedwards7078 Thanks for all the info. Much appreciated. Will check with Alfa first if they have ever changed the battery but otherwise will go ahead if its still on the original.. ☺️
Lovely car very expensive I would be disappointed with the battery issue and the other issues you have encountered: touchwood my mito which I purchased brand new but a fraction of the price is very good with only 6,300 miles .
other issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about
Is there a tracker installed?
Good video Neil. I would be really p_ssed off. I assumed it was an approved used car, did they check the underside or battery, obviously not, very poor preparation.
Not acceptable on a car that costs that much.
Underside looks like it's been used as a skateboard, that's crazy damage, why didn't the at least try to make it secure before selling it?
Personally I would reject it. Look for another one, with a cleaner underside. The condition of that just shows me the previous owner hasn't given a toss about it, so what else has been abused?
The new Giulias seem to take a lot of abuse with no issues. The build quality has improved a lot compared to old Alfas.
Underside condition of any car depends on driver and roads covered. Things like jacking points get damaged with people not being careful
These and alot of modern cars are just too low, evidenced by him needing to use wood to even get the lift under it. Even if you drive like an old lady, country back roads and british roads in general will tear them up in no time.Ferrari ground clearance on a regular car looks cool but thats all it does.
Neil, nice car mate. Unfortunately, looking at that damage on the underside, i suspect it has seen a trackday or 3.. I personally would take it back to them and demand my money back, just based on the underside damage alone. That’s the problem with buying these used unfortunately, chances are very good it’t either been tracked by someone having no business being behind the wheel of a 500HP car, or just plain been thrashed from day 1.. As much as i like these, and want one, i will have to wait till i have the money to get it new, i am wayyy too OCD to live with the knowledge that my pride and joy has been raped by some buffoon.. Same problem i found with 156 GTA’s (and 147 GTA’s..) I wanted a 156 GTA so bad, but the ones i went to look at all showed slight hints of some bit of unnecessary abuse mechanically, even though all of them were all polished up neat to look at, abuse is abuse unfortunately. Thats the nature of the beast with these type of exclusive cars. I ended up buying a mint condition rosso 156 2.5 V6 of another OCD owner, and still have it today. I enjoy it, and even though it’s not a GTA, i also know that it’s not been driven like one for the best part of it’s life. To be honest anyway, after having owned a GT 3.2 for a short while before the 156, i can honestly say that after a remap and CSC exhaust upgrade, the 156 is any day as fast and fun as the GT, and in my opinion sounds and still looks better..
Why don’t Alfa users buy one new / nearly new and spray everything underneath with Fluid Film to prevent rot in the first place?
Didn’t know the quad has a carbon prop. Must be very light. Hope to see it at some shows next year. Best sounding Alfa for a long, long time.
Also I hope you gave the dealer both barrels down the phone for not checking the battery and for leaving you to sort the underside out considering how expensive these are. Alfa don’t half shoot themselves in the foot sometimes with dealer service. Must trade off people’s irrational love for the brand more than anything. Definitely worth keeping though, won’t depreciate for long these!
all giulias have carbon prop, even the base 150hp 2.2jtd
Not uncommon with all cars from all makes that have stop/start. I'm more surprised about the chrome coming off after three years. My GTA still has the original exhaust and the chrome tips are still like new after 17 years
Think I'd be pushing the dealer to replace the undertrays that are damaged. Unfortunately this illustrates exactly why Alfa dealers have a bad reputation, I'm sure you didn't pay sweetie money for the car, how difficult would it have been for them to put a tester over the battery when doing the pdi preparation?
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
@@ItaliaAutos wouldn't on a ramp as I don't have one but just rejected a 3yr old Focus ST-3 because it was so tatty underneath. Nice and shiny on the topside but deeply uncared for under and as a lot of your videos show the underside is what's going to cause problems.
I was thinking of changing A35 to one of these, was it driven off road
Last Owner lived down a farm track l. I tried an a35 and didn't gel with it.
@@ItaliaAutos Dull?
So many electronics zapping the battery’s nowadays. my bmw needed a agm £££ and you had to reset the battery charging profile 🌚🌝
Sorry, I'm as big an Alfa nut as anybody, and the 505bhp achieved from a 2.9 litre cutdown Ferrari engine is amazing, and this car does look incredible, but this really does just show how crap modern cars have become, the battery goes so you can't access the boot, the handbrake could be locked too because it electronic, the battery going leaving you stationary on a busy city junction and completely unable to push the car to some form of safety and convenience for you and every other road user going by, I'll stick with my old Alfas me thinks. My 164 has its battery in the boot too, but at least there is a key operated lock on the boot, I would love to meet the person who thought up keyless entry in the first place, I have a couple of things I'd like to say to them!
It also looks to have the same problem as my Giulietta did, nearly new car with a load of rusted and buggered fixings wherever you look, strikes me they have really nailed the underside rustproofing on Alfas now, but have completely forgotten about the nuts and bolts which hold it all together
Isn't there a battery voltage warning in the OBD or diagnostic available to the user?
not a warning no
Did you buy this car as a trade sale or retail ? if retail I would be asking for this work to be sorted.
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
I really don’t get all of this underbody covering and air management on road cars these days, it’s not an F1 car doing 200mph all the time, I bet the average mph of a road car these days is about 30mph so, air management and aerodynamics on the underside is ridiculous.
When I bought my 159 I took off the engine bay undertray, (which has about 20 odd screws and fasteners !), only to find that, where it sat under the front subframe it had a huge foam sound deadening panel, which was completely sodden and had started to rust the subframe. Needless to say, this thing went straight in the bin and the subframe got wire wheeled and wax oiled.
IMHO these underbody covers are just a pain and only cause more problems later due to water retention and hiding stuff you would otherwise deal with before it’s too late.
Just my thoughts and experience anyhow.
Stunning car though Neil, since watching your first driving video on it, I have been quietly looking to buy one, (don’t tell the missus !) haha
So it looks good on the spec sheet , the higher the official top speed the better, thats why so much attention has been paid to the underbody air flow.
I suspect that the designers and engineers were determined to beat the German competition and tried every trick in the book in the process.
@@greengrass9572 agreed, that's the only reason. It does nothing for aerodynamics or economy in normal use. Manufacturers probably use the Nurbugring or similar to outdo each other.
Aerodynamic drag is about 80-85% of power consumption at 70mph. So if you can knock off 5-10% of aerodynamic drag, you can improve fuel efficiency (and more importantly for Alfa, the official MPG and g CO2/km). Not to mention the QV is a performance car with a functional rear diffuser that needs a flat underbody to feed it, Ferraris have a totally flat underbody with a similar diffuser.
Aerodynamic drag underside of the car is exactly as power consuming as the one on the upper body. What's ridicolous is that many manufacturers don't put any attention to what happens there.
@@neutronalchemist3241 so you're the expert then , and you've got a state of the art wind tunnel testing facility in you garage obviously.
wow, it will be interesting to see how much the undertrays cost
£140.
Not bad considering 👌
In the Netherlands they have 4 years unlimited warranty, don't you have that in the UK?
3 in the UK. But I've got an extra 12 months.
@@ItaliaAutos I still would switch off the stop start system, it puts a lot of strain on the battery
@@fhwolthuis to be honest the car is to powerful for stop start, car launches forward everything it restarts
How did the AA get into the boot without power?
Jump point under the bonnet.
I bought a new Polo and in less than 2 years the Exide battery completely failed, like 4 volts. Nobody was interested in talking to me.
It seems the German batteries aren't as good as they used to be
I suppose having a crane makes it much much easy to do any repairs
sure does
If in warranty why not just ask Alfa to sort those things on underside which have failed? Shame they have occurred so early on in ownership. Like you said cable tieing stuff already isn’t good.
green grass did he say he spends his days smashing the underside up on speed bumps? If he did I apologise, skipped some of it. If that’s happened in general in that space of time, it isn’t great. I’m not dissing Alfa, I have a 159. Just saying isn’t great....mate
@@Jackanackanorie its a second hand car so no he hasn't been hitting speed humps himself in souch a short period of ownership I suggest the previous owner did and he said that the previous owner used it as a daily so that means its more likely the previous owner got tired of dodging the same speed humps daily and accepted the bangs and crunches. I don't think there is any component failure in this car , apart from the battery.
Why didn't the dealer do a full check on the car before selling it as that would show the battery was on its way out
apparently they did but we all know what dealers can be like.
Think a will stick to my V6 gtv !,
Like stitching an open wound.. 🥺
Dealerships, thay always do the absolute minimum don't they. Could they not have cleared those stones out, replaced a few missing clips, fixed the jacking point or prechecked the battery before selling it on? I'm not sure what you payed for it but even second hand these aren't exactly cheap.
I bought a 145 cloverleaf (also 3 years old) many years ago I had to take that back at the time to replace the rear shocks and the exhaust which was rotten... they claimed they hadn't noticed yet they had serviced the car its entire life.
I've been thinking about buying a used Giulia 2.0 and this video has put me right off; it seems like Alfa still can't be bothered to develop their cars properly.
Its speed hump damage and a flat battery, what are you talking about?
The 2.0 won't have all that stuff underneath.
Some of these comments are making me laught.
@@ItaliaAutos ,don't worry envy is a terrible thing. You have arguably the best mass produced car in the world at the moment.
Yes please don't buy it. it's not a car for you. There are plenty overpriced German junkmobile with diesel engine and base specs out there for you. They don't use undertray or batteries, they use alien technology so they never break down.
Front suspension similar to Lancia Thesis
dont see these in the uk
Am I the only crazy one, that pressure washes the underside of the car once a year?
Just wandering, and I don't even live in the UK...
Go for it.
Try changing the oil filter.
Dead easy ita under the engine cover.
@@ItaliaAutos I have heard it was nearly impossible to get to from below the car...
@@Elaba_ it is because.you get to it from the top.
@@ItaliaAutos I have looked up the video I was referring to. It was the 2.2 JTD version.
Nope I'm talking qf
my 159s ate battery every 2 years!
Wow, 3 years and all the bolts and screws are rusted!is it because of the salts they use during winter
yep at 50k miles its been used all year round. i didnt want a garage queen as i will also be using it all year round.
@@ItaliaAutos its nice to see a mechanic driving a nice car! Working on cars all the time and not driving a nice one,i believe is 😥
Swap it for new Fiat 500 Electric. Bet that's fun.
Guilia QV used as a Jeep it seems
yeah the old owner lived on a farm track. hes been in contact with me. its a well loved car apart from some wear on the belly.
Interesting. My Mazda 6 is a similar age. Had it from new. Zero faults so for.
Someone went off roading in their Giulia
first owner lived on a farm track unfortunately
You did say 3 years old and only 50k...wow...I'd be very disappointed in that level of deterioration!!!!😱....looks shot to me 🙃
the issues are just wear and tear on a 3 year old higher mileage car. nothing to be upset about. would 99% of people even looked underneath there car on a ramp before buying it.
All speed hump damage.
yep its been a daily driver for the first 3 years of its life. all damage id expect
It seems this car has been tracked unfortunately (and gone off once or twice..) No other explanation for the large amount of damage on the underside. I live in a place where potholes and bad road surface is the norm, and my 2002 Alfa is easily as low slung as the Giulia, and still doesnt have damage anywhere close to this extend. Please Neil, take that car back and demand a refund. I would certainly not be willing to accept damage like that. That’s the problem with these. They were mostly bought new by yobbos with way too much money, having no business being behind the wheel of a 500 HP car, and end up being taken to a trackday, or being thrashed from day 1. That said, there are surely a small number of owners who would have taken good care of their cars from day 1, and not driven it like a tool. So, there will be another better one out there. Take this one back.
never been tracked. the last owner has been in contact with me. ill do an update video soon.
Italia Autos hi Neil. In that case i apologize for my assumption that it was tracked, the damage just seems a bit excessive for everyday road rash. Being in contact with the original owner can be helpful. Whatever you decide, i hope it works out well. BTW, i really like your videos, i work on my ‘84 GTV6 and 156 V6 myself (kind of have to, as there are NO specialists where i live. In fact, nobody i would even consider to touch my cars) Your videos is not only of entertainment value, but very helpful as well. Keep it coming. I am amazed/shocked by the crazy amounts of rust under some of the cars you work on. I guess thats normal for the UK. I am quite fortunate to be in a dry climate, none of my cars have rust. Yet..😂
Good video Neil but every time I watch one it puts me off Alfa's a little more. Too exotic and unreliable for me,I'd needs second car as standby.
My channel is about fixing alfas and fiat's. Can't really do a video like " well here's a perfect alfa" end of video. Lol