Are really italian cars much worse?

[Gundun]

I had this shower though (say rant) I'd like to share with you all

So I've always been a german car fan, my first car was a 3-pots Opel Corsa, then I had a VW Polo, then a Z3, then a Mini (BMW), and then a Golf.
The Corsa drove 100k km only with a busted idle step motor that costed me 700€ in student money, the Polo was a top spec 1.9TDI Highline, the depressor broke at 50k km sending the engine regularly to lumpy mode that costed me about 1500€ including turbo, it died under the foot of my brother with 150k km on the counter while the upholstery was already falling down from the doorcards and that nasty rubbery skin the early 2000's VW had was shedding all over the dashboard.
Later came the Z3, where I spent all my first 6 months in wages fixing the cooling system.
The I drove a 2007 Mini Cooper D, very quick thing, just a pity it was so rattly you couldn't send the engine higher than 3000 RPM because the whole dashboard started buzzing like a freacking beehive was in the glovebox because of the very bad fastening of its interiors. I sold it at 98k km filled with frustration.
Ultimately I had a 7 gen. Golf, again top spec where I had to change the box at 30k km.
Meanwhile my dad drove an Audi A4 B4 that replaced 7 (seven) ABS units (never solved), whose pixels on the dash faded that ultimately died at 180k km for a seized oil pump.

Now, as you might know I am driving the latest Alfa Romeo Giulia. When my father in law saw it said "beautiful car, just a shame it's the wrong brand"...he (hardly) drives a 2012 VW Golf and for him it's like Gillette, the best a man can get.

I wonder where did Fiat and Alfa and Italian brands in general got such a bad name, so bad it cannot be erased even with three decades of comparable quality with competitors: Porsches engines from a not so far past couldn't last more than 80k km without blowing the cranckshaft bearings, BMW up to these days have terrible cooling systems, Mercs electronics was a nightmare until 10 years ago...yet nobody mentions it and everybody keeps bitching about Italian cars.
I am currently very happy about my Giulia: considering it's one of the first driving on the road I expected some sort of prototypish car held together with philips screws and rattling all over tha place: I onlu got a misplaced door trim and a licence plate holder that interfered with the PDC, and that's it for now (knocks on wood): it drives delightfully, it's quiet and quick, and it's a real headturner... I would never get so many looks if I was driving a 320d.

 

[Nodzed]

Italian cars have for the most part been things of beauty IMO the Alfas and Lancia's from the 70s/80s were in the most part a pleasure to look at even the Fiats (anyone ever drive a 132 supermirafiori or a 124 sport?) made anything else on the road seem like a chuckle bus, great cars BUT .... oh my, the electrics and the rust there was your problem, one sniff of English weather and they just died very quickly

 

[Gundun]

... the rust there was your problem, one sniff of English weather and they just died very quickly

But so do modern MX-5 for instance! And nobody bats an eye, on the contrary the MX-5 is an icon everybody should own at some point in life. What i don't get is what happened while I was still too busy pooping in my nappy so bad that modern Alfa still have to pay for such bad name?

Let's face it: I am not a Fiat or Alfa fanboy but their quality is no worse than other PSA Group car or even some germans. Is it because they disappeared from the USA market during their darkest era?

PS: that red Giulietta is gorgeous!

 

[Nodzed]

Well Lancia was so bad in the 80s that due to warranty claims (costs) they pulled out of the UK. Were they any worse than most of the crud offered from BL and Ford well probably not but by god the Italian cars knew how to rust, back in the 70s my Aunty had a 124 special (not the coupe the 4 door that later went on to be a Lada) it was a fantastic car and went like the preferable of a shovel, she had it 3 years and it ended up as a brown stain on her drive, honestly you've never seen a car rust so fast, my uncle vowed never to buy an Italian car again, unfortunately that was quite common. And go back to the 70s and BMWs Merc's etc were still fairly uncommon and early 70s the only VW you saw was a beetle, Italian cars were much more common in my childhood that German.

 

[5harp3y]

i've done 90k in 4 years in my Volvo v40 which is basically a ford focus underneath but with a french PSA engine.

only problem in that whole time is a puncture and rear brake discs

lots of thoughts around reliability are down to historic ideas, most cars are the same now and have varying levels of reliability. only problems being that the more expensive the car the bigger the bills.

 

[Zeti]

When a car was made of mechanical and electrical components, 30 years ago, the Italian were well known as breaking down for electrical failures and rust on the body.
In the same time with the care for environment (euro2....6 pollution norms) and the high involvement of the ECU, the car producers decided to reduce the lifetime of car components to the average lifetime of the car, which is 6 years to max 10.
So, prior to '80s any producer made efforts to make cars which lasts 100 years and after '80s just 10 and back in the scraper!
The competition on the market is for the lowest price. With most of the components made in China, for all the brands, all cars are more or less equals on reliability terms.
And a last note: during the history of the cars, Italian style was offering the most elaborate and sexy shapes/ lines of the car's bodies. That's way I'm convinced that the Japanese designer of the Zed 3 was highly appreciating Italian sport car's lines!

 

[Grumps]

Italian cars have for the most part been things of beauty IMO the Alfas and Lancia's from the 70s/80s were in the most part a pleasure to look at even the Fiats (anyone ever drive a 132 supermirafiori or a 124 sport?) made anything else on the road seem like a chuckle bus, great cars BUT .... oh my, the electrics and the rust there was your problem, one sniff of English weather and they just died very quickly

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I owned a Supermirafiori, I bought it in a lovely shade of flat brown and spent a fortune having it painted Ferrari red. A week later I smashed it up! Bugger!

 

[Jack Ratt]

Very nearly bought an Alfa Spider a few weeks before I bought my Zed. I was about to sign on the dotted line when I held back and said I wanted to think it over for a few days. I walked away and rang them back the next day to say I'd have it. Too late, the next guy to see it bought it.
I love the Alfa Spider but not as much as I love my Zed

 

[Low Rider]

Very nearly bought an Alfa Spider a few weeks before I bought my Zed. I was about to sign on the dotted line when I held back and said I wanted to think it over for a few days. I walked away and rang them back the next day to say I'd have it. Too late, the next guy to see it bought it.
I love the Alfa Spider but not as much as I love my Zed

Just think if you had purchased the Alfa we wouldn't of had you on here mate. Glad it was a Zed that took your fancy

 

[Jack Ratt]

Just think if you had purchased the Alfa we wouldn't of had you on here mate. Glad it was a Zed that took your fancy

You never know Steve, I might still have bought the Zed, actually, still might get an Alfa too but I'm struggling for space at the minute

 

[Nodzed]

I owned a Supermirafiori, I bought it in a lovely shade of flat brown and spent a fortune having it painted Ferrari red. A week later I smashed it up! b*****!

Bet It was quick though? (well before you smashed it up)

 

[t-tony]

Mechanically the Alfa Sud was a fantastic little car ran like it was on rails but they simply dissolved along the lines of the Lancia Beta. What a piece of s*** that was. My old boss loved his Alfa GT Veloce man that was fast, a flat 6 boxer engine.

Tony.

 

[t-tony]

A friends brother, an Italian lad, bought a new 131 Miafiour from where I worked years ago and it had electric front windows. Anyway Lou couldn't resist playing with them and lowered the drivers one at very high speed on a motorway and it parted company with the rest of the car . . . . . .

Tony.

ps. I remember the TV ad for the 132 stating that it had a twin choke vaber (Webber to you and me!) carburettor.

 

[Nodzed]

When I seventeen I wanted to buy a dark blue Guiletta (same as my top picture) oh god it was beautiful cream leather, wood steering wheel and gear knob, but my Dad talked me out of it so I bought a Capri Ghia didnt quite have the same presence

 

[Grumps]

Bet It was quick though? (well before you smashed it up)

Yep it went well mate. Not anymore tho!

 

[billz]

When we had our 2001 Alfa Spider 2.0ts they still had the electrical problems. We needed a new Fuse box and then an Ecu during the 2 years of ownership. oooh and the ignition failed also.
They make fantastic looking cars but the reliability issues may well still be there.
Look at the Ferrari. Top end sports car looks great but how many have actually been driven to prove their reliability.

 

[Zeti]

Most of Ferraris are damaged badly or wrecked in the first miles , of the first trip....
As i said seems that all Zed owners are/were seduced by the sexy Alfa!

 

[Gundun]

When I was looking for my spider comeback I had a few Alfa Spider (pre-1992) in the crosshairs. The age and need of care held me back and pointed me towards the fact that the Z3 could still be unded as a daily. The early Duetto Spider is still in my bucket list.

Interestingly enough I see in this thread that when it comes to Alfa all the memories go back in time, back then when it was a reliability nightmare: it could be because the lack of a proper lineup in the last 10-15 years or the lack of appeal from Fiat-shared FWD platforms not so appreciated by petrolheads...?