What car should he get?
 

Right everyone...here's the score my boss needs some advice. He has an Alfa you know that small hatch type. Its a diesel and he's had a problem with it. Its been in to the Dealers and they claim some very important big bolt related to the steering has snapped off. They have already had it for 3 days. He's come in to my room today and asked my advice:

1. Are Alfa's very reliable? I said as far as I know NO.
2. What can he get as an alternative for £13000 Maximum? It MUST be very comfortable with all the extras and ideally be a diesel. He does not want a VW nor a HONDA.

By the way the car is brand new and he is the kind of guy who doesn't want hassle and I assume would just like to part ex at a dealership. By the way a car a couple of years old is no problem as long as it is in goo nick.

Calling all experts...any ideas. If I have offended any Alfa owners out there that just what I heard.

Aaquil.

I owned an Alfa GTV...for eight weeks!

It was awful, and the dealers were even worse.

Anyway, diesel for around 13 grand, not a VW or Honda?

Focus TDCi, Seat Leon TDI, Octavia TDI? Personally, I`d go for a Focus but there you go.

Thanks Simon...

Yup the Focus TDCI would be the one for me also.

Seat - VW and Audi style build and cheap as chips pricing!!!

Mazda 3 Saloon/Hatch can be had in oil burner spec. Very reliable and all modcons.

Cheers

Ian

mazda 6? new vectra?

I had one of those Alfa hatchback type things (147 2 litre petrol) and it was very reliable apart from a few niggleing things. Oh yeh, the gearbox stared making a funny noise after I went into 3rd at 80mph by mistake :cuckoo: (ouch!). The dealer replaced the whole gearbox under warrantee, although I didn't mention my little mistake. :)

I think the current lineup (147, 156, 166, GT) is as reliable as most other makes but I hear the dealers can be awefull, although mine (AMC Chelmsford) was pretty good.

If he wants absolute comfort and good performance, its got to be the Skoda Superb. ok its a lot bigger, but it is the best car for the money if you want comfort and a diesel. I have two friends who have bought them once I persuaded them to actually go look at them. You'll poo poo them if you haven't seen & driven one, but after you do...

What about a Volvo diesel? He mentioned a volvo today I can't bloody remember which one!!!

Octavia VRS,he can get a 6 month old one for that money,or a Seat Cupra,bit older.Being turbos,they are £500 away from 225bhp.In fact,they are Scooby bashers.:)

Alfa's are suffering from an image problem, if you look at the polls and parkers etc, they do seem to be getting much better with build quality on the whole, they're still not upto the Japanese or the Germans for that matter. But it does seem to be hard for companies to shake off that image of bad reliability once they've got it.

If he wants a really good oil burner as mentioned, I think the Seat is the best bet.

You can get a Seat TDI Cupra for around that money (nearly new) maybe slighly more depending on age and miles. They're very well built, and benefit from platform, parts and technology sharing with their parent companies as someone has mentioned. They look nice too, got the Cupra subtle body kit on, and nice alloy wheels, lots more stuf as standard than a Focus in the same price range i reckon..Although Focus is good car, I would not hesitate to buy the Leon. Normally Seat's suffer from depreciation much more than perhaps a focus would, but the TDI's seem to be holding their value more steadily, and Seats in general are getting better because of the new ownership and much increased design, build, and product quality.

Would of thought, they would be pricey compared to already mentioned alternatives at that money!

Volvo S60 D5.......

Reffro I think that was it. He went to see one today but they will only offer him 11,000 max for his Alfa and its 1 year old with 3000 worth of extras on it. So he was saying that he wanted at least 12000. He is now contemplating trying to sell it private. I suggested Autotrader, he also thinks that if there are not likely to be anymore major probs that he would probably prefer keeping the Alfa as he does actually like it. He says he may get one of those Warranty thingys...is that a good idea?