Arseholes of the year award goes too Alfa Romeo

[Morgan84]

I chose the 1.3 diesel as it was a chain driven engine of GM/Fiat creation as used in Vauxhall's and Ford's Ka so thought it would be a good sound engine;I was keen on the 6 speed manual gearbox and thought it should be a economical car to use to locally run about,plus do at that time a regular 80 mile round trip,plus weekend trips out.

 

My VW Lupo 1.4 TDi has just done 9000 miles,and has been a faultless car,and performance wise kicked the living crap out of the Alfa - the 75 BHP Lupo left the 90 BHP Mito for dust.The Lupo does easily over 55 mph on a bad day,yet we worked out today the Mito in 7800 miles had done a average of 29 MPG !

 

My Mother has a 2010 Freelander 2 TD4 with about 3000 miles;only does very short 3 mile runs,and does over 44 mpg,and hasn't even given a whimper of complaint with short runs.

 

Why did I buy diesel ? I like the gruffness,as they still sound like a engine,and not super quiet

[Albert Ross]

Had I known you were going to buy a car with that godawful Indian built 1248 diseasel in it, I would have warned you off........ dreadful lump. Gutless, loom chafing, injector dribbling, oil/fuel mixing, chain snapping, misfiring, rattling, turbo leakagy, egr killing piece of shit.

[Morgan84]

Yes,it killed a EGR valve at around 6000 miles !

 

Piece of shit sums it up well

 

To think I chose that over a new X-Type Mondeo,Volvo C30 and a A3 !

 

Lesson learned.I'ts going to be a while before I think of another new car;just going to use and enjoy the ones we already have and wait and see what comes along. I was tempted by a Fiesta Ecoboost,but thats new technology,and think its best left for other guinea pigs to test for the first couple of years !

[Mr Lobster]

AC's cheaper than most other places, which is enough for most "I want a blue one" type punters. They stick unprepped cars out on the lot and wait to see if the customer pulls them up about a ding or borked wheels. If they don't then cha-ching. They stack them high and sell them cheap then bum you on the finance. Oh and if try to bring one back then good luck!

Fair play to them though they do seem like a well organized operation with ruthless stock rotation rules, which can find you on the right end of a bargain. If they didn't know what the where doing they wouldn't be in the position they're in. I think if they worked a bit more on there customer satisfaction post sale then they could improve their reputation massively but then again why would they they've already sold you the car.

 

Spot on.

 

Worked for AC for 5 years and they are very good at selling cheap cars. The rental operation generates a lot of used stock which means they can sell it very cheap and still make a fortune out of it but customer service is appalling in general. They also get (or at least got) a fair amount of ex daily rental from Enterprise and the like as well.

 

A lot of the customer service issue comes from the top though. The directors and area managers talk to the branch managers / DPs like shit and staff turnover is huge - Accrington Motorstore went through something silly like 18 general managers in just over twelve months such was the pressure put upon them to make a profit (which they never did). There are still some terrible area managers in the organisation though.

 

You can get a serious bargain though - my SEAT came from AC and despite the fact that I got a discount for staff was a VERY cheap car and six years on has been superb. But then it never went back to them with any issues.

 

They probably don't worry that much about what people think because whilst they can sell cars so cheap people go back regardless.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I remember the caliper bit, they had one in at the garage my lad used to work at and I'm sure he said you're supposed to connect it to a computer just to get the bloody caliper to release.

 

New 'modern cars are shite' shocker: Efficient Dynamics BMW's with stop start; new battery? You'll be needing a special battery then, a mere £310 fitted requiring special BMW only software and the car needing an overnight stay in the workshop so the battery can 'rest'. Need your car now? Tough shit. Aftermarket? Cheapest is Unipart at only £242. Plus fitting.

 

 

Who thinks up this shit?

[AnthonyG]

I was tempted by a Fiesta Ecoboost,but thats new technology,and think its best left for other guinea pigs to test for the first couple of years !

 

Very suspicious of Ecoboost, IIRC the 1.0 is getting shoehorned in the current Mondeo to eke another year of rep friendly sales before 2014 model comes out. That too will have a 1 litre Ecoboost available. I shall wait and see if they last more than 40k without going bang.

 

Apparently VAG 2.0 TFSI engines do like oil, and quite a few are getting replaced under warranty. Another engine to avoid when attached to a five year old car.

[M'coli]

Arnold Shark

 

 

Is there a single good word for him?

Yes, the man himself took a load of kids (including me) from our school out on the Clyde in his yacht over the course of about 12 Saturdays in 1988 buck shee - it was ok, and cost us nothing.

 

His business, however, is a different matter, as most AC empolyees that I have encountered generally look at you and speak to you as if they've scraped you off of their shoe.

[ashmicro]

What's the deal with folks referring to the guy as "Arnoldae Clearkescu"?

[Albert Ross]

Nicolae Caucescu. Former Dictator of Romania...... Nasty cunt. Rod of iron stuff............ kept the people in the dark ages to prevent them rebelling.

[carlo]

Had I known you were going to buy a car with that godawful Indian built 1248 diseasel in it, I would have warned you off........ dreadful lump. Gutless, loom chafing, injector dribbling, oil/fuel mixing, chain snapping, misfiring, rattling, turbo leakagy, egr killing piece of shit.

 

Is that the same one they put in the Fiat Panda Multijet? Must say ours has been faultless for 3 years, I thought they weren't too bad

[Mr Lobster]

 

His business, however, is a different matter, as most AC empolyees that I have encountered generally look at you and speak to you as if they've scraped you off of their shoe.

 

Theres a reason for that. When I was there AC marketed everything on price. At the time if you wanted to hire a car prices started at £17 per day and no deposit (thats changed now though). That meant that it tended to attract people who were either dodgy or absolutely potless so when they (inevitably) damaged it / brought it back without fuel / filthy dirty you had a world of pain to get them to pay up.

 

After a while you get a bit jaded by it.

[Mr Lobster]

What's the deal with folks referring to the guy as "Arnoldae Clearkescu"?

 

 

Never heard that one but it is appropriate.

[Bren]

Talking of the ford ecoboost....

 

My mate came round the other day - he has a 61 plate focus with the 1.6 ecoboost which he has had from a couple of months old.

After having it serviced at polar ford, the car developed a problem, a severe lack of power. It went back to the dealers - they could find nothing wrong. Car still had the problem, and also began to overheat. He noticed that the expansion bottle was empty.

Ford told him to bring it back.He says "no", like I have told you it will need recovering as it is overheating.

 

Hough green garage were there within an hour with a low loader - my mate said he was impressed.

 

To cut a long story short, ford fitted a new short engine. My mate , who knows sod all about cars, could'nt tell me what the problem was, except that the bill would have been a few pence under £3k.Mate not arsed as car was under warranty.

 

I know that a car that new shoud'nt really have those issues, but I thought that it was pretty good service. There was no mention of trading standards or watchdog for them to fulfil their obligations.

 

Another friend of mine had similar horror stories with alfa romeo when he owned a 156 (which was a superb car - twin spark in silver with red leather - it went because it wasn't particularly economical), there sales and service left quite a lot to be desired.

 

I think quite a few dealers have yet to realise that the financial landscape has changed - banks are not throwing cash everywhere,therefore customers are a bit more discerning (their money has to go further). I noticed the other day that motor nation in widnes has gone, likewise the small independent near me in penketh (who was going for years).

 

Quite a few dealers will become victims of the downturn - and it will probably be the likes of alfa/renault/citroen who suffer the most.

[Morgan84]

As far as I know,the 1.3 Multijet was and fitted into the Fiat,Panda,Punto,500,Vauxhall Corsa,Astra,Ford Ka ( new model obv ),Alfa Romeo Mito and the Chrysler Ypsilon.

 

The Mito was tuned to 90 BHP ( not that you'd notice ) with a 6 speed manual gearbox. The 500 and Panda to my knowledge were 70 BHP,but maybe they don't have a DPF - not sure. The Vauxhall varients I believe were available in more than one output

[Albert Ross]

Available in 75 and 90 form in the Vauxhalls. Also fitted to Combos and Merivas, and interestingly, the British Army have a lot of Astra estates with it in.... Most of them come back relatively quickly. (Trucks are faster) I wouldn't imagine it's a big heap of pleasure trying to move 1500kg with a torqueless engine.

[Morgan84]

The performance can be described as equal to stepping in a pile of dog crap;you can put your foot down hard,and all it does is squelch

[Spiny Norman]

The performance can be described as equal to stepping in a pile of dog crap;you can put your foot down hard,and all it does is squelch

 

With respect, what were you expecting in a gutless Diesel weighing 1150Kg with less than 90bhp to drag it along?

The more I read of this thread the more I'm coming to the conclusion that you bought the wrong car. Surely the base 1.4 would have offered the same real world fuel economy with a far zippier driving experience?

[Albert Ross]

For me, (Corsa wise) the experience is this: 1800-2500rpm to set off from a standing start, and planning any rolling starts at roundabouts etc.... otherwise you're left marooned as traffic swerves around you. Vague non-centering steering, graunchy brakes do to the wrong linings fitted at the factory, uneven tyre wear, poor driving dynamics, nearside wiper blades that wear out prematurely due to the curvature of the screen and excessive pressure to hold the blade on the screen, then as the miles wear on, the parking brake de-adjusts itself and the clutch judder increases.. apart from that, I can fully understand why they sell..... They're all the credit companies allow people to buy. We are controlled...

[Morgan84]

I was expecting a 90 BHP common rail diesel car weighing 1150 kgs to be faster than my 75 BHP VW Lupo 3 cyl TDi weighing 1130 kgs,or at least somewhere remotely close.

 

The Alfa couldn't touch the Lupo on performance in any shape or form;the MK4 Fiesta 1.25 75 BHP petrol also left the Alfa for dead,although the Lupo has better torque and pulling performance than the Fiesta. I wasn't expecting a tyre shreading monster by any means,but I would expect to be able to burn off a t plate Kangoo van as well as a Citroen C1 ! Another diesel I have driven is a C3 1.4 HDi 70 BHP and that had more guts in it than the Mito

[Cavcraft]

And the test drive revealed none of this?

[Morgan84]

Pre launch order,but this is the second one I had after a dealer ordering cock up;they ordered a Lusso spec with all my options (leather etc ) rather than the Veloce trim level.I had the first 1.3 JTDM off the assembly line destined for the UK,and that car was quite good;its the replacement car I had which was the duffer