159, Brera & new Spider Experiences

Had my brera for about 8 months and 12k miles. Only problem is the recurring particulate filter. Happened 3 times now. The garage is talking about a new inlet manifold..

Apart from that it's the best Alfa I've had.. Great car....

I'm looking at buying a 2006/2007 2.4 diesel Brera , however I must admit my enthusiasm for buying one after reading this thread of common problems had definately dampened that enthusiasm.

If I am to buy a nearly new Brera, then what should I look out for as I don't want to purchase a car that already has had problems and the dealer is just looking for the sale.

After years of owning German made cars I bought my Spider with my 'heart instead of my head', my advice would be steer clear, these cars are poor quality and the dealers don't care.

No MW on the radio (radio replaced), also when jet washing the water comes through the drivers side window, took it to the dealer, they had it for a day, & it still leaks, the service manager, said that it was normal for this to happen to frameless doors, at which I pointed out that it doesn't happen on the passenger side or the framless windows on the GT

Originally Posted by stainlesteve

After years of owning German made cars I bought my Spider with my 'heart instead of my head', my advice would be steer clear, these cars are poor quality and the dealers don't care.

I cannot deny, my first Brera was a lemon - but it was one of the very first off the production line - and ARUK were great in resolving my complaint. My second has been almost perfect and certainly better than my only beemer was.

Okay, it's a small sample size, and you have to look at probabilities... perhaps the JD Power survey is the best impartial judge of overall satisfaction out there, but for some reason I can't see AR on their website .

You are also right to notice that the quality of the dealers is important - although I have no way of judging whether Alfa's are better/worse than any other marques... There is one AR dealership I wouldn't like to use again however.

I agree it's key to have a good dealer but in this day and age the product shouldn't be suspect. My experience owning an Alfa is that you buy and drive it waiting for it to go wrong and it doesn't dissapoint whereas other cars I have experience of just don't fail.

Great styling but poor quality coupled with lack of interest for customer satisfaction from Alfa or the Dealer.

It seems that the problem which you have is with the paintwork, right?

Originally Posted by stainlesteve

Only had one issue with my Spider which was plug falling off rear of A/C unit, dealer excellent, but now after 9 months the paint is falling off.......a tiny stone chip develops into a 10mm hole down to the undercoat, in this day and age really poor and new car requested.

How can someone produce a car this stunning in appearance but have the basics let it down?

Originally Posted by stainlesteve

Following my falling off paint issue on my 2007 Spider, the dealer and their MD has gone into hiding and will not answer my calls or emails.

Now in hands of solicitor and I wish I'd never bought the car, bottom line is it's still all true what you read and hear about Alfa's and their dealers.

There's only one way to enhance their image and that is, 1 to build a car properly and 2 respect their customers.

Have you tried to contact ARUK to help resolve the issue yet?

Thanks for your suggestion. I did because the Dealer asked me to !!! and got no response at all.

I pointed out to the Dealer that the contract of sale is with them and they should sort out the problem but they seemed either unable or maybe not bothered to get a response. Alfa finally contacted me to ask for more information (taken over a month) and not a word from the dealer so my solicitor has just written to them asking what they are going to do.

If the Dealer and Alfa had nipped this in the bud and shown concern over the faulty car in a responsible and timely way maybe I would feel different.

The car has had minor problems, A/C malfunction, trim replaced along windscreen, badge deteriorated, handbrake didn't hold and other small issues all of which I was prepared to 'accept' it being an Alfa but the cars front and back bumpers have faded to a darker red than the Alfa red the car is and the paintwork on the bonnet, front wings, boot and in front of the rear wheel arches 'spalls'off. An inspection by a specialist has confirmed defective paintwork.

I just wish I'd never bought this car.

Sympathies. It sounds like your dealer is an ****. There are a few others here like you and I who went through some bad experiences (especially with the early cars), but I think ARUK will sort you out, like they did us. Just make sure that you are friendly and on first name terms with a contact at ARUK.

When you ring customer services always ask the person their name first, then always try to be polite as possible - even under extreme provocation! Indeed, if you do lose your rag with them, try to remember to emphasise that your frustration is with the vehicle, its problems, and the time taken to resolve them - rather than directing your anger at them.

But you may need to be patient.

The solictor's letter is, in my view, a waste of your money. If you push the dealer into a corner and you threaten court proceedings it's almost certainly not economical. At least it was when I looked into it. The dealer will probably call your bluff, reasoning that you haven't the funds to back it up.

Incidentally, has the dealer offered to fix the paintwork? If I recall correctly, before you can reject a vehicle you are obliged to give them sufficient opportunity to fix problems.

Anyway, your problems deserve their own thread. I suggest that you start one and get advice from folks other than just me! There are plenty of helpful people here.

Thanks, you are right about the Dealer 100% ****. You are also probably right about the solicitor but what do you do if you get no response from the Dealer or ARUK? I've not threatened anything I'm trying to get the Dealer to acknowledge my issue and tell me what they are going to do.

However now that customer services have contacted me we will see what happens.

Good luck!

Thought I'd come on and make an amendement to the comments I made back in post number 84.

Ended up rejecting my 2007 Brera 3.2 and receiving recompense from ARUK after a year.

Many of things I said about the car in my original post in this thread remain true - great looks, fine engine, good turn of pace, loads of grip in fact an all round warm fuzzy glow......when it worked

The comment I made about it seeming to be well screwed together proved a little optimistic as in approximately 7K it suffered from:

A never remedied fuel filling problem requiring a new fuel tank which could never be sourced

An undiagnosed oil leak

4 x sets of replacement seat runners

Replacement rear wash wipe

Misted up lights

2 x replacement alarm systems

A replacement clutch master cylinder

A new power steering assembly

and more......

I think I could have tolerated all this if the service I received from ARUK had not been so completely abject. Dealers were pleasant but under informed, inconsistent in their diagnosis/repair of issues and with the exception of a very small number of high end dealers such as HRO lack the polish of other premiuim brands. Behind the scenes the parts supply chain is absolutely laughable and customer services are over stretched and under resourced with a high rate of employee churn.

My lasting impression is that ARUK have an awful lot of work to do. No matter what nonsense people spout on here on occasion the target market for ARUK today is people who are already looking at or driving BMW/Merc/Audi/Lexus etc . In many ways the cars themselves are much more compelling than similarly priced models from these brands but the whole ownership proposition lags a long way behind.

I was out with mates on Saturday who were asking me have I replaced my Brera yet and if not what wil I get ? When I said I was tempted to give Alfa another go they all thought I was mad. This is sad and for all of the "well we don't people like that anyway" responses that such comments stir up the truth is that to be profitable ARUK do. They all had the same thing to say about the Brera i.e. "Nice car to look at but rubbish underneath, what did you expect from an Alfa ?".

My view is that Alfa don't build bad cars but they do build too many cars badly and when coupled with poor customer service they still have a long way to go.

Interesting your comments re the Dealers and ARUK. I suppose on reflection a quality Dealer will not take on a product that has a poor reputation that may require a lot more time post sale.

Why would a quality Dealer risk it's own reputation on a peripheral franchise especially if they know or suspect the Manufacturer may or cannot support the product to today's level of customer expectations.

Strikes me that Alfa owners are loyal people that get royally turned over by ARUK and the Dealer network.

wow... UK dealers sound worse than here in Aus! maybe...

Hi Simon,

I think the figures shown in this website speak for themselves, 40% are happy with their Brera's, 40% have suffered niggles, so you have an 80% chance of getting a good car.
I have now owned a Brera diesel for 2 years, and mine fitted into the niggles catagory. You should not underestimate how annoying niggles are when you have just purchased a 28K car and the dealer network is not the best at fixing the niggles, for all the reasons you can read about in the forums.
If you buy a 2nd hand car, there is a good chance you can buy one with all the niggles ironed out. In a new Brera these tend to be:

Sticking valve in induction manifold
Rocking Driver's seat
Seat belts do not retract
Alarm has a mind of its own
Passenger seat does not lock correctly

The big thing you should consider is that you will get nothing like the figures quotted by Alfa for fuel comsumptuion. You will struggle to better 40 mpg even driving carefully on a motorway, which is not good for a diesel. many of the Audi's and Bmw's are far better. Even my mates Audi TT out performed my Diesel driving the same run!

You will want to compromise by buying a car which has shown its niggles and had them fixed (ie over a year old) but has plenty of the warrenty left. The seller should be knowledgable about what has beena problem and what has been fixed.

My car dispite its niggles has now performed fairly faultlessly for a year, and I will be selling it at 2 years old with about 35K on the clock. I will have no issues selling it as I do genuinely believe it is a good car, and should have many years of enjoyable driving left in it.

So I shouldn't be too disheartened by the blurb you read on this site, remeber most happy Brera drivers don't bother to blog, the ones who do generally have issues to tell the world.

ColinBrera