Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Guest]

Hi, got a question right there. TL;DR incoming...
Why do in the US (Or at least outside of Italy, where I live) really don't like and always spit sh*t about FIAT's and related marks reliability?(Alfa romeo, Lancia, Chrysler) 

In my opinion they are not better or worse than others, every car company had flaws in the past, I can think of the Alfa Alfasud which was built in Italy in a period where all workers were always on a strike (internal government issues) and the first models had serious quality problems, but other car makers are not different.

Speaking in today days in particular, my dad in his life owned two gasoline Alfa's, a 147 and a Giulietta, as well as a VW Polo, and an Opel/Vauhall Astra, Mercedes A Class
Him is the worst thing you can think of a bad car maintainer. (He has a tough job and doesn't have time to care about cars)

• Always the worst and cheapest mechanic that most of the time he fix something brokes another one
• Oil change? Timing belt and spark plugs? Lol never changed them before an issue occurs.
• Always running on low gasoline
   

As you can imagine, in all those kind of cars he always had the same issues. Clogged fuel pump, ignition misfires (after a lot of km's) and the most realiable car he had was the 147 1.6l that lasted 240.000km's 150.000miles with relatively few and easy to repair issues. (Water pump at 140.000 km's, where he also changed the timing belt, he never changed it before) before it was dying out of misfires. At this point he just sold the car instead, probably the spark plug or ignition coil, he never changed them

The 2010 Giulietta he is using right now just had a few electrical issues because this car was not used, and under the sun for 2 years (the car is black) and had some wires literally cooked, I don't think if there are cook-proof wires out there lmao but whatever. 
Apart from that, no mechanical issues whatsoever, he is at 140.000km/s and I'm taking care of it doing the regular maintenance. 
The worst was the Mercedes class A which broke the timing chain at 98.000km's

Bad luck? Idk, I don't spit crap just because of a single issue, but in my opinion people are blaming about FIAT for the wrong reason.

FIAT bought Alfa Romeo and Lancia, in the 80's, especially Lancia. It was a sports and luxury car company, always winning on rally's (Don't tell me you don't know about the Stratos or Delta integrale, they had a really strong brand potential)

What they did you would ask? FIATS, they just shared the FIAT's platforms and just basically made a FIAT with a Lancia logo with fiat engines and people just stopped buying them. They basically destroyed everything about Lancia today. (The Chrysler Thema sucks tbh) 

They also did that with Alfa, look at the Alfa Mito, has the same engine and platform as the new Fiat 500/Abarth but at least in some cases they used decent engines and accidentally made probably the best FWD car of the 20's (the 147 V6 Busso is a good piece of car and it is the same V6 Alfa used in the past, but it became old today)
Oh yes, they also stopped producing the RWD Alfa's before the Giulia. 

Basically what they did were throwing out in the bin all the Alfa and Lancia engine technologies like the Twincam, twin spark, and busso engines without even a single improvement.
Yea I know about the Alfa Giulia, it's a great car but not a direct improvement from the past they just put a Ferrari engine on an alfa german/like sedan with RWD. Yea, it's good but not what people expected.

People who always drove old Alfa's would like to see double camshafts again, oh anyway FIAT It's not even an truly Italian mark anymore, they are not even paying taxes in Italy lmao.

 

At least they are investing money on Alfa (not on what people including me would really like to see but whatever...) but the Lancia situation is something that makes you want to cry but what is seems to me is just FIAT wanting to make the most profit of every thing they can without doing what people would really like.

And... that's why imho people should be mad about FIAT in my opinion. I'm not saying other car marks don't want to make profit but.. At least they seem to care about their marks.

Edited October 19, 2018 by Guest

[SinisterVirtue]

My 1963 Dodge Dart Gt Convertible on 14" wheels. 

[PandaCopyRight]

Just now, Lukyp said:

`snip`

well i think its more of the electrical gremlins and other reliability issues italian cars were known for in the old days and most people just dont dare to try the current ones

 

i personally really would love to own a Lancia Delta S4 Integrale, but there are many more really good lancias

Or an Alfa 159sw 1.9jtd or an Alfa Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde.... which is totally the same  

 

I for sure know that the Fiat 1.9 JTD engine is amazing ... especially the twin turbo one that Saab used in their 9-3 ttid

the 2.0 jtd is supposed to be just a newer and better 1.9 .. but i dont know much about it. The 2.4JTD has had some issue, just cant name them from the top of my head

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, PandaCopyRight said:

well i think its more of the electrical gremlins and other reliability issues italian cars were known for in the old days and most people just dont dare to try the current ones

 

i personally really would love to own a Lancia Delta S4 Integrale, but there are many more really good lancias

Or an Alfa 159sw 1.9jtd or an Alfa Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde.... which is totally the same  

 

I for sure know that the Fiat 1.9 JTD engine is amazing ... especially the twin turbo one that Saab used in their 9-3 ttid

the 2.0 jtd is supposed to be just a newer and better 1.9 .. but i dont know much about it. The 2.4JTD has had some issue, just cant name them from the top of my head

I know for sure an old alfa model really had electrical issues... Like the 65% of them? I'm talking even before it was owned by Fiat in the sixties...

Basically today blaming the electrical equipment is stupid, they are all manufactured by Bosch or Magneti Marelli, I know at least every car company in europe use those components (Mercedes, BMW, Fiat, etc...) but people are blaming the car brands instead of the actual manufacturer..if that is the case

Yea, I know about JTD's, they are known for being really reliable even though I don't own one.

The 159 has a 2.4 JTD and it's basically the best model, the 159 is known to weight like a boat and there is the GM 3.2 V6 which really sucks... 

[PandaCopyRight]

Just now, Lukyp said:

I know for sure an old alfa model really had electrical issues... Like the 65% of them? I'm talking even before it was owned by Fiat in the sixties...

Basically today blaming the electrical equipment is stupid, they are all manufactured by Bosch or Magneti Marelli, I know at least every car company in europe use those components (Mercedes, BMW, Fiat, etc...) but people are blaming the car brands instead of the actual manufacturer..if that is the case

Yea, I know about JTD's, they are known for being really reliable even though I don't own one.

The 159 has a 2.4 JTD and it's basically the best model, the 159 is known to weight like a boat and there is the GM 3.2 V6 which really sucks... 

idk, laughing about the stereotypes is funny tho 

 

sadly the 2.4jtd is not that good compared to the 1.9 or 2.0 jtd and its known to be slightly less reliable

since the 2.0 gets not much less power but gets quite a bit better fuel economy. And its still 170hp 

... but the 2.4 sound SOOOO much better since its an i5 not an i4 

 

[Bananasplit_00]

5 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I remember the first day you rode it and you came on here shocked at how much power it had.

 

now you want more  it never ends man...

 

Just replace the old creep with a computer nerd teen and the hat with a motorbike

 

[chaozbandit]

 

[pagani123]

On 10/18/2018 at 12:05 AM, vinyldash303 said:

Ur back!

*Sort of, still don't have a lot of time to post but I try to read the thread at least once a week.

[chaozbandit]

@MEC-777

 

 

[bcredeur97]

tomorrow.

[Cereal5]

12 hours ago, Lukyp said:

Hi, got a question right there. TL;DR incoming...
Why do in the US (Or at least outside of Italy, where I live) really don't like and always spit sh*t about FIAT's and related marks reliability?(Alfa romeo, Lancia, Chrysler)

Well, Chrysler (and the rest of it's American brands) were pretty much always the least popular of the big 3. They were also the least popular throughout the 80s, which is when the car scene in the US was kind of at it's lowest. Also, Fiat and Maserati both have never been marketed will in the US. I know people who have never even heard of Maserati. FCA only became a group 4 years ago. And Dodge, up until recently really had been trailing the pack in reliability. And when the commuter brand has a bad rep, why should the luxury counterpart be any different? Alfa Romeo is a joke in the US. I think I've seen 2 in my life.

[bimmerman]

Maybe because they have bad reliability?

 

Both historically and currently, the reliability of those brands is and has been significantly worse, objectively speaking, than their competitors. As in, don't own even with a warranty type bad.

 

Though, my friends' fiat 500(s) have all been excellent little cars. Small sample size.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, bimmerman said:

Maybe because they have bad reliability?

 

Both historically and currently, the reliability of those brands is and has been significantly worse, objectively speaking, than their competitors.

uhm they actually don't, read my entire post

[Ridska]

Just learned on how to change a cars engine oil.

super drop dead easy thanks to the pneumatic devices. 

[iDeFecZx]

1 hour ago, Ridska said:

Just learned on how to change a cars engine oil.

super drop dead easy thanks to the pneumatic devices. 

its super easy by hand

[chaozbandit]

 

[Cereal5]

Well I had to buy a new CPU/MoBo cause I bricked my Asus X99-A. There goes this months mod budget :feelsbadman:

[chaozbandit]

@warmmilk

 

 

[Cereal5]

42 minutes ago, vinyldash303 said:

Don’t feel too bad. Bout a year ago my Kraken bricked my cpu/mobo. Bought a used cpu, put that in my sff 2011 system, that psu killed itself and the mobo. Bought a new psu and mobo for that, that mobo quit working, so I had to buy yet another mobo and psu. 

 

Except this time I went back to full ATX. No more sff for me. To celebrate I bought an nhd15 and a 1080 Ti. 

 

Would’ve been cheaper just to go back to full atx even when 1080 Tis were $700 used.  

 

Screw NZXT for starting this whole cycle. 

 

Screw me for trying to save an obscure SFF 2011 system and blowing 500 in the process

Damn that’s quite the saga. I just figured since I didn’t know whether it was the CPU or the MoBo, I didn’t want to invest in a platform that was already 4 years old so I’d just get something new (well a year old but much newer) (and I don’t trust used MoBos that much).

[Poohy14]

Well, got myself a new fun car to drive, its a 06 Nissan 350z Grand Touring with 37k miles. This is my first manual car and its fun as hell. Going to start doing autocross next year so going to build the car over the winter. Trying to put together a parts list now so i can start ordering parts.

[terrytek]

2 hours ago, Poohy14 said:

Well, got myself a new fun car to drive, its a 06 Nissan 350z Grand Touring with 37k miles. This is my first manual car and its fun as hell. Going to start doing autocross next year so going to build the car over the winter. Trying to put together a parts list now so i can start ordering parts.

holy shit. a 350z that doesn't look beat to hell, with only 37K miles?? how? did you have to pay some insane sum to afford it?

[Bananasplit_00]

So when picking up audio and lights for a LAN, they had this and a few other bikes in their storeage just sitting there

 

That's a Kawasaki 900 Z1 and they also had a Kawasaki Z1100, a custom built chopper with strangely enough a straight 4 and also a Ducati 50 moped with bike pedals

 

I really just want all of them, they are really cool bikes

[Monkey Dust]

On 10/19/2018 at 5:23 PM, Lukyp said:

I know for sure an old alfa model really had electrical issues... Like the 65% of them? I'm talking even before it was owned by Fiat in the sixties...

Basically today blaming the electrical equipment is stupid, they are all manufactured by Bosch or Magneti Marelli, I know at least every car company in europe use those components (Mercedes, BMW, Fiat, etc...) but people are blaming the car brands instead of the actual manufacturer..if that is the case

Yea, I know about JTD's, they are known for being really reliable even though I don't own one.

The 159 has a 2.4 JTD and it's basically the best model, the 159 is known to weight like a boat and there is the GM 3.2 V6 which really sucks... 

I haven't driven the 2.4JTD in the 159, but I've driven it in the 156, and it absolutely ruined it. Waaaaaay too heavy, felt like an anvil had been bolted to the front. It made the car reluctant to turn in, in contrast to the super responsive frontend on the 4 cylinder petrol cars.    

[Cereal5]

3 hours ago, Poohy14 said:

Well, got myself a new fun car to drive, its a 06 Nissan 350z Grand Touring with 37k miles. This is my first manual car and its fun as hell. Going to start doing autocross next year so going to build the car over the winter. Trying to put together a parts list now so i can start ordering parts.

The 350Z and 370Z have the highest rate of fatal accidents. Don’t get a big head lol. Congrats though, nice Z’s are very hard to come by, unless you fork over a lot of cash. Get a good seat/wheel/harness. Fighting falling out of the seat is half the battle lol

[bcredeur97]

In natural Louisiana fashion, got to the track, started torrential downpour rain, even though it wasn’t supposed to rain at all today and hadn’t until we got here.

 

no driving Ferrari today