Abarth the re-birth!

[jug]

alfa need to make cars that are good enough to make a customer buy another alfa, very few people ever buy a second alfa, the pain of owning the first one is more than enough. its amazing how many people who have just bought a brand new alfa come onto the alfa forum complaining of exactly the same things, crap dealers, shoddy build quality and electrical faults. i feel sorry for them, but at the end of the day what did they expect?

 

[thepottleflump]

alfa need to make cars that are good enough to make a customer buy another alfa, very few people ever buy a second alfa, the pain of owning the first one is more than enough. its amazing how many people who have just bought a brand new alfa come onto the alfa forum complaining of exactly the same things, crap dealers, shoddy build quality and electrical faults. i feel sorry for them, but at the end of the day what did they expect?

I'm on my second Alfa and it has been faultless.

 

[jug]

I'm on my second Alfa and it has been faultless.

3 times a lady. feeling lucky?

in the 3 months i've owned my 156 i've already had most of the classic 156 problems, but i dont mind on a 9 year old car, and they're easily fixed if you know what you're doing. if i had just paid £20k for it then i'd be less happy.

 

[H2DaE]

3 times a lady. feeling lucky?

in the 3 months i've owned my 156 i've already had most of the classic 156 problems, but i dont mind on a 9 year old car, and they're easily fixed if you know what you're doing. if i had just paid £20k for it then i'd be less happy.

If you had just paid £20k for it you would have a warrenty

 

[jug]

it is only once a warranty repair is needed that new alfa owners really begin to feel pain. in some cases they opt for an independant and pay for the repair rather than get a warranty repair at a dealership. in some cases the nearest dealership is so far away that there is no alternative.

 

[DanGil]

The focus st has a crap engine, go on any volvo forum and ask them what ford done to it.

 

[thepottleflump]

Huh what's up with the ST, can't be arsed to go over and try and find out why it's crap. I'm sure the Volvo crowd don't like it because it's not an estate and doesn't come in brown.

My 156 is coming up to 3 years old but I've never serviced it at a main dealer. Used a couple of locals and will start servicing myself from this point forward. Any 9 year old car is likely to have stuff that needs sorting, even relatively new cars can have problems depending on who's owned them, what they've been used for etc.

 

[Chas Uno]

I'm sure the Volvo crowd don't like it because it's not an estate and doesn't come in brown.

PMSL!

 

[jug]

The focus st has a crap engine, go on any volvo forum and ask them what ford done to it.

TeamRS tuned the volvo engine to 221bhp, leaving volvo owners with ST envy. they'll get over it one day, probably the same day they accept that a volvo is just an overpriced underspecced ford, just like a jag.

volvo owners should be grateful, the focus ST has meant there are many more engine mods available for them to use on their S40/V50 T-5's. plus the TeamRS developments would be incorporated into the S40R and V50R, if they ever happen, which they probably wont. i think thats where a lot of the resentment comes from, why should the focus get the best version of the engine and not the S40/V50? if you examine the group strategy its plainly obvious why, volvo owners need to deal with it, end of the day they drive the old man version, and is it really worth getting excited about an extra 5bhp, 3mph and only 0.1secs 0-60 difference?!

 

[TroyO]

abarth doesnt have the same credentials. thats the difference between having your badge on the intergrale rather than a pair of punto sideskirts.

Abarth used to have the credentials, it's just that Fiat completely devalued the badged with their half arsed body kit specials like the Punto (Mk2) and Stilo Abarth.

The problem with Lancia being the only sporting badge is the premium price the brand would attract (Lancia has historically been more of a prestige brand, especially in the pre Fiat takeover days). Where does that leave people that want sporting models on more of a budget, like the Abarth 500's, 600's and 850's of old?

Troy.

 

[jug]

interesting, so in that strategy lancia would fall roughly somewhere between maserati and alfa, with abarth satisfying the "family/sports" sector. i quite like that idea, its a broader spread across more markets with less overlap. my main concern would be lancia's chance of success. i'm sure abarth or lancia could both be easily used to sell sporty fiats in disguise, but could the lancia brand really be used to sell cars that would compete with the other premium sports brands? its a tough sector to crack. then again the people who currently buy in that sector are mostly old enough to remember lancia's best bits so maybe that would be the critical success factor that clinched it.