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Post by alf on Feb 1, 2024 9:19:58 GMT
Ffs you’re making me very nervous. It’s still my plan to be getting into one at some point this year but the bills might mean I have to go for an M3!!! Be nervous! It's a lot more than I expected tbh - but the money is all on the brakes, the other optional stuff I had done might have doubled the £565 service cost but its the brakes (parts especially) that are the big money. People on the forums can find them cheaper, people will fit them cheaper, there is plenty that can go wrong however and the cheap pads from Euro car parts etc don't have a good rep. To be fair, what I had done would have been at least £3300 on the Jag. At the garage up the road, not a specialist or dealer, using OEM parts and with them passing discounts on to me... Then again how much is an M3 or RS4 total brake change with OEM parts from a dealer or top specialist?? RS Audis often have those squared off, holed discs, they look highly "reassuringly expensive" to me.
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Post by PetrolEd on Feb 1, 2024 9:33:48 GMT
Ffs you’re making me very nervous. It’s still my plan to be getting into one at some point this year but the bills might mean I have to go for an M3!!! That's OK, no one ever had to spend a penny maintaining an M3. Its part and parcel of owning a performance car. Now you know about these things from Alfs car you can always try to haggle on the price if they've not been done. Trust me, a G30 M3 is a hell of a lot easier and kinder to the wallet to own then a Quad. Alfa are shite from the manufacturer to the dealer and every layer inbetween. I was expecting Stellantis to have improved the Alfa offering but then I guess if you look at all their other offerings they aren't exactly number 1 for customer satisfaction.
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Post by PetrolEd on Feb 1, 2024 9:45:25 GMT
Ffs you’re making me very nervous. It’s still my plan to be getting into one at some point this year but the bills might mean I have to go for an M3!!! Be nervous! It's a lot more than I expected tbh - but the money is all on the brakes, the other optional stuff I had done might have doubled the £565 service cost but its the brakes (parts especially) that are the big money. People on the forums can find them cheaper, people will fit them cheaper, there is plenty that can go wrong however and the cheap pads from Euro car parts etc don't have a good rep. To be fair, what I had done would have been at least £3300 on the Jag. At the garage up the road, not a specialist or dealer, using OEM parts and with them passing discounts on to me... Then again how much is an M3 or RS4 total brake change with OEM parts from a dealer or top specialist?? RS Audis often have those squared off, holed discs, they look highly "reassuringly expensive" to me. Its the reality of heavy cars now. I've never had problems with brakes in Porsche ownership but new pads and disks seems to be the norm at 30k miles with saloons. Its trying to work out if you spend 40k on a car and have to do the 4 year service, brakes etc which will be near 4k or spend nearer 50K and not have to do these jobs for a few years. You know what its like, with BMW, Audi you feel you have a support network and when they do lift you leg they do it with such polish it takes some of the pain away. You enter a world of plate glass showrooms, hot receptionists, warm beverages. What do they call it, reassuringly expensive.
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Post by Boxer6 on Feb 1, 2024 11:33:29 GMT
Ffs you’re making me very nervous. It’s still my plan to be getting into one at some point this year but the bills might mean I have to go for an M3!!! Be nervous! It's a lot more than I expected tbh - but the money is all on the brakes, the other optional stuff I had done might have doubled the £565 service cost but its the brakes (parts especially) that are the big money. People on the forums can find them cheaper, people will fit them cheaper, there is plenty that can go wrong however and the cheap pads from Euro car parts etc don't have a good rep. To be fair, what I had done would have been at least £3300 on the Jag. At the garage up the road, not a specialist or dealer, using OEM parts and with them passing discounts on to me... Then again how much is an M3 or RS4 total brake change with OEM parts from a dealer or top specialist?? RS Audis often have those squared off, holed discs, they look highly "reassuringly expensive" to me. I seem to recall that the Monkey, ex of this parish, paid about £2500 for front pads and discs on his RS4. B4 I think it was. Given that was pre-covid, I imagine it would be well over £3K now.
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Post by alf on Feb 1, 2024 11:40:00 GMT
It is a very different experience with an Alfa Quad vs ze Germans - you are in the hands of specialists the moment the OEM warranty expires. If you have any sense. What pleases me compared to the 156GTA days, is that I truly trust AHM (and doubtless there are a handful of others) and they seem to really, really get the car and have access to all the necessary software and hardware. In that regard I see the Quad as being like an Aston, Ferrari, Maserati or even Porsche - I just would not use main dealer servicing and would expect to be utterly reamed if I did, plus (on Ferrari) I have seen some worrying issues about whether they did work properly. I'm also lucky I'm as close to AHM as I have been to some main dealers I have used. I was very happy with BMW service and prices, but that was on a 330i, >10 years ago, as mentioend the Jag general servicing costs shot up in the last 3 years across the board, they will be no different. And I never paid their "M" tax. Audi I am less concinced about - my perception has always been that they are more expensive than Merc/BMW generally, and for RS products especiually. I may for my sanity research how much new RS4 or RS5 brakes are - but its often hard to know, alwayts plenty of people on forums who have not actually had it done, throwing around lower numbers. They should last me my whole time with the car however - the discs especially. I see 40k as being perfectly acceptable for something so quick, I only ever changed one set on the XFR's but I was very much the exception, on tyre and brake wear. A lot of people drive then like knobends the whole time (all fast cars) and I get the impression they are often young men, who either bodge the work or sell them whenever anythig big is needed - hence some of the numbers of owners on these cars. Quads often have a lot of owners for this reason, and this has given me a new found respect for assessing brake life when looking at a car! I'd still have bought this one mind, and doubt I could have used the condition to drop the price.... Annoyingly the Porsche could do with front discs, they are very lightly worn but reported rusted on the inner edges at the last service, which explains the judder under hard braking. Annoying because I always take them out and, er, thoroughly warm them through after washing it. Perhaps the previous owner did not, perhaps its a result of it generally sitting a week between drives. Edited to add: this is what the brakes actually are: Brembo "Co cast" floating discs, 360mm front 350mm rear (co cast meaning cast out of iron and aluminium, acting as a fixed disc at low temps and becoming floating at high temps). Callipers are Brembo monoblock 6-piston fronts and 4 piston rears, with a separate calliper and pads for handbrake (weirdly - though its a supercar norm). I know M3/4 brakes have come on from the E90 days when they were still single piston callipers with solid discs, not sure if they have come on this far: www.brembo.com/en/company/news/alfa-romeo-giuliaAnd edited again to add, after costing that much I had to make it look worth it, so had what Racing would term a "car licking session" at lunchtime as the weather as lovely. It was as comic as black cars usually are in that after a wash and a drive to "dry the brakes" (let's just say, they're dry..........) it then looked barely washed and needed detailing all over. It also needed the wheel arches and diffuser emptied of quite a lot of mud. It now looks rather nice...
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Post by Stuntman on Feb 1, 2024 21:42:50 GMT
Lovely car, although that's a serious spend.
By way of comparison - In general, I don't drive my M3 as hard as I drive my other cars (it's the sort of car where to get the best out of it on the road, you let it flow and go slower in and faster out, rather than braking harder and later and cornering it more on the nose) and the brakes didn't need replacing until I'd done about 65,000 miles. This cost about £1800, about six years ago. It's on 88,000 miles now.
I've always had it serviced and maintained at the supplying BMW dealership and they have generally been very good on pricing for servicing and maintenance work over the whole time I've had the car. Surprisingly good value most of the time, in my opinion. Long may that continue.
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Post by alf on Feb 2, 2024 9:45:29 GMT
I didn't even say how much it was Do you use Porsche dealers as well? I guess so, given the car. BMW dealers I always found well priced when I had the 330i, but everything is a lot more money now - we'll find out with the 330e how they fare these days, but I think that's over a year from needing anything! Luckily it's M Sport brakes have clearly been done all round not long ago, is on high 40's miles. I have a new found respect for checking out brake wear on SH cars, though as I said, what can you do about it - trade places often refuse to haggle these days.
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Post by racingteatray on Feb 2, 2024 12:43:06 GMT
I didn't even say how much it was Do you use Porsche dealers as well? I guess so, given the car. BMW dealers I always found well priced when I had the 330i, but everything is a lot more money now - we'll find out with the 330e how they fare these days, but I think that's over a year from needing anything! Luckily it's M Sport brakes have clearly been done all round not long ago, is on high 40's miles. I have a new found respect for checking out brake wear on SH cars, though as I said, what can you do about it - trade places often refuse to haggle these days. I've never had to face the famous "M" tax, but the 440i was a remarkably cheap car to run for something with its level of performance - always took it to BMW Battersea (part of Park Lane) for servicing over 50k miles and six years and don't think I ever had a service bill that was higher than middling 300s. In fact the servicing on our Mini Cooper isn't particularly less, despite having half the engine and nearly a third of the power. Porsche will undoubtedly be a different experience but it doesn't require a first service until Jan next year.
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Post by alf on Apr 15, 2024 12:21:36 GMT
I'm just going to add these here since the DSLR has finally met the recently cleaned Giulia! Also, I highly recommed Caramics Gloss enhancer, and can confirm it works its magic on the (not ceramic coated) other cars in the stable as well.... Incredible streak free gloss! I have never seen nicer black paint than on this car, its amazing.......
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Post by johnc on Apr 15, 2024 13:19:35 GMT
The flake in that paint really stands out. Very nice finish.
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Post by Tim on Apr 15, 2024 16:10:26 GMT
The flake in that paint really stands out. Very nice finish. +1 Just needs to not have rusty discs now......
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Post by Stuntman on Apr 15, 2024 20:08:39 GMT
Very pretty. All my cars are particularly filthy at the moment!
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Post by racingteatray on Apr 15, 2024 20:58:19 GMT
Very pretty. All my cars are particularly filthy at the moment! Thought of you yesterday - we went to the Members Meeting at Goodwood and walked past at least six Yaris GRs in the carpark, four of which were a sort of wine red colour.
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 16, 2024 7:54:31 GMT
Very pretty. All my cars are particularly filthy at the moment! Thought of you yesterday - we went to the Members Meeting at Goodwood and walked past at least six Yaris GRs in the carpark, four of which were a sort of wine red colour. We made the same comment in the carpark, it seemed to have all the Alpines ever made and many of the GR Yaris.
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Post by cbeaks1 on Apr 16, 2024 11:26:51 GMT
Sounds like (from Smith and Sniff) Alpine loaned a few cars out for journo’s to drive to Goodwood.
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 16, 2024 12:20:08 GMT
Sounds like (from Smith and Sniff) Alpine loaned a few cars out for journo’s to drive to Goodwood. Was that from their drunken podcast? Can’t believe they released that one.
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Post by cbeaks1 on Apr 16, 2024 12:26:12 GMT
Yep. It wasn’t their best work.
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Post by Alex on Apr 16, 2024 14:51:07 GMT
I think they just about got away with it but it was quite rambling towards the end!
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Post by alf on Apr 17, 2024 15:12:55 GMT
Just back from a work/dealers get together for a couple of days (an increasingly rare thing) so yes the discs are clean now..... It was interesting how much love the car gets, no one bar the odd real enthusiast batted an eyelid at the XFR's, but there were a lot of questions about this one, and I caught plenty of people admiring it in the car park, from our group and others.
I've been feeling like death with manflu/cough - its a very comfortable car to drive sensibly, and did 35MPG on the way home from Warwick, which the second XFR could occasionally manage, but not with the cruise set to 80 and mostly being able to achieve it. I still feel the best things about the car are the Giulia stuff more than the Quadrifoglio stuff. I'm not critical of the latter, but the looks, the interior space for the size, the style and (despite some reviews) materials of the interior, the seating position and visibility, the refinement - they are all knocked out of the park. I would not be sad to drive any Giulia, and everywhere I go, people love it - its just a crying shame no one bought them in volume.
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Post by Boxer6 on Apr 17, 2024 19:03:01 GMT
Just back from a work/dealers get together for a couple of days (an increasingly rare thing) so yes the discs are clean now..... It was interesting how much love the car gets, no one bar the odd real enthusiast batted an eyelid at the XFR's, but there were a lot of questions about this one, and I caught plenty of people admiring it in the car park, from our group and others. I've been feeling like death with manflu/cough - its a very comfortable car to drive sensibly, and did 35MPG on the way home from Warwick, which the second XFR could occasionally manage, but not with the cruise set to 80 and mostly being able to achieve it. I still feel the best things about the car are the Giulia stuff more than the Quadrifoglio stuff. I'm not critical of the latter, but the looks, the interior space for the size, the style and (despite some reviews) materials of the interior, the seating position and visibility, the refinement - they are all knocked out of the park. I would not be sad to drive any Giulia, and everywhere I go, people love it - its just a crying shame no one bought them in volume. I've loved the style and shape of these ever since they came out, the QF even more so (out of my league, but a definite 'Lotto win' car). The single thing stopping me was, only being able to afford a single car these days, it had to be an estate .. .. of which, there isn't one. On the manflu front, I totally empathise and sympathise. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, and it shows no signs of going away! Add to that bursitis in my right knee (near-agony, at times) and a car only just recovered to the specialist today, and I'm not a happy bunny!
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Post by Stuntman on Apr 17, 2024 20:49:50 GMT
Very pretty. All my cars are particularly filthy at the moment! Thought of you yesterday - we went to the Members Meeting at Goodwood and walked past at least six Yaris GRs in the carpark, four of which were a sort of wine red colour. The wine red colour is called 'Scarlet Flare'. When the GR Yaris first came out, I thought I would order one in that colour. In some light conditions it looks fantastic but in other light conditions I'm not so sure. So I ended up choosing Precious Black, which at least makes the front look like Darth Vader's helmet If I'm able to get an allocation for the Mk2 version, I will go for the new Precious Metal (metallic grey) colour which I think will suit the new shape pretty well. Done about 110 miles in mine today at an average of 32 mpg (Cheltenham to Coventry return trip for my current contract job).
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Post by racingteatray on Apr 17, 2024 21:00:55 GMT
Thought of you yesterday - we went to the Members Meeting at Goodwood and walked past at least six Yaris GRs in the carpark, four of which were a sort of wine red colour. The wine red colour is called 'Scarlet Flare'. When the GR Yaris first came out, I thought I would order one in that colour. In some light conditions it looks fantastic but in other light conditions I'm not so sure. So I ended up choosing Precious Black, which at least makes the front look like Darth Vader's helmet If I'm able to get an allocation for the Mk2 version, I will go for the new Precious Metal (metallic grey) colour which I think will suit the new shape pretty well. Done about 110 miles in mine today at an average of 32 mpg (Cheltenham to Coventry return trip for my current contract job). Interesting. I had to drive up to visit a client near Leicester today which was a round-trip of around 215 miles and got almost exactly the same average fuel consumption from the Macan. I think you can thank large chunks of 50mph average speed monitored roadworks on the M1 for that though...
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Post by Stuntman on Apr 17, 2024 21:16:30 GMT
Indeed. My route was cross-country and included rush hour commuter traffic on both legs of the journey. If I'd taken the Cayman I think it would have done about 26-27 mpg, and the M3 would have done about 22 mpg...
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