Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio - Depreciation - When is it "a deal"?

As a wanting observer, the Giulia Quadrifoglio is gorgeous, makes silly power, and from the reviews seems to drive fantastic, be potentially temperamental, yet still seductive.    

MSRP was a hair over $75,000 when new.  A current AutoTrader search shows 2017 models now asking just under $50K with <20K miles.  

That's not "cheap" yet, but it's a whole lot less than a new one.  Does their reputation precede them?  Is the reliability stoked in Italian lore, or is this no different than buying any modern high performance sedan in upkeep (M3/CTS-V/etc.)?  At what price would you lean in?  

Comparatively, a new '17 BMW M3 sedan had a base MSRP of $64K, and can now be found for ~$46K with <20K miles on AutoTrader.  So similar money buys either one, even though the Alfa started at a $10K higher base sticker.    

 Hnnnnngg.... 

I've never driven one, but my neck snaps around every time I see one in the wild, which is rare, and I like that.  

I don't think they wear any color wrong.  #HomerDrool 

Yes, I saw one in real life for the first time a few months ago and my jaw just dropped. They are achingly gorgeous cars. 

If I wanted to buy one, I'd talk to my local indy guy and ask what warranty companies he's had success with. My local guy says he hasn't had any problems with customers using Route 66 Warranties (I think that's it). And then call them and ask them how much for a bumper-to-bumper aftermarket warranty.

My friends brother in law has one.  Gorgeous car.  Sounds great also.

Didn't someone on here figure out which company is the one that does the CarMax warranty? For some reason I feel like I read that on the forum at some point but can't find it for the life of me.  I figure getting one of these might be ok if you got that warranty too...

Doesn't Fiat own Alfa?  Fiats hold their value like a pumpkin in November, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I'm on my phone and can't look it up, but I think that every car mag that got a quadrifoglio long-term car ran into significant ownership issues.  The car is probably worth the hassle but like anything exotic, if you're stretching to make the payments, the maintenance could swamp you.

I just saw one for the first time last week, a red one parked at the gas station down the street from my office.  It was a striking car.  I hung around a bit to see if the owner would come out of the store, but they never appeared so I left without being able to ask about how they liked it.

Can you lease a new one? They are dead sexy. There is NFW I’d *buy* one. While something like a V is way less “rare-cool,” there’s something to be said for being able to grab a starter/alternator/etc relatively cheap from your local vatozone.

My $.02

YMMV

They're gorgeous, but....

When would I jump in?  When they're Challenge price, which should be in roughly 3 years because by then it'll need an engine, wiring and brakes.

If you're thinking of picking one up sometime, the tire bills are going to be enormous. Factory-spec 60-treadwear summer tires (no, that's not a typo)

The one car that blew me away to see in person was actually the Stinger GT.  That car makes a statement for the money.  I live in a nice area too and see lots of stuff.  Saw a Lambo and R8 today both.  

The Alfa is a gorgeous car. I’d buy one in a heartbeat if I were in the market. 

The Kia Stinger is cool too but the Alfa is sex on wheels. 

Id buy either over the overrated Break My Wallet offerings

Much want for the 4c but they seem to be be holding value. Probably due to numbers. Former student has a Giulia and loves it. Took onto the ice this winter.

There is an Alfa dealer not far from my house. The only Alfa that isn't gorgeous is the Stelvio CUV thing the have, and even that isn't bad looking for a CUV.

A garden variety Alfa gets you all of the looks for $25k with the same mileage. 

G_Body_Man said:

If you're thinking of picking one up sometime, the tire bills are going to be enormous. Factory-spec 60-treadwear summer tires (no, that's not a typo)

You made me Google that. Crazy it's a lower rated tire then say, an re71. Which we all know is a weapon of a tire.

I would just budget for a very good aftermarket warranty and go from there. 

nderwater said:

I'm on my phone and can't look it up, but I think that every car mag that got a quadrifoglio long-term car ran into significant ownership issues.  The car is probably worth the hassle but like anything exotic, if you're stretching to make the payments, the maintenance could swamp you.

My understanding is that pretty much all of the cars in the longer-term unreliability tests been have 2017s. The newer ones are supposed to be somewhat better, but they're definitely not a "service every 30k if it needs it or not" type car.

Pretty much all the "cheap" QVs I'm seeing are 2017s, which seems to be the year with the most problems. Not that the newer ones are paragons of reliability, but from what I've read they are better.

poopshovel again said:

Can you lease a new one? They are dead sexy. There is NFW I’d *buy* one. While something like a V is way less “rare-cool,” there’s something to be said for being able to grab a starter/alternator/etc relatively cheap from your local vatozone.

My $.02

YMMV

It's no secret that I've been looking into Guilias for a while now. Yes, you can lease a QV but it's essentially an unsubsidised lease and the residual is close to a torn up Pringles tube (and considerably worse than the one for the regular Guilia).

From memory, the lease "deals" when I looked last year usually something like 10-12% down and a grand a month for 36 months/36k miles. Don't think they got any better.

And yes, I was looking into leases for similar reasons you suggested them - basically lease it, if it goes too wrong there's an end in sight and if it doesn't, buy it out at the end of the lease.

I think the sweet spot for the Guilia for this crowd here is more like a Ti Sport, if one can live with the low revving tractor engine. It's not a bad engine and the car certainly motors along, but it's uninspiring compared to the V6. But chances that it doesn't leave you destitute and broken by the side of the road are slightly higher.

vwcorvette said:

Much want for the 4c but they seem to be be holding value. Probably due to numbers. Former student has a Giulia and loves it. Took onto the ice this winter.

4Cs heavily deprecate from new, but the the 3ish year old ones seem to level out between $40k-$50k depending on where you are looking. Still better than the Guilias, but not by that much in the end.

While the newer ones may be better, emphasis on MAY, there's still no way I'd buy one.  They're simply unreliable in comparison to the competition.  I don't know about you guys but there really aren't any Indy Alfa shops around me that could handle working on one of these.  That means dealer only.  The dealer is ~10 minutes from my house but I don't have the time to deal with aggravation that owning one of these seems to entail.

Literally ALL the magazines that long term tested one of these had serious, recurring issues with them. 

Alfa knew they'd have to bring a quality product to market, especially given their well deserved crappy reputation here and they missed the mark, big time.

It's an achingly gorgeous car that performs well but that does me no good if it's always broken.

They have serious sex appeal but I'm happy with my M3. Reliable, big community with lots of mods and ample track support.  The Alfa seemed like a huge gamble when I was looking and the initial magazine tests weren't encouraging.

Check here for some interesting commentary, both good and bad, from the M3 community:

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=526

I see them pretty frequently around here (DC area), and they do look great (though if you come up on one from the side/rear, pretty easy to mistake them at a glance for an M3). Then again, I see a dozen M3's on my commute every day. Too much money in this area and it's not mine :D

I wonder if this car will be the next Biturbo a decade from now.....except with more expensive electrical stuff to go wrong

In reply to turtl631 :

I'm hearing rumblings that the next gen M3 will be all wheel drive.  If it is, that rockets up to the top of my list when I buy my next DD in 2 years.  Especially if I can still get a 6MT.

docwyte said:

In reply to turtl631 :

I'm hearing rumblings that the next gen M3. Especially if I can still get a 6MT.

Won’t happen