Chrysler was never a byword for reliability, and I’m not talking about Scotty Kilmer’s “money pit” shenanigans here. When Fiat entered the scene, FCA took a turn for the worse for all brands owned by the Italo-American group.
Take, for instance, the brand-new Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio owned by Brandon Neider. Bought in July 2020 with expensive options like the carbon-fiber seats that add $3,500 to the $74,500 retail price, the sports sedan with a Ferrari-designed V6 proved to be nothing more than a lemon.
Upon arriving at the dealership to pick up his car, Brandon “noticed that the seat’s height adjustment wasn’t working the first few presses.” A few days later, remote starting the Giulia Quadrifoglio proved to be too much for the electronics. “I came outside and noticed it was off,” said our protagonist, and a relearn at the dealership didn’t fix the issue either.
Adding insult to injury, the “blower motor had failed,” and disabling the front parking sensors is pointless because “they will gladly turn back on for whatever reason.” In a long post on Reddit, Brandon says he’s “finished with FCA” over absolutely horrendous customer service.
“The dealership has claimed the remote-start issue does not exist, there's nothing that can be done further, and my buyback is denied at this time.” Add two service receipts that were ignored, customer videos that cannot be used to verify complaints, and a few more niggles, and it’s easy to understand why the Giulia is considered a lemon after less than half a year of ownership.
As a result of this less-than-enjoyable ownership experience, Brandon Neider has a very good question to ask. “If I get treated like this, how do you treat my friends that only buy one vehicle in the span of 5-plus years?”
On that bombshell, here’s a comment to Brandon’s post to understand just how bad things are for the Italian brand in the United States of America. “The CFO of the company I work for had a Giulia for a while. I swear it was in the shop every other week. He now has an Infiniti, and is much happier.”
Are these just isolated incidents? We don't know, but they definitely bring bad publicity for Alfa Romeo in the United States, and that's probably the last thing the brand needs.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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