Scotty,
Did my brother get screwed? My brother traded in his 2015 Tacoma PreRunner SR5 with 68k miles for a 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia with 34k miles, and already is having major problems. Yesterday he was driving down the freeway and the engine began to rev down and died. Fortunately he was able to pull over on the shoulder and get it towed to a local dealer, who then gave him some pretty bad news. The car, with only 34k miles, already needs new brake pads, an oil change, and has a cracked radiator. On top of that they're saying there may be more internal damage to the engine, and additionally they said the work may not be covered under warranty. All of these problems didn't crop up until a couple weeks after he purchased the car, and the service guys at the dealer he bought it from said everything looked good on the car before he bought it. Did he get screwed? Should he have just kept his Tacoma?
I tried to warn him about purchasing a Stellantis product but he wouldn't have it, he was dead-set on this car because his truck was "costing him too much on gas." I guess this new car will be costing him just as much, if not more, on new parts. Thanks Scotty!
He most certainly screwed himself, nobody buys Alfa Romeos to be cheap.That's what Toyotas and Hondas are for. People get them for wow-ing friends and family, and as he's figuring out right now, it's monetarily not worth it. If he wanted a pretty lawn ornament it's good for that, but that's it. As a DD on a budget, he couldn't have picked a much worse car. Being used, some rich guy probably beat the crap out of it, didn't maintain it, then sold it on when he got sick of the problems.
That Toyota truck would have lasted him hundreds of thousands of miles with no really serious problems as long as he maintained the basics. Gas is always cheaper than maintenance on Alfa Romeos, and it's never ending. It's too bad he has to learn this the hard way.
OMG, he did what? When those Alfas were first brought back to the U.S. the cars given to the automotive press for test drives started breaking down almost immediately. Alfas are beautiful cars but you don't buy one expecting any kind of reliability out of them. It takes deep pockets and a Toyota or Honda on the side to keep one. Indeed, he should have kept the Tacoma.
He definitely screwed himself. No one in their right minds goes from a Toyota Tacoma to an Alpha Romeo Guilia. Plus, if he really wanted the Guilia he should have just leased it. Other mistake was him trusting the dealership he bought the vehicle from when they told him everything was OK on the vehicle. An independent, honest mechanic should have checked it out before he bought it and even then that mechanic would have warned him against the purchase.
Unfortunately, some people just have to learn the hard way.
The English translation of Alfa Romeo is literally "Italian Crap."
Your brother should have called me. I would have traded my Fiat 500 for the Tacoma in a heartbeat!