Economy

Just how bad are the Alfa Romeo car models, which have a reputation for being unreliable and expensive to maintain, just read the reviews from the big consultancies to get a good idea. the brand always swarms in the last places.

We compare it with the Jeep brand, an iconic brand, which has a storied and glamorous history, but its new models are unreliable.

Going back to the Alfa Romeos. Many of their owners have been left stranded by the side of the road following a catastrophic failure, because they don’t treat these cars with an endless stream of annoying little repairs.

The bad reputation comes mainly from blown head gaskets.

Alfa used a spun iron cylinder liner design within an aluminum block, topped by an aluminum cylinder head.

Since these dissimilar metals expand at different rates, it is important to follow your owner’s manual instructions regarding warming up and driving for the first few miles with a cold engine. Of course, a high percentage of people never read the manual!

Also, in the 1970s, Alfa used Spica mechanical fuel injection. The system was somewhat reliable, except for the cold start solenoid, which was best replaced with a Shankle Sure Start manual device.

Owners and unskilled mechanics liked to tinker with the pumps, further messing things up so that the engines were difficult to start.

Alfas have overhead camshafts and all but newer models use flat tappets fitted by shims between the valve stems and tappet. Adjusting valves can be tedious. Valve timing is essential to avoid interference with the pistons.

An Alfa Romeo cannot be recommended for North America unless you are willing to put up with all the inconvenience any of their models can cause you.

Alfa Romeo cars are more complicated than American models, trying to get the most out of the smallest engines, which end up being the least reliable.

Alfa will continue to import all of its vehicles for the US market from Italy. Alfa Romeo currently sells the 4C, Giulia midsize sedan, and Stelvio midsize SUV in the United States. The brand always wanders through the latest positions of market analysts.

According to the latest data, in 2022 Alfa Romeo did not sell more than 4,000 units in the United States, being one of the used models that can have the most resale value.

It is a brand for a person who wants to feel different, but who is willing to take the necessary risks, due to the lack of reliability of all the models. Better avoid them.

In some regions, it still takes several weeks, even several months, before obtaining an appointment with the SAAQ. After the many hiccups in the first weeks of launching their new online platform, the state-owned company says things are back to normal.

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“Since February 20, things have stabilized,” says Dave Leclerc, vice-president of marketing strategies and road safety. “There are still a few small anomalies in the computer system to be corrected, but they are corrected regularly and we provide a lot of support to customers.”

Prepare to wait in May

“May is the busiest month,” says Mr. Leclerc. “The de-storage of convertibles, motorcycles and RVs that are going to be done, make it a very busy week.”

Nearly 260,000 Quebecers have created their SAAQclic account since the launch of the website, but Mr. Leclerc estimates that the number of accounts created will increase with the number of transactions that will have to be made during the month.

“There is a virtual queue this morning, but we process regarding a hundred customers a minute,” explains Mr. Leclerc. “Although the queues have greatly reduced over the past few weeks, online services are working and you can store your vehicles 24/7.”

Deadlines for in-branch appointments

For SAAQ customers who absolutely have to go to a branch, things get tougher.

In some areas, the wait time for an appointment can be up to two months. However, Mr. Leclerc affirms that the Crown corporation injects appointments every week and encourages users to monitor availability on the website.

“If people find the appointments are a bit far, I invite people to check the site, occasionally, throughout the week, there may be appointments that are added,” recalls M Leclerc. “However, it depends on the regions, the Montreal region is a very busy region.”

When will there be a real return to normal?

Remember that the SAAQ expected a return to normal in April, but a few weeks later, it is still pending. Mr. Leclerc says that the platform is still encountering technical difficulties, but that the teams are working to improve the efficiency of the site.

“The real return to normal, we are now talking regarding the beginning of July,” admits Mr. Leclerc. “All in all, we have to make sure that we respond to customers quickly, so by early July we should have resolved all the situations.”