2005 Alfa Romeo GT JTD from UK and Ireland - Comments

This is my first Alfa. A decision that I was actually quite proud of until Thursday 5th May when all hell broke loose.

Travelling alone the motorway at around 60-70 miles per hour the car decided to red-line without me putting any pressure on the accelerator. The car wouldn't let me slow down other than by taking it out of gear. By now I'm doing well over the speed limt and then the smoke started coming out from the bonnet and through the air vents. I couldn't see where I was going so I pulled onto the hard-shoulder and ran before calling on the services of the police and the fire brigade. A very scary moment and I am thankful that it happened after midnight when there were very few cars on the motorway with me. It could have been a lot worse.

The car is now with the dealer where its been for a day whilst they find out what happened and why.

I will update on this once I know more.

Other than the above incident I've had the same issues as everyone else:

Electric windows pausing when opening and or closing which does happen on a regular basis. I find this is reset if you fully open the window and keep the button pressed for a second of two before closing it.

Sticking rubber which barks like a seal every time the boot is opened.

The panel in the drivers door for the electric windows and wing mirrors doesn't sit as flush as the passenger panel. Seems to operate OK.

I will get the dealer to look at all of these whilst they sought out the engine.

Has this put me off the Alfa GT. No. It's a car that is fantastic to drive and looks like a poor mans Maserati, which for me works. Has it put me off having this particular car back. Yes.

The rear visibility is as bad as everyone has commented on in past reviews, but when you consider how often you spend time reversing, it's an issue that is quickly forgotten.

I read reviews like this and can't figure out how Alfa Romeo expects to re-enter the US market, especially when they are intending on selling their cars for $50K or more here.

Yes, Alfas are great driving cars, but so are BMWs, Audis, Mercedes, Infinitis and the rest. And those (well, most of them) have substantially better quality than as described here.

I truly wish Toyota or some Japanese company would buy Alfa from Fiat, let the Italian engineers/designers do their thing, but implement strict quality controls. If that happened, Alfa would be unbeatable in any market.

I know quirkiness is part of Alfa's charm, but a relatively new car almost blowing up on the highway will never work in the American market.

Man, I'm driving a 147 and consider myself an Alfisti, BUT if the car put me in a similar situation I would push it off a cliff!

Same happend here with a bmw... was on the news here few weeks ago on prime time.

So where do you stand know with your alfa vs bmw argument...

Re: the last comment.

The chap in the BMW was arrested for dangerous driving. Nothing to do with the car, everything to do with the attention seeking driver.