Help Me Pick My Daily Vehicle?

Vehicles & Mobility Cars
1

Okay. Long story short, I'm looking at EITHER a Volvo C30 with a 2.4 diesel engine. OR an Alfa Romeo Brera with a 2.4 diesel engine also.

I've heard a few horror about the brera, although I'd much rather own it over the C30. However, I've heard the C30 is bomb proof, but I think it's a bit of a dull car in comparison.

So, anyone know how reliable the Brera actually is? :joy:

FYI. No one mention swirl flaps, egr or dpf issues because I rev high when slowing down, I actually use the gearbox to slow down along side using the breaks. I also do an insane amount of miles, considering I live in the United Kingdom 40k miles in one year, from mostly driving for fun, that's a lot of miles to do in your spare time. :joy:

So you can see why I want a nice car, but I need one that's also going to be reliable, and I've pin pointed it down between those two cars. They both seem good, both had advantages and disadvantages....

2

Have a good mobile tool kit if you go with the Alfa. They constantly break down, every petrol head knows this. If getting to the destination on time is important go the safer (and yes duller) route of the C30. You know the saying: Cheap, fast, reliable. Pick two.

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3

Yeah.... I thought that was the case.... I've never owned an alfa, I've only ever owned two cars... Both cheap and nasty... One reliable... The other just absolutely s$!t... I do need the reliability aspect more than anything..... But it would be heavenly to own the alfa.... I mean I carry oil, coolant, water, engine cleaning/fuel line cleaning/injector cleaning stuff, etc..... But from what I've read, the Brera, sadly, it appears A LOT of fairly big issues occur very often.... :cry: .... At least a lot more often than what they should occur, but I've also heard people praise them to be incredible..... I guess half of it is down to how it's driven, how often and how it's maintained.... I mean a wankle engine CAN be reliable IF you know what you're doing when it comes to maintaining it.... :joy: .... Sadly most people don't have a clue....

4

The Alfa may be more fun initially, but what's never fun is being stuck with a car with problems you can't fix yourself.

I vote Volvo.

5

That alfa is only getting about 20hp more than the volvo and it weighs a few hundred pounds more.

I would go so far as to say that you might actually have more fun in the volvo.

Plus the alfa is using a shit GM engine where as volvo is using one of their classic volvo engines that has been tried and true.

You can also find the C30 in a manual configuration. Honestly a manual hatchback turbo diesel sounds pretty nice. I really don't think think this is a competition.

6

Yeah, but from what I've been reading a lot of the problems with that engine are due to how people drive them, LIKE the egr, dpf, clutch, injectors, etc.. Basically poor maintenance or so it seems, like one guy on an Alfa forum, said a lot of bad things about the engine, related to the problems above, mostly stupid things that can be solved by tuning the car (DPF, EGR, SF delete).

Although I do, without a doubt think it's a more boring car, it's still a good car, end of, it's small, fast, and not too bad on fuel, especially if you remap it and maybe do something like get a bigger turbo, it'll probably go better on fuel if you do decide to increase the performance.

Yeah, that's why I'm actually looking at the both of them, they seem to be very evenly matched cars from a performance perspective.

Really? - I've been in a C30, and it wasn't really a fun experience, a nice one yes, leather & very comfy seats, smart interior, comfortable drive, etc. It's not in anyway bad, but like a lot of BMW's, Audi's, Mercs, they're not actually that fun. And the proof being that one of my close friends owns an Audi A5 3.0 TDI Quattro, it shifts like hell, it's very stylish and comfortable, handles like a god, but fun, far from it unless you find driving fast alone to be fun, it requires no effort or any real skill to drive that car. My friend is so bored of it, he actually wants to replace it with a Ford Focus ST, believe it or not.

BUT.... To be fair, I'd assume they're both fairly equal from the fun perspective, and I'm not really looking for a car that's just fun.

From a reliability perspective, I'm sure that the Volvo wins hands down, like there's not debate, end of, it f$!king wins, if you disagree, you're wrong. :wink:

I'm instantly going to assume you're not from the UK, I mean if you were, you'd honestly know, you didn't even need to say that, I'd say the majority of cars in the UK are manual. If not, then the petrolheads in the UK will mostly look at manuals, sometimes settling for a semi auto, example being a Nissan GTR R35, I mean a car like that may actually be slower with a manual, semi is probably ideal for a car like that. :joy:

7

not necessarily


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I'm not saying it is a dull car at all, if it was, I wouldn't look at it, even though fun or funky aren't my main focuses, it is nice to have something that's quite a pretty interesting looking car. Even that one, I think that the Brera looks a lot more interesting to say the least, but that's my personal opinion! :wink: ... I mean that's a matter of taste more than anything I guess? - Thinking about it, I could always buy a Brera, see how it treats me, if it's a bit of a d$!k to me, I could throw int that sexual Volvo D5 engine..... It's an idea.... I mean we'll see, I can't imagine that being too cheap to do, but worth it, for me, yes.... That's if the Brera engine really is as unreliable as people claim.

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9

offtopic,
ohh god my dyslexia...
i swear i read "Help My D*ck My D*ck Flick"
hot damn

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10

20 years ago I could tell your what car to pick to pull hot girls... Now I have a hot girl and all the trouble I can handle.

A car is a car to me now. If I can use someone else's even better. Im not sure that is of help but a both cars you listed are european cars and Im Australian. I assume you're American.

T.C.O on a car now is an new animal

11

Completely agree.
The Volvo is a little more "normal looking" but I always liked them. You could do worse.

12

I wish... :wink: :joy:

Honestly, I don't give a crap about that, I have a car that's a total piece of dog s$!t and I still manage to pick up hot girls, so tis all well! :wink: .... I genuinely just want a car that I'll love, I don't care much for other people's thoughts or opinions, as long as it's reliable, solid and as long as I love it, I couldn't give a damn what other people have to say about my car...

British, so European, it's fine, I drive manuals down pathetically small country lanes and nearly kill sheep on a daily basis... In the event you didn't know what the average driving experience is like in Britain, provided you don't live in one of the cities, that sums it up pretty well...

Britain is an amusing place to drive though, in all seriousness, from seeing newbies drift on small roundabouts (yes I do mean drift, usually their first RWD car.) to seeing a HUGE line of traffic behind some tractor.

I wish I could say same, but I like cars too much, if insurance wasn't so bad, I'd buy a 350z and probably kill myself on some dodgy mountain road covered in disgusting bends. :joy: ... Not really... But I would love to get a car like the 350z, I think they're actually pretty hot looking things... Not at all practical either.... Drinks fuel faster than a slut drinks vodka on a night out, tax ain't very sexual, insurance could be better, etc..... They're also not the fastest cars out there, but obviously, a 3.5l v6 isn't gonna be sluggish, at least it shouldn't be in a small-mid sized car.

Wise man, well put, I couldn't have put it better myself. Both look nice, at least in my opinion. Volvo does seem more sensible, but the Alfa just looks so unique...

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13

Hard for me to comment as a Aussie where its all open.

I will leave it to the wonderful peeps

14

Driving for me in NH is like driving in the Yorkshire dales but with all the fields completely covered in trees. Lots of winding roads.

I'm gonna echo what everyone else is saying and say go with the Volvo. Family had an S60 back in 2007 with a D5 engine. brilliant car, beautiful engine, got about 58mpg on the highway. Faulty electrics brought that car to an abrupt end, but it was a very hard-ridden car. The Alfa Romeo is going to give you absolute hell off the lot. They're one of the few brands I'm glad we DON'T have very many of in the US, they're just horrific.

15

VOLVO ALL THE WAY

My oldest volvo has 514K after the odometer stopped working.

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I'm sorry, but NH roads suck, or at least the ones in the Northern half of the state do. Sooo lumpy.

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All, ALL, alfa romero's explode spectacularly. Every single one. Volvo's however are the most indestructible things on the planet. I have seen one roll down a pretty sizeable hill and it was driven to a glass place.

Please don't buy an alfa. Its like buying a toshitba.

18

that car looks dope, def go with that. myabe it's just that awesome color tho

19

And the name of that Polestar special color is... wait for it.

Swedish Racing Green. hilarious

20

You are correct. I am in the US where most cars are automatic.