.... Literally 99% of people say they're the worst things ever, then you get that 1% that say they're beasts... I probably won't because of how many people keep putting me off the idea, although I think they look gorgeous.
Volvo, pure solid car, end of.
That is hilarious..... Just why that name? .... Couldn't be less green if they tried?
I thought that was true, but I didn't wanna say so, I mean it could just be a stereotype idea picked up from films and stuff, but the thought of driving and automatic..... That sounds so boring, worst part is that they're more expensive to fix and they tend to be worse on fuel efficiency due to heat build up.... At least that's the case in the U.K.....
Personal preference of manual, it's the only thing I've ever driven and I'd like to keep it that way!
Automatic transmissions were first made in the US. GM and some other company jumped all over them and became the standard transmission before anyone knew the benefits/draw backs of the new transmission.
Plus a lot of people have such long commutes that an automatic just makes more sense at the end of the day.
Also these days automatic transmissions usually get better gas mileage in real world scenarios than manuals. The car will constantly be searching for the correct gear to achieve best fuel consumption where as with a manual car you have to shift at the right time every time to get better gas mileage, and humans aren't that perfect.
Plus IDK about you, but I like to wind my gears out a bit before I shift : P
Well.... That's interesting.... Turns out you do learn something new every day, honestly, thank you, I didn't know that... Interesting fact!
As for long drives, I think I'm just used to it so much that manual doesn't bother me... And MPG, very true, newer automatic transmissions are probably better for MPG than manuals.....
I think I just personally like a manual because I'm just one of those guys... ... Drop a gear and disappear...
I am a big manual transmission fan. And since you are buying this as sort of a practical toy, I would say there is no other option other than a manual transmission.
The only thing I am not sure about is diesel. In theory a mazda 3 should be cheaper than the alfa and possibly even cheaper than the volvo, and with the ford eco boost thing it gets pretty high gas mileage.
The nice thing with the mazda is that it is a plain easy to work on ford 4 cylinder engine and there are tons of OEM parts for it at your local car parts store.
Diesel parts are generally considered to be harder to find and they come with their own issues.
Plus, here in the US one out of every 4 or 5 gas stations has diesel. Its not the easiest thing to come by. Maybe that is different in the UK.
I would probablly be a bit biassed, because i love Alfa Romeo´s.
However the 2.4 JTD diesel engine is a very reliable engine. Its one of the better diesel engines ever made. Now if we start talking about the rest of the Brera. Its not really a unreliable car atall if you buy a diesel variant. The only thing that is really important with special cars like Alfa´s is that you maintain them very well. A weak point of pretty much any Alfa Romeo, are the wishbones and their rubbers. Those need extra attention with maintance. Because Alfa romeo´s are very sporty and sharp steering like BMW's alike.
Also i would highlly recommend a manual. Because the Selespeed transmission is garbage.
Some people might state that the Volvo C30 would be more reliable. But i'm exally not too sure about that tbh. Because that highly depends on which particular diesel engine you talk about. I know that the 1.6D for example is pretty garbage.
Honnestlly Volvo isnt the same anymore as it was in the nineties. They arent as great and sollid anymore. They use allot of france psa crap nowdays just like Ford.
Still both are pretty cool cars. But honnestlly i´m not too sure if i would personally pick any of them as a daily. Because i think for that amount of money, there might be better and more practical alternatives. Still the Brera is amazing, once you drove it.
I dont think so, JTD engines are no GM engines. The only GM engines that Alfa has used in the 159 and Brera, are the 2.2JTS and 3.2V6 patrol engines. And the 1.8mpi patrol engines maybe not too sure about that one. But the diesels are Fiat engines, and they are very decent.
Chrysler bought fiat. The Chrysler/fiat motor group also owns alfa. And chrysler sources engines from GM.
If you wanted to split hairs the motors that fiat and alfa use are usually tweaked and customized a bit. If you squint real hard you could kind of argue that it is a fiat motor, but at the end of the day its still a GM motor.
I was looking at getting the fiat TD124 until I learned that it had a GM motor. I prefer ford motors over GM which is why I much prefer mazda over fiat.
OP says 2.4L diesel, which is apparently the Volvo D5 engine according to Wikipedia. A brief look around the internet and I can't find anything particularly bad about it.
Well yeah thats on the part wenn Fiat boaght Crysler. However the JTD engine existed way before that. That goes all the way back to 1996 or so. Fiat designed the commonrail technology together with Mercedes. Fiat made their JTD engines, on which Mercedes made their own version CDI engines.
The only thing that is really sad about the agreement with Fiat / Crysler and GM, is that after Giuseppe Busso died, they also stopped using that great Busso V6engine. And replaced that with that 3.2V6 GM turd.
Yep the 2.4 D5 is probablly a Volvo engine indeed. Not psa like the 1.6 But the 2.4JTD engine is also great. Especially the older 10V one, but the 20V is also not bad.
Thats what I originally thought, but apparently its a slightly different design. If you follow that link in my post and scroll down, you can read up on it.
I really don't understand why they didn't license this from volvo or even mercedes, because that would make the most sense to me.
Maybe the Brera and 159 2.4jtd´s could be GM then. I know that the 159 and Brera were on that particular counter point. Because the Brera and 159 were also the first Alfa´s with GM patrol engines. The Alfa 147 and 156 till 2003 had definitelly the Fiat engines. 2.4 JTD 10V, 1.9 JTD 8V´s, Twinsparks patrols and the Busso V6's.
GUYS. The moment has arrived, I THINK I'm gonna go for the C30. While I think the Alfa looks nicer. I think in every other department the C30 wins.
I've even read up that the C30 is quicker than the Brera, despite having less BHP. Probably either weight difference or the Volvo outputs more torque, I haven't actually looked into it too much to be 100% honest.
But either way, I thought I'd update you all on that, the C30 is still a gorgeous car in my eyes. ... Shame that they're rare to find in swedish racing green, because that colour turns me the f$!k on....
.... Literally 99% of people say they're the worst things ever, then you get that 1% that say they're beasts... I probably won't because of how many people keep putting me off the idea, although I think they look gorgeous. 
