ED30 replacement?

[seckles]

Well after almost 4 years of very happy ownership I have now sold my Ed30 to eltel on here. It has been a fantastic car and I hope tel has many more happy miles with it

So now the question is what to replace her with? My initial plan was to buy an cheap < £1000 run around (e.g. MK3 GTI) for maybe a year or so until ED35s are more reasonably priced or even a MK7 GTI.  However, I have just seen in my local car supermarket an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Cloverleaf, which I really really liked. I mean, really liked!  It's 2 years old and up for 15K. It has ALL the toys my ED30 had, inc. xenons, sat nav, reversing sensors, heated leather seats 18" wheels, bluetooth cruise control and has 235bhp. Only problem is that it's done 37K miles - 5K more than my ED30 when I sold it, but I do do pretty low mileage.

So i can't decide what to do now! Biggest problem I'm worried about is depreciation of the Alfa and the car being worth nothing when I come to sell it :(

Has anyone any experience with these cars or any thoughts on them? (I do realise that you all are gonna be biased towards a Golf tho!) What should I do? Ultimately I know I want a MK7 GTI but they are getting silly money now and I know it'll be a good couple of years before I can afford one probably. What do you think?



Cheers


Steve

[nadlad]

Why is 37k a worry ?

[eltel]

Hi steve
Really nice to meet you friday, you did look gutted when i drove away and i cant blame you
Long long journey back to essex arrived 01.30 but i was smiling all the way home , you have been
 a credit to the car , i love it.back to your decision (top gear always said your not a true petrolhead
 until you have owned an alfa ) and they do make some very pretty cars, its got a fiat chassis and
 it will drop like a bomb in value imho i would get the best mk6 you can find with  low mileage run it for a year
 then look at the prices for a ed35 ,all the people i know that have strayed away from golfs have in the end
 regretted it unless they were going to something high end.if you still want a nice mk6 i will keep my eyes open
 down here.
Did i leave that small vw badge behind??????

[Mk5 GTian]

37k in an Alfa is not the same a 37k in a Golf. Even nowadays. I'd hold fire and wait for the ED35 to drop, or even an R.

[PDT]

Here is our development car that we used for our software for the 1.75 TB engine:

NA systems is a waste of time, just turns the throttle into an on/off switch.

[Ree]

This will make good reading for ya !

[seckles]

So you guys not too impressed then eh? Thing is, I really loved the car and I'm thinking after 8 years of Golfs that it might make a nice change for a couple of years. It drove well & was quick enough (for me) and was surprisingly good inside the cabin IMHO.  My main concern is depreciation and having less money in 2/3 years time to buy a MK7 GTI. Also doesn't help that my Mrs doesn't like Golfs at all!

Steve

[Greeners]

Can't deny they are pretty cars, but ownership proposition is another matter all together!!

Unless you are leasing/hiring it walk away or it will cost you a fortune!!!

[Deako]

Ive driven a hire car that had only done a few k miles, and it felt like it was falling apart. Granted, they look pretty, but im not sure you will get the same enjoyment out of it as the Ed30. I honestly dont know why you didnt just hold on to the Ed30 until the Ed35 prices were more reasonable?

[Poverty]

So it's people like you who buy alfas, citroen etc for no good reason at all when there's much better cars out there.

Wouldn't touch with a barge pole depreciation will kill and reliability is wank.

Alfas love to use cheap plastic parts

[uz]

So you guys not too impressed then eh? Thing is, I really loved the car and I'm thinking after 8 years of Golfs that it might make a nice change for a couple of years. It drove well & was quick enough (for me) and was surprisingly good inside the cabin IMHO.  My main concern is depreciation and having less money in 2/3 years time to buy a MK7 GTI. Also doesn't help that my Mrs doesn't like Golfs at all!

Steve

I'm going to wade in here as somebody who moved from an Alfa Mito to a Golf GTi.
I loved my Alfa; I never spent a penny on it, and having spent £4k on my GTi already, I still don't love the Golf anything like as much and part of me yearns to be back in it.

It was a better looking car, was more interesting to sit in, mine was perfectly reliable (and you still have a year's warranty left if yours isn't, so you can make sure anything is sorted), whereas my Golf has been unreliable and full of rattles.

The steering wasn't great, but then the Golf's is also fairly dull.

At the end of the day, they're special. The reviews suggest they are 90% of the car the Golf is, but can't quite match it. The feeling you will get will more than make up for it; wanting to get in it in the morning, look back at it when it's parked.

But then we've had 2 Alfas in our family, and both were utterly reliable (although my Mito was low mileage).
We've had around 15 VAG products and only one has been as reliable, and that was a Mk4 1.6...

I don't know much about depreciation, so that bit is up to you, but I'd recommend an Alfa wholeheartedly. This is only my experience, though; there will still be a slightly higher probability of it not being perfectly reliable, but here's hoping it is fine!

[uz]

So it's people like you who buy alfas, citroen etc for no good reason at all when there's much better cars out there.

Wouldn't touch with a barge pole depreciation will kill and reliability is wank.

Alfas love to use cheap plastic parts

Is that Audi in your display picture yours?

Because Audi are bettered in literally every sector they have a car in; the only one up for debate is the R8.

[RedRobin]

.
Any of the GTI's (includes Ed30) are a very difficult act to follow if you want the same functional practicality and performance.

I've never owned an Alfa but they have so much style! 

[E30Dom]

We took our mates Alfa 147/9 to Belgium Spa GP weekend and came home on the back off a tow truck!

[garrardrj]

Well i am in the same predicament ! The only difference is that i haven't sold my ED30 yet . MPG for me is not an issue as i only do about 3k or less a year in the car. If i knew what to buy next i could have sold it several times over its only done 19666 miles ( I cleaned it again this morning !)

The ED30 in 5 door is such an all round car and able to carry 5 people and drive like a sports car. Its got all the toys i want on it and to get something i like as much , like a 2010 S4 Avant , 2007 RS4 Avant or similar will cost heaps of cash . I have thought about an out and out sports car but the practcality of it and the times i would actually use the performance are limited . I like nice stuff but also Cars depreciated quickly and i hate that . The newest i would ver go for is 2 years old due to that. My mate has a Porsche 911 convertible and he hardly uses it , he wants to sell it but just loves it too much !

Something will jump out at me one day and i will have to have it . As soon as i lose that passion about the Ed30 too but i cannot see that happening soon .