[Stelvio Ti Sport AWD]

Maybe the Alfa is fine and your daughter needs a service appointment

 

[fast_dave]

Kid in College = Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla

Your mileage may vary -

 

[Alfie]

Can't blame a guy for providing something nice to his kid in college if that's what he wants and capable to do. My thing is that since you were a member of this forum and knew about the electric issues with Stelvio and Guilia, why not replace the battery? Think about it.. how often will that child drive that car? once a week? once a month? I would imagine that the child is in the dorm (since you had to travel so many miles to get to her) and using the car for as needed purpose. I think I would have been concerned about the battery even with any other cars.

Anyhow, I have a child in college and i give her money to use Uber or Taxi. Having a car at school is simply not logical. Parking and car maintenance being the most prominent reasons. I have my kids car at home and I drive it 2-3 times a week to make sure it's working and other times, I drive mine. I pick her up from school and let her drive her car around at home. oh well...

 

[Hoosbeach]

Kid in college... very inexpensive car that they can play pinball with... My kids had an escort that they decided needed a hood and a trunk replaced - metal poles with concrete in them tend to do damage. the Escort fit the bill. Car given to charity for them to auction.

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

Actually... Now that you mention it....

Some people specifically recommended that a portable battery jumper be purchased and put in the car just in case there were battery problems, due to there not being a dealer nearby originally.


Smart money would be moving that jumper to the Lexus cause they have battery problems too......

... Make sure she knows how to get in the Lexus when the battery dies BTW. You can't just unlock the car with the key fob, there is a special panel you have to remove to be able to unlock the doors with the key.

You should specifically test it out with your daughter to be sure the alternate method of getting in the car even works. There is a known problem with the emergency key unlock not working which means when the battery dies there is no way to get in the car and no way to jump the car easily. That right.. not only will the transmission lock... You get locked out of the car too.

.... But don't stress, it's a Toyota product. So there are instructions on forums of how to remove panels under the car and access the battery from the outside...tons of wiring diagrams so you can patch into a cable super easy. It only takes some tools and a couple hours. One helpful person who had already gone through the issue with another Lexus even posted instructions online of how to rig a trickle charger connection up permanently so when the battery dies you don't need to unlock the door to charge it.

Here's a link to the thread... Plenty of wiring diagrams and helpful suggestions. No one ever gets inconvenienced in a Lexus.

Dead battery, physical key not working, how to get intro get into car ? - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

RX - 2nd Gen (2004-2009) - Dead battery, physical key not working, how to get intro get into car ? - 2006 RX330. Car is locked, battery dead, physical key wont unlock the door. How can I get in? Will the physical key work anywhere other than the drivers door? Can I get the hood open to jump the...

www.clublexus.com

Crap.. that for the RX. I just realized the NX is totally different and requires you to learn if your vehicle has the "hidden trunk lock" panel, find that and get in the car though the trunk. There is also a way to open the doors but it isn't straight forward and doesn't seem to always work.

How to open Lexus NX with a dead battery ?

On this page we will see the solution to open a Lexus NX with a dead battery.

victoriamgclub.com

Might want to do some training drills of how to get in the car.

 

[Mrmucy]

Why not buy her a Ferrari? Or give her yours?

 

[golddogs]

Wonder if he checked the Carfax. 2017-2018’s definitely had these problems. Many owners, in those years, have had no issues at all. I initially went to lease a Giulia in 2019, but my forum surfing scared me away. I bit the bullet early in 2021 and leased a Giulia Ti Sport which had not one issue. I needed something bigger, and traded it this month for a 2022 Stelvio Veloce. No worries about reliability as Alfa has come a long way in that department. You got someone elses problem and that sucks. But if you didn’t due your due diligence and check prior service records, that’s on you.

 

[ColoRob]

Next time I rage post I'm going to tell everyone how great my Koenigsegg is just to convince myself I am somehow making a point.

 

[nelsonde62]

A year ago, I bought into the hype. I ignored my better judgement and bought a Stelvio - a pristine 2018 red on red TI Sport - for my college daughter. What a great looking car!

Within weeks, we had problems. Gauges went dark. Ran out of gas because the gas gauge was incorrect. Hmm. OK. Technical things. We will get this straight the next time we go to Albuquerque, the nearest dealer (about 270 miles). Done.

Then the battery dies and she's stranded. On a 25K miles car? Forgiven. New battery.

Then she calls me at 11:30pm one night in the spring. Car is disabled. Won't go into gear at all. Hmmm. I have it towed to a shop where she's at school, and inexplicably, the car goes into gear again and the shop can find no issues.

Then the dash goes dark yet again. New cluster.

Then a few weeks ago, she's downtown at a baseball game and the car won't go into gear again. I get to miss the game, wrangling with Alfacare on when they can get the thing and who is paying for it, blah blah blah. So they send a car hauler to get the car. Car is out on the street all night downtown. Not a good thing. Then the car hauler shows, but can't load the car because it won't go into gear.

Reboot. This time, Alfa calls a flatbed truck to get the car. Due to the traffic, etc., it takes the guy 2 hours to get the car loaded. Finally it's on it's way to ABQ. Seems like a ground wire came loose. So I fly to ABQ for the 270 mile drive back home. 50 miles outside of my hometown, the cruise control quits working. Warning light.

Then, two weeks later, it won't start again. 6 month old battery gone. New battery.

OK, I'm all done here. We traded the car today for a Lexus NX that's a year older with 20K more miles, and spent $4500 out of pocket to do it, as the dealer didn't want my Alfa.

Guys, as you will experience, these cars are junk. In the class of Land Rover quality. I am a Ferrari owner so I really wanted to get Alfa a chance. Ferrari quality is miles ahead of Alfa. When everyone figures out what these cars are, and what they aren't, Alfa is done in the U.S. Too many other viable, dependable options.

Of course, some of this is my fault for buying this car with no dealer in my town. With a car as unreliable as this, that is a bare minimum requirement, as you will need dealer support to keep the car running.

Take care guys. Last post.

Well Bye!

 

[Banffstelvio]

My Stelvio is 4 years old now and been the best car I have owned in the last 20 years.
Dodge Ram, 2 Chev Suburbans and 1 Yukon and 3 VW and this Alfa has been the least issue.

Love it !!!!!

 

[duanewill.dw]

A year ago, I bought into the hype. I ignored my better judgement and bought a Stelvio - a pristine 2018 red on red TI Sport - for my college daughter. What a great looking car!

Within weeks, we had problems. Gauges went dark. Ran out of gas because the gas gauge was incorrect. Hmm. OK. Technical things. We will get this straight the next time we go to Albuquerque, the nearest dealer (about 270 miles). Done.

Then the battery dies and she's stranded. On a 25K miles car? Forgiven. New battery.

Then she calls me at 11:30pm one night in the spring. Car is disabled. Won't go into gear at all. Hmmm. I have it towed to a shop where she's at school, and inexplicably, the car goes into gear again and the shop can find no issues.

Then the dash goes dark yet again. New cluster.

Then a few weeks ago, she's downtown at a baseball game and the car won't go into gear again. I get to miss the game, wrangling with Alfacare on when they can get the thing and who is paying for it, blah blah blah. So they send a car hauler to get the car. Car is out on the street all night downtown. Not a good thing. Then the car hauler shows, but can't load the car because it won't go into gear.

Reboot. This time, Alfa calls a flatbed truck to get the car. Due to the traffic, etc., it takes the guy 2 hours to get the car loaded. Finally it's on it's way to ABQ. Seems like a ground wire came loose. So I fly to ABQ for the 270 mile drive back home. 50 miles outside of my hometown, the cruise control quits working. Warning light.

Then, two weeks later, it won't start again. 6 month old battery gone. New battery.

OK, I'm all done here. We traded the car today for a Lexus NX that's a year older with 20K more miles, and spent $4500 out of pocket to do it, as the dealer didn't want my Alfa.

Guys, as you will experience, these cars are junk. In the class of Land Rover quality. I am a Ferrari owner so I really wanted to get Alfa a chance. Ferrari quality is miles ahead of Alfa. When everyone figures out what these cars are, and what they aren't, Alfa is done in the U.S. Too many other viable, dependable options.

Of course, some of this is my fault for buying this car with no dealer in my town. With a car as unreliable as this, that is a bare minimum requirement, as you will need dealer support to keep the car running.

Take care guys. Last post.

I feel your pain. When I got my relatively new Alpha, it had 2300 miles on it; and I guess that should have been a warning sign. I had no clue. I had all of the problems you described including having the car lose power and begin to decelerate while in traffic. I would have to quickly pull over sometimes into a turn lane and quickly turn the car off. The open and close the driver door, and start the car again. That would do some kind of reset and I could drive off normally.

The shops could never find anything, and always left me feeling unsatisfied. Then a miracle happened RATS made a nest of my engine compartment and ate on all of my wiring. One day I walked out to start the car and it would not start. Same ole same ole I think. I call the dealership and they send a tow truck. I get a call the next day reporting the news. Rats had chewed on my wires. They were going to have to replace all of the wiring to the tune of $13,500. Fortunately my hope owners covered it with only a $500 deductible. It took forever to fix probably 3 months. I wore out the insurance company rental car and when they cut that off I got the dealership to supply a loaner. I got the car back and it drove like a dream. NEVER had another lick of trouble out of it and I drove the wheels off of it. Drove it to the end of the lease and it never saw the dealership once. Go figure. Sorry you had a bad experience as many drivers had on the 2018 Stelvio. I imagine they have worked out most of those issues now, and when I am ready to purchase a new vehicle. I will be looking at the most current year of Stelvio they have. I am an Alpha fan and driving is a dream where everyone else is sitting still.

 

[Thunder86]

You've ended up getting rid of a great car just because of a loose cable or most likely a below spec/faulty battery. All the issues you've mentioned are frequently caused by battery related issues, no surprise your car was eating a battery every 6 months. I bet a good AGM 95AH battery would have fixed all the issues.

The gas gauge is a frequent fault and can be resolved via software update
The instrument panel going blackout is also frequently resolved via a SW update, mostly due to unstable battery tension
The gearbox is one of the most rock solid on the market, your issues seem again caused by a faulty/improper battery.

Another plausible explanation is that the previous owner had damaged some part of the car and the dealer you bought it from was not aware, I'm referring to possible water damage from floods (gearbox has probably been submerged underwater). Some earlier models were recalled for water infiltrations in the fuse area and in the tailgate, maybe the owner didn't bring the car in when due (the dealer could have verified this). Anything else could have happened, probably a short call to the previous owner could have resolved the issue.

 

[mgreenb561]

A year ago, I bought into the hype. I ignored my better judgement and bought a Stelvio - a pristine 2018 red on red TI Sport - for my college daughter. What a great looking car!

Within weeks, we had problems. Gauges went dark. Ran out of gas because the gas gauge was incorrect. Hmm. OK. Technical things. We will get this straight the next time we go to Albuquerque, the nearest dealer (about 270 miles). Done.

Then the battery dies and she's stranded. On a 25K miles car? Forgiven. New battery.

Then she calls me at 11:30pm one night in the spring. Car is disabled. Won't go into gear at all. Hmmm. I have it towed to a shop where she's at school, and inexplicably, the car goes into gear again and the shop can find no issues.

Then the dash goes dark yet again. New cluster.

Then a few weeks ago, she's downtown at a baseball game and the car won't go into gear again. I get to miss the game, wrangling with Alfacare on when they can get the thing and who is paying for it, blah blah blah. So they send a car hauler to get the car. Car is out on the street all night downtown. Not a good thing. Then the car hauler shows, but can't load the car because it won't go into gear.

Reboot. This time, Alfa calls a flatbed truck to get the car. Due to the traffic, etc., it takes the guy 2 hours to get the car loaded. Finally it's on it's way to ABQ. Seems like a ground wire came loose. So I fly to ABQ for the 270 mile drive back home. 50 miles outside of my hometown, the cruise control quits working. Warning light.

Then, two weeks later, it won't start again. 6 month old battery gone. New battery.

OK, I'm all done here. We traded the car today for a Lexus NX that's a year older with 20K more miles, and spent $4500 out of pocket to do it, as the dealer didn't want my Alfa.

Guys, as you will experience, these cars are junk. In the class of Land Rover quality. I am a Ferrari owner so I really wanted to get Alfa a chance. Ferrari quality is miles ahead of Alfa. When everyone figures out what these cars are, and what they aren't, Alfa is done in the U.S. Too many other viable, dependable options.

Of course, some of this is my fault for buying this car with no dealer in my town. With a car as unreliable as this, that is a bare minimum requirement, as you will need dealer support to keep the car running.

Take care guys. Last post.

Hey, they called you several times for the extended car warranty, but you said no,

 

[ViscontiVerde 164L*]

I feel your pain. When I got my relatively new Alpha, it had 2300 miles on it; and I guess that should have been a warning sign. I had no clue. I had all of the problems you described including having the car lose power and begin to decelerate while in traffic. I would have to quickly pull over sometimes into a turn lane and quickly turn the car off. The open and close the driver door, and start the car again. That would do some kind of reset and I could drive off normally.

The shops could never find anything, and always left me feeling unsatisfied. Then a miracle happened RATS made a nest of my engine compartment and ate on all of my wiring. One day I walked out to start the car and it would not start. Same ole same ole I think. I call the dealership and they send a tow truck. I get a call the next day reporting the news. Rats had chewed on my wires. They were going to have to replace all of the wiring to the tune of $13,500. Fortunately my hope owners covered it with only a $500 deductible. It took forever to fix probably 3 months. I wore out the insurance company rental car and when they cut that off I got the dealership to supply a loaner. I got the car back and it drove like a dream. NEVER had another lick of trouble out of it and I drove the wheels off of it. Drove it to the end of the lease and it never saw the dealership once. Go figure. Sorry you had a bad experience as many drivers had on the 2018 Stelvio. I imagine they have worked out most of those issues now, and when I am ready to purchase a new vehicle. I will be looking at the most current year of Stelvio they have. I am an Alpha fan and driving is a dream where everyone else is sitting still.

ALFA sir

 

[Malibu]

ALFA sir

Also, "Por-shuh".

 

[Jwg223]

Kid in College = Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla

Your mileage may vary -

Maybe he has the money and his daughter liked it? Dont hate.

That said, OP, I know people with spectacularly unreliable vehicles who have had an amazingly good ownership experience, and people who have owned wonderfully reliable vehicle reputations that have been horrible.

Thing is, its all a sample of 1 or maybe 2 or 3 at most.

Long story short, no matter what, its a crap shoot. That said, some games have better odds than others, and Alfa has already been pushed out of the US market before, and have been closing dealerships ever since they returned year by year.