Traded in my year 2000 electric blue 20VT for it.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/991786.htm

Bit confused by this.. what have you got then.. another electric blue plus

Looks good though!

No my current coupe is not a plus.

Yep very nice,mine has the same miles on a 97 plate 20vt.
But needs painting.

top money !!!! but looks nice

Look at pic 3 and you can see my coupe in the layby

Oh yeah!
Gorgeous looking plus, think electric blue has to be my favourite colour on a coupe

Very nice. I looked at this longingly, but could not justify the cost to "upgrade" given that my plus is effectively exactly the same description bar a different colour and 60k more miles.

How do 'Solo Italia' sell cars? Everything is £1500 over market! Just because you're a garage doesn't mean you can suddenly charge vastly more these days. Sigh.

Obviously they can A car is worth how much somebody is willing to pay for it!

your paying for the 12 month warrenty!

The cars at Solo Italia tend to be well over average condition. Plus you get peace of mind buying from a specialist.

Their cars are not worth £1500 more. I have been with my bro to view some (he is in the market) and most of them needed brakes, that or exhaust tailpipe looks rotten. I.e. little bits and pieces that you might expect from a private seller, and that an honest seller would even specify in their advert and take into account in the price. Not here though, not when you're paying absolute top dollar... Reminds me of The Wimbledon Carriage company.

No pleasing some people.

Makes me wish i'd kept my leccy blue plus

Actually i bought my 20vt (Steel grey still showing as sold on Piston heads)from them and am pleased - apart from squeaky brakes - which i hope will be soughted out by them/Gaz? on Wednesday
I paid £2800 and with what had been done (see advert) plus hardly a mark on the body and a warranty to boot, well i think its a good deal...

Touch wood!!

Agree Solo Italia are way over the odds. but that's the nicest Plus I've ever seen. Congratulations!

very nice plus! best colour too

Sorry I have not updated until now - almost too ashamed to. Resiting the temptation to place a credit card deposit on it over the phone I flew over on the 27th April to view it - from Ireland that is! Well what a waste of a day it was.

Needless to say the deal fell through - basically because despite my Coupes faults its better than that plus. OK the bodywork does look good but the overall feel of the car does not make me confident its just done 47,000 miles. It feels jaded and hardly in the condition you would expect from one lady owner.

The alloys are in a terribly corroded state and its on cheap tyres (for a coupe at least) The engine note sounds gruff as opposed to the sweet burble of my 59,000 miler. It is powerful though but I suppose after a few hours in a 1.2 Corsa rented car a wheelbarrow would feel the same.

There was water in the sparewheel tray and rust on the engine bay bodywork to which many of the parts are attached.

Also I have to agree that a Plus is not all they are cracked up to be. The seats are harder and flatter and so are in fact less supportive and comfortable than the standard ones which have lovely soft leather.

Also the calipers may have looked good when new with their red enamel paint but look less impressive when painted with a non gloss paint akin to red lead.

All in all a disappointment but at least now I will appreciate what I have more and get it on the road.

I must admit a plus does look great in the right colour - yellow. Any other paint job especially the electric blue metallic as in that car and it suddenly looks like something Peter Stringfellow would have designed - tarty and gaudy to an extent that would even shame many of the Barryboys.

The seats as I mentioned look the part but in practice the standard seats are far better. The red stitching does nothing for the interior either. It actually distracts from the elegant standard design. I saw similar stitching done on an Alfa GT 'club' and it looked similarly dreadful.

Also while a sunroof may restrict headroom I discovered that I missed not having it. With the shade open it lets plenty of light into what can be a fairly claustrophobic cabin at times and the air con on this one could only do luke warm cold in contrast to my own which can cause frostbite if your not careful.
Also it can be great to just open all windows and sunroof on windy country lanes just to hear that sweet exhaust note and breath in real air as opposed to the fresh out of a gas canister variety.

The bodykit also is something of an acquired taste. Generally I am against 'bodykits' but have always excused same if they were original factory fittings - as was the case with my BMW 318iS Coupe. But I am now convinced that the plus bodykit is crap.

I think my Fiat Coupe purchase was one of my better decisions after all and plan to get it sorted soon.

I left not very impressed with Solo Italia. I am a classic car collector and am prepared to pay for a quality car. This car is not presented accurately in the PH add and for its condition is way overpriced. The overall standard of the garage left an impression too. Its sad to see so many coupes scrapped out the back and side of the premises and the way parts are stuffed everywhere in the garage did not leave a positive impression either.

Sad that's happened to you mate. Gotta say that the pics were deceiving as I thought it looked great. It's also disappointing that you spent a large amount of money to go and look at it.

I am guilty of the mileage stigma. I know that my brain tells me that high mile cars can be good, often better than low mile cars but I still find myself dismissing them and I shouldn't. The coupe is one of those cars that is just different between each one that you try, if you've got one that feels sweet, keep hold of it. Invest the cash and do those little jobs that need doing. You won't regret it in the long run.

the mileage is such a stupid thing to dismiss. A car that is driven daily (ie warmed up) is going to be in better condition than one thats is sat cold and damp on a street/drive day in day out.

You can keep your overpriced low mileage cars, i would much prefer to have a 10 year old car with 100k + miles on but people are always suckered by the speedometer.

I agree with what sugarbear said. It's got to be condition over milage.

That said, I'm surprised by the other content in your post. On the subject of Solo, I can't say I've ever been but from what I've heard they have as good a reputation as anyone other than Rog and Iceberg. The cars I've seen them sell have, in my view, been too costly but at the end of the day something is worth what people will pay for it and if they can get people to meet their asking prices that's good for them. I don't know what this car is really like but I can tell you that for £6.5k I would expect the best coupe in the country. If I had come a long way to find something which was not that I would be quite cheesed off.

If what has cheesed you off however is that you have tried to do a deal with Solo and they have rejected it then it would be unfair to be bagging them and the car that hard. Your post is written with sufficient vitriol for me to suspect that there are some sour grapes in there somewhere. Are they really limited to you having come a long way to view the car?

On the subject of the Coupe Plus features I recognise that it's a matter of personal taste, but in my view on the comfort of the seats, the look of the red stitching and the appearance of the bodykit you are a long long way off the mark.

Aye, I wondered why this was back up for sale.
I still like to look through PH from time to time

Obviously I have heard of SI garage, but have never been there.

Viewing a car from photographs, is in my opinion, will be more favourable to a less than perfect car.

Ive seen countless pics of vehicles, & when I viewed them in the flesh, I honestly thought I was looking at other cars.......

Bummer though, to come all that way & no cigar....

Alfaguy, if you were thinking of travelling such a distance to view the car, why not ask on here whether there was a member that was local to it that could give you an honest impartial opinion.

Obviously your personal opinion for the car counts for a lot, but it might have given you something to go on before travelling so far to see it.

One lady owner, low miles.. can't think of a worse Coupe to consider

"Lady owner" almost guarantee's no mechanical knowledge or sympathy, kerbed alloys, a loose mirror ( make up adjustment on the move ) and more car park dings than average . ( knowledgeable and Coupe loving Ladies of the forum I do apologise , tar brush now put away )

At 150k miles, I'd defy anyone to 'predict' LE #10's mileage without seeing the speedo ( full respray may help in the illusion )

I don't think I was that hard - its just business. I have been to the UK before and rejected cars that did not match what I had expected. You have to be prepared to say no as well and it was me that said NO.
Like any business whether we like it or not people are influenced by a premises condition. A neat orderly garage with all parts neatly stored and without scrapped cars lying about will obviously impress.
I only trust my own judgment when buying cars as its me that's spending the money. One persons idea of a good buy might be totally different to mine.
Thanks to Ryan air and cheap online advance car rental such trips are no longer that expensive - the weather was appalling though.
I am not in the least put out over the cost of traveling to the UK to view the car just disappointed by its condition. No sour grapes at all in fact. Far better to spend €150 to check it first before buying.

I think Alfaguy has every right to air his opinion on a car he went to purchase but found that it did not match the expectations the advert suggested.

Just because the car is not on ebay advertised by a dyslexic 12 y/o does not mean that it cannot be criticised. Car dealers are probably the worst at misdescription as well.

On the note of messy premises, i have to agree, i went to Hayward Rotary a couple of months ago with my RX7, and i was not impressed with the state of the place. Rows of scrapped cars, a filthy (and i mean filthy) workshop, and what can only be descibed as a festival portaloo as the WC did not inspire confidence in his ability to work on my car.

i agree alfaguy has his opinion and it it as valid as anyone's if he's the one shelling out the money.

what did strike me as odd is, as an existing coupe owner and self-proclaimed car expert, i'm more than a little surprised that he wasn't aware the plus had red calipers, recaro seats with red stitching and, obvious even from the pics, a body kit!!

to then go on to dismiss these as nasty irrelevancies strikes the same chord with me as someone else said, sour grapes...sorry, but i'm entitled to an opinion also...

Absolutely - no problem there.

Fiat Coupe's are a rarity here and I had never seen let alone sit in a Plus. In pics Plus coupes look very impressive. The reality is a bit less impressive though. I also thought the Alfa GT club looked great in pics with the red stitching etc but when I seen one in reality I quickly changed my opinion.

i travelled a mere 100 miles to solo last year to view a described as new car but the reality was i thought id arrived at a coupe scrap yard ... most with flat tyres and filthy and full of moisture inside.... up at 5000 to 6500...quid..
drove straight home without waiting as i d have vented my anger there and then and he had the cheek to ring and ask where i was as i walked through my door....

having complained about my waste of journey he went on to say in a suprised manner " well most people are satisfied with our cars " quote....not me !!!

i sympathise with your long journey but it s wise to remember someones as new might be different to your own as new !!!!!
fortunatley an honest london accountant saw me drop on to what i was looking for...and all ended well.