Which Alfa club?

Mrs G is thinking of joining an Alfa club or forum. Before we spend hard cash, does anyone recommend a particular one?

Cheers

Alfaowner is the pretty complete one more so for newer ones I believe

Which Alfa?

Alfaowner covers everything but as mentioned, perhaps a little more focused on the newer. I must admit I find the depth of technical knowledge there lacking compared to here.

I am a member of Alfa155.org but that is very model specific, but strong technically on everything including other models.

AROC UK is also very good plus the various benefits of being the official owners club.

It's a Giulietta new model.

Thanks guys will have a look and decide.

The Giulietta section is pretty good, pretty mucyh all issues have been covered.

Yes - it very much depends on what she is after. AROC is still a more "physical" club than an on-line one and has some very active sections.

Which model Giulietta do you have Gripped?

Mine is a 2.0 JTDm 170

Same engine but the 150bhp version. It's a QV line.

Stunning car.

Out of interest, what's your fuel economy like? We're getting about 45mpg driving sensibly.

I get about 45mpg driven day to day, if I take it steady say on a B road or Motorway I can get just over 50mpg.

I don't think there is any real world differences in economy between any of the 2.0 versions.

Look out for me on Alfaowner, my username is Symon.

I am considering a remap or tuning box at some stage.

Nice one. We are almost certainly remapping ours when the warranty period is up. It can be chipped to 185bhp out of the box. But, I'd like to get a remap where the fuel economy can be improved together with the performance, so I'll do my research.

A mate of mine with a remapped VAG 1.9TDi (from 130 to 174 bhp) now gets over 60mpg if he behaves himself, which is actually better than it was before the map.

My Coupe is also better on juice after the Flea live map. I can get nearly 40mpg on a gentle run. But my right foot doesn't usually know the meaning of gentle !!

Yeah, but can it fool the emissions legislation into thinking it's even better?!

Erm. No. Usually they are a fair bit more smoky after a remap.

Sorry, that was a dig at VAG...!

That's ok Jim. I spotted that. No apology needed.
I'm disappointed with VAG over the whole scandal, but I don't think it means they are worse cars than any other. I am sure other manufacturers have been up to similar. It wouldn't put me off buying VAG either.

It's a PR disaster for VAG, but - given that many other manufacturers are doing similar things (perhaps not as sneakily), you're right that relatively speaking, the cars are all still as good as they were.
Just makes (proper) custom remaps an even better idea.

Alfa's way of getting around the emissions rules is the DNA system IMO.

They are tested in Normal which means it passes, but most people drive in Dynamic all of the time as it is so much better. Whether it still passes the emissions is open to debate...

I find fuel economy the same despite the car being faster, so maybe it switches the EGR off....

Yeah, I must admit the driving modes are a bit of a gimmick, although normal mode is certainly less jerky in town traffic. The rest of the time, dynamic is the obvious choice. The 0.1% of the year where you want all weather mode does not justify having it IMO.

To me all weather feels the same as N, only you have the option of a digital speed readout.

I don't find it jerky at all in D, maybe the 150 has a different throttle map?

It feels like driving with the brakes on if you are in N compared to D.

I guess it's not exactly jerky, it's just you have to be much gentler with the throttle in D when going on/off throttle to keep a smooth drive. It's by no means bad, and you do get used to being gentler. In N you have to press the throttle more, so it is more forgiving in traffic.