Alfa's Still Rust just like they used to.

Alfa Romeo 159 TI Sportswaggon

 In 2008 I bought my second Alfa Romeo a 159 TI and it has been a great car to drive and when I moved back to New Zealand in 2011 I took it with me having enjoyed it so much.
Unfortunately when I sent it in to have the Cam Belt changed we found some significant corrosion on the Engine Subframe.

Alfa Romeo Rust

The rust has started in all the welds and it appears that the components have not been manufactured correctly allowing the rust to take hold.

Alfa 159 Subframe Rust

 And in 4 years reduce the car to the point where it will not pass a Warrant of Fitness (road worthiness check.) I though Alfa had moved on from the days of being a rust bucket but apparently not.

Alfa 159 Corrosion

To make sure it was well looked after I had is serviced by the Alfa Main Dealer who sold it to me along with my first Alfa a 156.
I don't know how they missed this problem when it could have been easily fixed. I hope the case is they missed it and not ignored it but I suspect that this was the case.

If you have a Alfa Romeo 159 or are looking at buying one make sure you check it for corrosion.
If left unchecked this could become a major safety issue.

I have contacted Alfa Romeo in New Zealand, and international customer services and the Dealer I bought it off in the and they are are not willing to do anything about it.

I think is is extremely poor customer service for a car company that has worked hard to change its image from a company that builds rusty unreliable cars to one of the luxury car brands.

Further Assessment

So we had the mechanic pull the subframe out so we could get a better look at how bad the rust is and it is pretty bad for a 4 year old car.

As it can be seen in the photos below the rust is only occurring on the welds. Where the coating has not stuck to the frame.

Rusty Welds on Subframe

After sending the photos to Piccadilly Motors in the UK where I bought the car and Alfa Romeo International Customer Services. Both have been unwilling to do anything to help.

I also took the Subframe to Andrew Simms European my local Alfa dealer and they have also been no help.
Being shocked at the state of the parts but then putting me back onto Alfa International again.

It is a real shame that modern Alfa's still rust like the bad old days.

I had been considering getting the new model when it comes out but due to the warranty being not worth the paper it is written on and the poor customer service I could not bring myself to get another one no matter how nice they are to drive.