Looking to rent a five-passenger sedan? Something a step ahead of the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord? There are many good holiday deals out there. Maybe a Nissan Maxima 2020? This represents $ 309 per month for 36 months and $ 3,859 down payment. Or a Toyota Avalon 2021 for $ 389 for 36 months, with $ 3,688 due at the time of signing. Or a Lexus ES 350 2020 for $ 329 for 36 months, with $ 2,899 down.
Or do you want to be a little adventurous? We’ll explain what that means in a moment.
The rental agreement that caught my eye: a new Alfa-Romeo Giulia for $ 279 a month for 39 months, $ 2,278 with a subscription expiration, with no security deposit.
Giulia? For less than $ 300 a month? And best of all, is it a lease? Because Alfa, since its return to the United States, has not exactly accumulated honors for its quality of construction. Fortunately, it is not ranked in the current issue of Consumer Reports, which features brand reliability, because, like eight other brands, there are not enough cars to collect data.
But there’s no arguing that, in CR’s New Cars publication, Giulia’s reliability rating is one of those red balls with two downward arrows that manufacturers hate to see. But hey, then it’s the Dodge Durango Hellcat. And you would take one of these, right?
But the flip side: Consumer Reports gives Giulia two green arrows for owner satisfaction, which means owners like him, and apparently dealers are repairing cars if they break down, quickly and satisfactorily.
Which shouldn’t be difficult. All the Alfa test vehicles I’ve driven in the past three years have had at least one problem, in all cases, except one, something secondary and electric, like a light that doesn’t go on or off. The people at Fiat Chrysler told me that things are better and, with a completely ecological owner satisfaction index, I need to believe them.
So when I say adventurous, I mean that I mean it in two ways: in the sense of reliability mentioned above, and in the conventional sense of the Italian Alfa-Romeo, which means that the car is fun to drive. Even the base model I’m talking about here, with a 280 horsepower 2.0 four-cylinder turbocharged engine and an eight-speed automatic transmission. The interior is well presented; even the rear seats are surprisingly spacious.
The 2020 base car, which costs $ 40,695 with shipping, is well-equipped, including a front collision warning and automatic braking pattern. Mileage is 24 mpg city, 33 highway.
And, apparently, there are many. Alpha told me in “my area”, there are 66 to choose from.
Drivers who have not paid much attention to Alfa’s quality problems think of the car correctly as a car that has excellent behavior, and this car does. People who don’t like cars think of the Alfa-Romeo brand in the same category as, say, Maserati and Aston-Martin, and will think of you as a big gambler until someone tells them that your car costs a little more than a Toyota uploaded Camry XSE.
So, if you want to impress people, throw the hook quickly. Mention the Formula One team. Just not the last time they won. I’m not endorsing Alfa-Romeo Giulia (pronounced Julia; don’t be ashamed), but for $ 279 a month, it would be on my list.