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Maintenance cost of a 2015 4C

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#1 ·
Hey guys,

Been lurking around the forum for a couple months now and have a few questions. I apologize to you long timers which have probably answered some of these before:|
So a little background on myself. I've owned everything from a highly modified 2011 Camaro SS, to a 2011 BMW Z4 roadster. I'm currently leasing a 2015 Mercedes C Class
which I only have a couple more months on. My job has relocated to three minutes away from my house. So I decided that I once again wanted a fun car to drive as my daily.
The Z4 was a blast to drive. But the maintenance cost were ridiculous. (Same as the Mercedes) $600.00 oil changes, $400.00 for 1 run flat tire, etc. There are a couple 2015 4C's in my area. First one is a 2015 for $46,000 with 10K miles. The second for $48,000 with only 4K miles. Both are within budget and have a clean carfax. So my questions are-

1: What are the general maintenance cost of a 4C?
2: Do any of you guys change your own oil?
3: Any common problems with these cars that I should look out for?

Although both cars are within budget. Will the general maintenance cost of these Italian cars send me to the poor house? Like the ole saying goes. If you can't afford the maintenance. You cant afford the car.

Thanks guys! Looking forward to joining the 4C owners crew soon. Not many 4C's in my area. Which makes these cars very exclusive!
 
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#2 ·
Man were they raking you over the coals $600 for an oil change. Even for all my Porsche’s I never spent over $350 at the dealer. I would personally do your oil changes your self. There is a bolt tightening service that has to be done on the 4C and that ranges around $900 I believe. Not entirely sure on the timing of these but it is not a yearly or even bi yearly event.


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#3 ·
Man were they raking you over the coals $600 for an oil change. Even for all my Porsche’s I never spent over $350 at the dealer. I would personally do your oil changes your self. There is a bolt tightening service that has to be done on the 4C and that ranges around $900 I believe. Not entirely sure on the timing of these but it is not a yearly or even bi yearly event.


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You ain't kidding. When I got the bill for the oil change. I thought I was paying for the guy behind me also. When they quoted me $400.00 for 1 tire. I said no, I'm only replacing 1. Not all four. Lol. With tax, balancing, etc. A set of four run flat tires for a C Class was $1,760.00 :huh:
 
#4 ·
Bolt tightening service is where the money is and if you can get agreement from a main dealer it should be done on mileage rather than age it will bring the costs down. Having looked at the maintenance sheet for the bolts I would not say this was actually a complex job and costs will be labour charges to do it.


In the UK I have yet to find a main dealer who will accept that a car with, say 1000 miles on it at 1yr old does not need a bolt tightening service - reason they can charge c£1,000 for the job which is essentially an oil service. In fact if some of the dealres would ring me back to confirm that would be a start!



If the cars you are looking at are outside 3yr warranty you could take it to a respected AR independent garage that is familiar with these cars. Labour rates are likely cheaper and if the UK is anything to go by customer service will be far far superior.


Flip side get the dealer to do the 3yr service before you take delivery as the next service is the cheaper one leading up to the 5yr service where you effectively have to drop your trousers and bend over as the toothed timing belt is changed along with another bolt tightening session!


I've a very good independent in the UK (Alfaworks) where Jamie's costs are effectively half main dealer and I suspect he services more of these cars and knows them intimately than any AR (Fiat) garage. Trouble is he's 200 miles away from me!


It's not often you can say running a Porsche is cheaper and on 2yr service intervals.
 
#5 ·
I want to brake down ownership costs for the 4C a little more. I'm in the USA, so take what you want from it. Standard scheduled maintenance isn't very expensive, and almost everything can be done at your local favorite shop. Oil change should be less than $100. The only high cost regular maintenance item is the "bolt tightening" service that is required. Sadly, It's cost varies significantly depending on the dealership. In the USA, i figure that it will cost on average $1000 for the bolt tightening. I would verify that any used car has had this service BEFORE purchase. Not from the risk of damage, but from the perspective that the previous owner actually TOOK CARE of the car and you will have to pay for the skipped service to when you go take it in. Please be aware, that Alfa Romeo did change the scheduled interval for the bolt tightening service interval since the car was released. I didn't have to do it at my 1 year service, but now the dealership wanted it done year 1 and a suspension tightening on year 2 (i think). So it was more expensive during the year 2 service.

For wear items, like tires, brake pads, rotors, etc. Brakes and pads don't wear quickly (for normal street driving) due the the light weight of the car. Parts are mildly expensive, but there are a few options ($400 for a set of pads). The rear tires will wear fairly quickly if you have "fun". A set of OEM rear tires are about $500/pair. I personally don't fee that the maintenance expense of the car is "crazy", but I also do a much maintenance as I can myself. I do track my car, so I have spent literally thousands of $$$ to upgrade parts and maintenance on the car (and do maintenance much more frequently).

So, the only other high cost "maintenance" isn't exactly maintenance, but the body panels in the case of a "screw up". If you get into a minor accident, the body panels are VERY expensive. I think they run about $5k per body panel. Windshields are also expensive at $3k or so.

Best of luck with your decision
 
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#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks guys,

I'm located in South Florida. Sounds like these cars are "relatively" cheap to maintain compared to my Z4 and Benz. My only issue would be that the nearest Alfa dealership is roughly 30 miles away. Over the next couple months the plan is to educate myself as much as possible on these cars (With the help of the forum) I'm not sure I would trust my local mom and pop shop to touch one of these cars without the proper knowledge.
 
#7 ·
My experience has been in line with the last couple of posts.

Oil changes are reasonable. $100-$200
General maintenance is reasonable.
Tires wear at a ratio of 1F:2R
Brake pads wear at a ratio of 2F:1R
Tire and brake pad wear is situationally dependent - if you daily or track the car.
And bolt tightening is all over the map, but $600-$1200 every 2 years is a safe estimate.

This is what I’ve seen for 49,000 kms in 2.5 years.
 
#8 ·
Where in South florida are you? East or West Coast? East Coast might be more expensive. if West Coast i've had very good luck and pricing from Sunset Alfa Romeo in Sarasota and Ed Morse Alfa Romeo in Brandon, FL Approximately $150 for oil.filter change and $800.00 for bolt tightening and both dealers would only do tightening at mileage of near 10,000, not annually.
 
#11 ·
The bolt tightening is done at 12,000 mile intervals. Since I only put on about 4,000 miles a year (hibernate in Winter and have two other cars),I asked my dealer to check with ALFA for their recommendations. They said just wait until you get near 12,000 miles fo the bot tightening.
I am old school for oil so I change it every year before putting it in hibernation so very conservative. If you track your car all maintenance will increase....not just for consumables....but for oil, filters, etc.
The oil change can be done by the owner....not that big of a deal. The bolt tightening takes awhile....as i recall it is around 8-10 hours by the dealer. You can get the list of all the bolts and what the torque spec is from our Forum.
Since you are buying a used car you would need to find out if it has some residual warranty left. If so you need to either have the dealer do the work or if an independent shop or owner does the work you need to document it with receipts for oil, filters, etc. and a you do the bolt tightening you have to photo or document in some way each step to prove you did it yourself.

As to the bolt tightening....the car with the CF chassis is extremely solid, and the suspension is not your normal soft ride like in an American passenger car so it is important to make sure everything is tight. Rough roads can slightly loosen some bolts....although on my car there were only two bolts that were slightly below torque but not loose. I decided to do my bolt tightening at 8200 miles since I would be over the 12,000 mile point at the next end of year maintenance.I did this as I do some mild track/autocrossing....and the roads here in Michigan tend to be less than well maintained in some areas.

Overall the car compared to Porsche, Jag, Merc. is not out of line. But don't expect Chevy or Ford prices if you go to a dealer. And parts due cost more of course.....limited production cars always have that issue. But overall is it worth it....HELL YEAH. It is an amazing car that never ceases to leave a smile on your face.....and be prepared to have LOTS of people taking pictures of it and wanting to ask about it. I have had a lot of cars and none attract the attention the 4C does.
 
#15 ·
The bolt tightening is done at 12,000 mile intervals. Since I only put on about 4,000 miles a year (hibernate in Winter and have two other cars),I asked my dealer to check with ALFA for their recommendations. They said just wait until you get near 12,000 miles fo the bot tightening.

If we could find an Alfa main Dealer in the UK with that approach it would be useful. Wonder why Alfa can't issue a bulletin regarding bolt tightening instead of using the 1yr/12k whichever first regime?
 
#14 ·
I am in south florida ..FTL area. haven’t serviced the car yet but will be soon and will let you know .. due for an oil change. I would definitely suggest a 2nd car down here in addition to the 4c. Between the non stop rain, rocks and crap on the roads here, and horrible drivers. It nice to keep in Garage and take out when the weather is nice and roads not so packed. But def fun to drive. Only certified dealers / service centers i have seen are in Miami .. Weston .. and west palm.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Yeah, the weather down here has been horrible lately. And hurricane season is here :crying: I don't have much of a commute. 1 mile each way to the office. Usually take the wifes car out for those Home Depot runs. But I do agree that a second car is a good idea. You can lease a cheap Honda, Hyundai or Kia for a couple hundred bucks a month. Definitely keep me posted on how your first visit goes. My closest Alpha dealership would be Rick Case in Davie
 
#17 ·
Did my bolt tightening at 9,000 - had it done at Maserati along with a full service and two new back tires - $1800. Peanuts in comparison to a major dealer service on a 911.

Most 4C's don't get huge use just down to the fact they are mainly 'toy' cars, so that helps.
 
#19 ·
I just had the 25.000km service done, including bolt tightening and repair of a stuck brake caliper. Payed about € 800, which seemed a fair price. I had it it done by an official Alfa dealer.
 
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#30 ·
It’s literally like 3-4 hours of labor—at most. And if you’re adding something like an intercooler or have a reason for it to be in and opened a bit, can be done at the same time.

My dealer installed the TCM shield for a few hours of labor and performed bolt tightening at the same time since half of the car would need it any way putting it back together.
 
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