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Laguna experience





Hi,

am considering replacing my alfa 164. Am impressed by the Laguna II during a test drive, but not 100% sure about its reliability. Any advice, please?

HKclioman
 


Kevin i left a msg in the hk owners forum place.

i dont nkow the built quality still a bit shabby compare to the German competition wut kind of price tag r u lookin for? The updated version of 156 definately worth a look at though, also bang for buck Passat is not bad. If u need any help at Alfa show room let me know I will tell my uncle.
 


The passat 1.8 T and 156 JTS are priced around $280k, almost $100k more than a laguna. besides, the dealers are not interested to have my alfa as a trade-in.
 


qualty assured, its definately better than the new Alfas. BUT, its all down to preferance.

I know reliability aint a probs as i have explained in the tech forum and for the price nothing really comes close.

Oh, and since its got euro NCAP 5 stars (the first to do it) its far safer than anything on the rd. Oh, and did you work the ASR and esp? man, they are life savers in the wet! i couldnt crash the car if i wanted!
 


Knew you would say that, Ben.

The only thing I dislike is the front metal thing. But the car is very competent and far beyond my expectation. It would be a much better choice than a collora. Will test drive a 307 SW (hate the look of ordinary 307) and the mondeo next week, maybe the 156, too. The lady will have more say this time. lets hope she would make a sensible choice.

Cheers
 


Tony

Did a guy call Eddie Wong call u up? I rang my uncle he said he will get Eddie to find u. Eddie is one of the top guys there
 


Leo called me during luch time. We talked for a while, he said he would ask Eddie to arrange a test drive for me. Will keep you posted. u are really "efficient".
 


ah.......

wait til you see the laguna estate, i think its far better than teh saloon...but estaes make me horny for some reason...maybe the volvo T5 we had has something to do with it!?
 


Ben,

I prefer the estate more, too. However, for reasons unknown to me, your ppl are more keen to sell me the saloon than the estate. David gives me a call on a daily basis after Ivans contract. I told him to give me a few weeks to consider and shop around. There is a chance that I will pick you up from the airport in a new Laguna. Talked to my wife that there might be an alfa test drive. Her facial expression led me to stop the conversation. Cyue has a uphill battle there.

Tony
 


haha not my battle give it to big mouth eddie :p i only refer u coz i think its a nice machine ahha nothin about me gettin money or anythin so dont worry. I like Laguna V6 Ben me gf parents thought about it price is very good tons of kit better priced than its competitors.

Tony i think u might agree with me after ur test drive that Alfa has come alonggggggggggggggg way from what u got. ask eddie to throw in the BOSE sound system if u ever get close to purchasin its a must have if its not standard (i dont know the standard spec for HK cars) there should be leather too momo leathe rhhm :p Dual zone climate control as well i think
 


Ben u know the V6 estate... heck its strange u get xenons in the estate but not in the saloon!! :(!! n parkin sensors as well for very little money added to the saloon. Ben u heard of Philip Ma i think hes got a V6 clio..... anyone takin up the new V6 clio? we cant get anyone orderin one here so i dont get to see it
 


um, our saloon comes with teh xenons and with parking sensors as std......

along with all the dual climate stuff........heated seats blah blah.......and teh most gorgeus leather......something about the way they put the seams on the outside.

oh, tony, the estate comes out in about a month or 2 so hopefully itll be there when i get back.....i love the arse on it.

ching: yup i know philip ma, i woked on his V6 when it had fuel vaporisation problems.......the MK1 V6 is not a very well put together car, but gorgeous all teh same. The mk2 V6 will be far far better and should be as good as the mk3 clio comming soonish.....oh, and he runs cut slicks on his rd car. I have also been in phillips GT1 LM 911......sexy
 


i read in a track report sayin Philips V6 transmission was coookin up some heat after a few rounds ?

anyway guys i m in hk and oh yeh saw a SILVER 172 in "Surn Wan" tonite (Sunday nite) couldnt see plate though

yeh the 911 is nice huh ? the dealer got one in NZ but i hvaent had a chance to get in it yet :(

went past Kingsway saw a white 147 me wonder if thats the GTA hehe probably not ... n a silver Murcielago.... SEXY gimme .... NOW

hell i got work tomolo mornin at my dads firm sad huh

Tony yo hows it goin?
 


surn wan? where is that?

HK island?

oh, my cars palte is GE 1728...if you see it.....say hello to the bald gweilo inside...me dad....

was teh track V6 test an auto? if so.....it is a torque converter slipping a good dolop of V6 torque!!!!
 


147 GTA is not yet available. Not even in the UK. The one you saw, may be the 2.0 model.

BTW, the is an alfa owner site in HK. ppl there prefer driving "with good care and responsibility" (that what they said). A a few days ago, they were complaining against Kingsway, saying that its advertisement was bad taste.

Ben, have they rr tested your 1728 again after K-tec is fitted? Would really like to "hear" the differences between the cup exhaust and the k-tec. Am saving money for the kit now.

Tony
 


Tony have u finally got ur drive in the JTS?

Yeh probably 2.0 actually just the colour looked like GTA (White) i havent seen any white 147 in NZ ahhaha the GTA was my wildest guess and a bad one i knew the 147GTA isnt out but yet i say that was one . somethin with HK water ahha.

The 172 was parked on Ventris road i think the dude either lives there or pickin someone up but no one was in the car.

Ben i m waitin for u to come back n show me more 172 hehe me already dyin in my dad office after wut. 4 hours ?

Now that i m a bit older i have started to chip in some ideas to kingsway n stuff hopefully less complaints out there. i think if everyone at kingsway run on commission base rather than basic salary + commission services will be much better
 


hi cyue,

i know how you feel. Thats why I always keep PC link to the Internet while I am in the office.

Still waiting for Eddies call. Seems that he is not too enthusiastic about the whole thing.

Talking about customer services. Lets be more realistic, unlike toyota/honda, reno/alfa romeo can only attract a handful of buyers monthly at the most. In situation like such, it is difficult to keep good ppl w/o paying a decent salary. The main reason, as I see it, for failing to gain a more sizeable market share is because of their unreliable and difficult/expensive to maintain image. A quick solution is to offer a better than average warranty plan and to improve the productivity of the workshop. I suggest you consider franchising the maintenance work. This could introduce some competition and will eventually lower the maintenance cost.
 


i will talk about extended warentty but we are alerady supporting an extra yr which is espensive as HK peolpe tend to come in for every little problem like a smel in the car if they fart...which is silly.

we recently gave a free gearbox away cause the guy was complainig so much! and his warrenty was out by 3 yrs...so dont tell us we are not kind haha.....but if you complain all the time about silly little thing then you tend to get treated badly...as you do in most business...but complaints witha smile will help....as raising your voice only pissed off our intellectually limited staff (sales and service only as parts and workshop people are great! smile all day long) and im sure you ahve spoken to kelvin or kevin.....i think thier personal aim is to charge $10K per invoice haha.
 


Thats why you need to introduce some competition. This will make them realise they have to provide customer service. On the other hand, I fully agree with you that many ppl in Hong Kong know nothing about cars, they care more about 4-leg animal, and make unreasonable demand. My wife once complainted to Wilamn about the "short life" of the brake disc he fixed, after the car had done over 20k. I suggest you consider organising some half day promotion sessions to new Reno buyers/potential buyers. What I have in mind is a half day party (Sunday afternoon) in your workshop, about 30 to 40 families will be entertained, a number of reno will be made available for test drive, some keen reno users will be invited to share their experience, your chief mechanic will give talk on technical stuff, how to modify reno...etc. Such activity wont cost too much, some snack and drink, maybe. Worth trying.

Tony
 


yeh i was thinkin about submittin a "extented warranty" for Alfa to Kingsway. Also haha a wild idea is to ask uncle to bring in "Noble" from UK . i m not sure if anyone is doin that in HK at the moment. Noble is super cheap (ok i cant afford one) for a super car.
 


my mate has just bought a noble........fun, but not any use in HK.....and if it breaks....who in hk can fix it?

itll bump & bounce all the way home.
 


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