When to change oil on Alfa Romeo Tonale

[PeterGreen]

So the Mrs. drives an Alfa Romeo Tonale, which is a hybrid with a very small (1.3L) ICE engine driving the front wheels when the battery is low. It's actually been a pleasure to lease, comfortable ride, quiet, and very good on gas. The Plug in feature with 120 volts allows us to get about 31 miles extra range each night.
Car was brand new when we started leasing. Now it has a hair over 7,000 miles. The onboard maintenance mileage minder says that the first oil change isn't due for another 2,000 miles but this seems excessive. We don't plan on keeping the car when the lease expires because we don't want to get stuck paying for an expensive hybrid battery down the line. Most of the miles are highway, nevertheless, with Long Island traffic, much of that highway driving can be stop and go. The car frequently operates on 100% battery- the tach reads zero when it is doing that. Should we spring for an oil change before the 9,000 mile marker? This is only the second car we have ever leased. The first one was a Jeep Wrangler which we wound up buying since the terms were favorable and the Jeep had no issues. The maintenance chart in the owner's manual does not mention miles at all, just states to follow the MM. The specified oil is Mopar 0W30 full synthetic.

 

[Jetronic]

If you're leasing and not keeping, don't do extra oil changes. if the car does 30 electric miles a day, how much did it actually drive with the ICE on? For me, 30 miles would mean nearly all electric miles for instance.

 

[PeterGreen]

If you're leasing and not keeping, don't do extra oil changes. if the car does 30 electric miles a day, how much did it actually drive with the ICE on? For me, 30 miles would mean nearly all electric miles for instance.

Thank you for the suggestion. It does sound kind of crazy to do extra changes on a leased car. I should say that the car rarely runs entirely electric. It needs to start the ICE engine when accelerating onto a highway. You can set it to run entirely electric but we never do that , just leave it to the car to select when to switch from each source. The car is driven more than 31 miles a day. Usually about 50 miles a day with longer excursions on weekends.

 

[JavierH19]

If it's a lease you're not buying out (no way I'd own that thing long term) just do those oil changes at 1%. I'm not doing anything extra on a lease vehicle especially one that frankly isn't going to last 200k+ even if meticulously maintained without requiring luck.

 

[PeterGreen]

I watched the tach as my wife drove home last night from a visit to a relative about thirty miles from home. Most of the time, the car is running purely on electric, so 9k OCI isn't as ridiculously long as one would think. It actually is a very good car, at least the one we were lucky enough to buy. If you're willing to replace the EV battery after 7-8 years, it is a car that you could probably keep for 200k.

 

[Son_of_shots]

So the Mrs. drives an Alfa Romeo Tonale, which is a hybrid with a very small (1.3L) ICE engine driving the front wheels when the battery is low. It's actually been a pleasure to lease, comfortable ride, quiet, and very good on gas. The Plug in feature with 120 volts allows us to get about 31 miles extra range each night.
Car was brand new when we started leasing. Now it has a hair over 7,000 miles. The onboard maintenance mileage minder says that the first oil change isn't due for another 2,000 miles but this seems excessive. We don't plan on keeping the car when the lease expires because we don't want to get stuck paying for an expensive hybrid battery down the line. Most of the miles are highway, nevertheless, with Long Island traffic, much of that highway driving can be stop and go. The car frequently operates on 100% battery- the tach reads zero when it is doing that. Should we spring for an oil change before the 9,000 mile marker? This is only the second car we have ever leased. The first one was a Jeep Wrangler which we wound up buying since the terms were favorable and the Jeep had no issues. The maintenance chart in the owner's manual does not mention miles at all, just states to follow the MM. The specified oil is Mopar 0W30 full synthetic.

As you said, this car is not a keeper. They're just too delicate & breakable. An alfa is just as unreliable as a 1964-2024 fiat. So you would do the minimum maintenance, to get to the end of lease date. BTW, leasing still costs way more per mile than buying.

 

[YZJB]

I watched the tach as my wife drove home last night from a visit to a relative about thirty miles from home. Most of the time, the car is running purely on electric, so 9k OCI isn't as ridiculously long as one would think. It actually is a very good car, at least the one we were lucky enough to buy. If you're willing to replace the EV battery after 7-8 years, it is a car that you could probably keep for 200k.

Except the electrics will play up, the DCT will shudder, the engine will find some creative way of exploding… Alfas are not 200k cars, especially complex turbo/DCT/hybrid ones, unfortunately.

 

[PeterGreen]

As you said, this car is not a keeper. They're just too delicate & breakable. An alfa is just as unreliable as a 1964-2024 fiat. So you would do the minimum maintenance, to get to the end of lease date. BTW, leasing still costs way more per mile than buying.

I understand leasing costs more than buying --- but my wife's employer pays for the monthly lease so it is not so bad