Few carmakers inspire such unwavering loyalty and enthusiasm from those who buy their products as Alfa Romeo – and few have been guilty of taking that passion for granted in the past.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. In the 25 years since the last rear-wheel-drive Alfa sedan, the 75, ceased production, we have seen the once world-leading Italian automotive powerhouse underinvest and ignore the sporting values of its brand – and what was seen as the company's flagship product. fate has declined
Alfa Romeo gave us a procession of relatively plain-handling front-wheel-drive cars, such as the Alfa Romeo 156, Alfa Romeo 147, Alfa Romeo 159 and Alfa Romeo Brera, while its German rivals began to fully capitalise on the dynamic advantages of a rear-wheel drive layout.
Now for the brave new dawn. As part of a huge investment plan running until the end of the decade, Alfa will renew its entire range, putting each new model in a market-leading position on power-to-weight ratio and driver appeal.
ECHNICAL SPECS
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Model tested:
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Price:
£61,000
Price as tested:
£73,655
Engine:
V6, 2891cc, twin-turbocharged, petrol
Transmission:
8-spd automatic
Driveline layout:
Front, longitudinal; rear-wheel drive; eLSD (rear)
Rivals
BMW M3 Competition
Mercedes-AMG C63 S
Power
503bhp at 6500rpm
Torque
443lb ft at 2500-5000rpm
0-62mph
3.9sec (claimed)
Top speed
191mph
Kerb weight (DIN)
1580kg
Fuel economy
27.2mpg
CO2
235g/km
BIK tax band
37%
The Alfa Romeo Giulia is certainly a relatively light, advanced and powerful saloon offering the kind of material construction, suspension technology and powertrain sophistication that not only brings it into the compact executive saloon segment in a particularly strong position, but should also allow it to remain competitive with its German rivals for years to come. The car’s underbody construction is predominantly steel, with aluminium and composites used in places to save weight. All Giulias get aluminium suspension arms and subframes, cast aluminium suspension towers, aluminium doors and wings and a carbonfibre driveshaft.
The Quadrifoglio version adds a carbonfibre bonnet and roof to that material mixture, as well as a carbonfibre front splitter with active aerodynamic functions.
Alfa Romeo quotes a kerb weight for the Quadrifoglio of 1580kg, which does indeed give it the class-leading power-to-weight ratio for which Alfa aimed, judging by the company’s claims (and ignoring the even more niche-market Vauxhall VXR8 GTS, whose base car, the Holden Commodore, goes out of production this year).
But a word of qualification here: if the Giulia really is the lightest super-saloon on the block, it probably won’t be by much.
We weighed the car at 1700kg on MIRA’s scales, making it 125kg less than the 2015 Mercedes-AMG C63 but also 90kg more than the 2014 BMW M4 DCT.
Holding up the other end of the Alfa’s 318bhp-per-tonne figure is a twin-turbocharged V6 which makes 503bhp at 6500rpm and 443lb ft from 2500-5000rpm. Alfa’s engineers describe the all-aluminium unit as being ‘inspired by’ Ferrari’s 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8.
The fact that the motors share identical – and slightly oversquare – cylinder bore and stroke measurements, an identical 90deg bank angle, very similar compression ratios and turbochargers supplied by IHI would all suggest the relationship is closer than they’re letting on.
Other features include adaptive dampers, a torque-vectoring rear differential working through a pair of clutches that can send 100 percent of drive to either rear wheel, double-wishbone front suspension, a weight-saving ‘by-wire’ electromechanical braking system and a new Magnetti Marelli central electronic chassis management computer, the function of which is to make the car’s various secondary electronics work in harmony.
It all sounds like the stuff of a car ready to upset the German super-saloon hierarchy.
All UK cars come with an eight-speed automatic gearbox as standard, and our test car had 19in alloy wheels and carbon-ceramic brake discs fitted as options.
There was a time when you would have expected an Alfa Romeo to have an idiosyncratic driving position, partly due to the swap to right-hand drive and partly due to Alfa not thinking hard enough about such things.
No such dramas today. The Giulia’s seating position is straight and can be near or far and low or high. It has a perfectly sited steering wheel of brilliant size and girth, and which extends further than that of any rival. It’s even pretty round, by the standards of the class. It probably helped that our test car came with £2950 carbonfibre-backed Sparco seats (we haven’t yet tried a Quadrifoglio without them), but lesser Giulias still have a sound driving environment, which extends to readable dials and mostly logical switchgear.
If you’re looking for the last word in infotainment and connectivity, however, you’ll not find it here, but the heating and ventilation dials are at least straightforward.
Rear accommodation is fine. Those Sparcos take up a little leg room and present a hard surface for your kids to bang their knees against, but let’s face it, this is a Giulia Quadrifoglio, so you can live with that.
Likewise, although we’d rather not have to, the fact that the rear seats can’t be folded on this version and that the boot’s opening is small and its cavity constricted.
On the Quadrifoglio, all these things are forgiveable; on lesser Giulias they wouldn’t be. NTERIOR DIMENSIONS
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Model tested:
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Price:
£61,000
Price as tested:
£73,655
Driver’s headroom
1020mm
Driver’s legroom
1150mm
Throttle pedal offset
180mm
Rear headroom
920mm
Typical rear legroom
720mm
Boot height (seats up/seats down)
480mm
Boot length (seats up/seats down)
950mm/na
Boot width (seats up/seats down)
850-1140mm
Boot capacity (seats up/seats down)
480 litres/na
There’s a reason that the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio’s interior foibles seem as petty as they are, and it’s to do with the way the car drives. In the past you might have found an Alfa with a breathtaking engine but so-so handling, but as we’ll see, that isn’t the case any more.
It’s not that the engine is the bad sibling in this relationship – any motor that shares this much with powerplants that come out of Modena is unlikely to be.
The V6 fires to a purposeful, if not spiteful, idle, with the impression that air is being moved around in gruff amounts.
It's no Mercedes-AMG C63, but it is the equal of a BMW M3 when it comes to suggested intent. Ditto when you pull away, particularly if you twist the DNA drive mode selector to D (for dynamic), which increases the exhaust woofle, sharpens the throttle response and affects which gear the transmission opts to put itself in.
On part throttle, mind, there’s an occasional hesitancy: sometimes it gives you more than you ask, sometimes less, but it’s very slight and only just enough to prick your consciousness.
The eight-speed auto’s movements are nicely matched, although at anything more than a gentle cruise we found we wanted to take charge ourselves via the column-mounted shift paddles.
Do so and the Alfa fairly flies. In perfect conditions and on new tyres it will hit 60mph from rest in under four seconds, but as a two-way average, with two people aboard and fully fuelled, there’s nothing wrong with the 4.5sec the car returned in our hands.
Turbo lag becomes negligible once you have 3000rpm or so wound on, and the V6 runs to a soulful 7300rpm, with a noise that’s smoother than that of an AMG V8 but is more involving than an M3’s.
Its gearbox operates with greater smoothness than that in either the AMG, which has a clutch instead of a torque converter, or the M3, which uses a dual-clutch automatic.
The Giulia mooches through gears with the ease of a tight torque converter auto, and is arguably better for it.
The Giulia stops well, too, even on worn P Zero Corsas and in the wet, although brake pedal feel as you come to a halt could be improved.
Initial feel is good, as is retardation, but often after you stop you have to adjust pedal pressure to prevent the Giulia creeping forwards.
