In a time when each subsequent new car introduction seems to bring more features aimed at relieving the sheer drudgery of driving, it’s especially refreshing to see a car like the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia arrive on the scene.
Unabashedly a driver’s car, the Giulia celebrates the driving experience. The Italian premium midsize 4-door sedan comes to these shores this December with a Ferrari-derived 505-horsepower twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 Quadrifoglio model capable of propelling itself from rest to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. More sanguine base Giulia and Giulia Ti models powered by an all-new 280-horsepower twin-scroll 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo join the lineup next Spring.
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The new Giulia Quadrifoglio is faster than a Lamborghini Gallardo or Porsche Panamera Turbo around the Nurburgring, but how quickly will it help restore Alfa's reputation with car buyers?
(Ron Sessions)Make no mistake, the Giulia is a long shot. Alfa Romeo has been absent in the States for more than two decades, run out of town in the 1990s by the German and Japanese luxury brands due to the company’s outdated product and unsatisfactory quality ratings. The last time Alfa Romeo outsold BMW was in the 1960s. And the last time Alfa had a luxury sedan in this space was the front-wheel drive 164 of 1991-95. In order for Alfa Romeo to get back on the shopping list of mid-luxury sedan buyers who are now most likely quite satisfied with their Audis, BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes, the new Giulia will have to overachieve.
That task falls on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and its all-new Giorgio platform that underpins the Giulia. It’s rear-drive-based with all-wheel drive available on 4-cylinder models. Besides the Giulia, it will be the basis of a new Alfa Romeo Stelvio luxury crossover SUV, and, according to industry sources, a whole slew of other FCA products that are now growing long in the tooth such as the Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger and even a Jeep.
So consider the Giulia sedan the brand’s last-chance power drive.
Mission Control
Welcome to Giulia Quadrifoglio missing control, complete with power front leather seats, F1-inspired paddle shifters, wide-screen navigation and DNA drive mode selector.
(Ron Sessions)Regardless of powerplant, the Giulia is a car for buyers who would no sooner surrender the helm to a HAL9000-like jumble of sensors, servos and algorithms than take a long walk on the beach with a laptop. Perhaps to drive that point home, there’s a Formula One-inspired crimson red engine start button smack dab on the flat-bottom steering wheel.
In a clever tip of the hat to the car’s human-centric personality, a console-mounted switch called a DNA button controls the Giulia’s drive modes. Only in this case, DNA stands for Dynamic (sport), Natural (touring) and Advanced Efficiency (Eco). Natural provides baseline throttle response and transmission shift mapping, lighter steering effort and a more compliant ride quality. Dynamic quickens throttle response, provides later upshifts and earlier downshifts, increases steering weighting and firms up the suspension. Advanced Efficiency throttles back jack rabbit starts and in the V-6 Quadrifoglio deactivates three cylinders under light load or coasting conditions to save fuel.
Quadrifoglio models also have a Race mode which turns off the stability control, enables short bursts of turbo overboost, bypasses the mufflers for an epic exhaust signature and further quickens the car’s already fast reflexes. There is NOT, however, a drive mode labeled Computer Controlled. For sure, there’s a lot of onboard computer power in the Giulia, but it’s there to assist the driver, minimize mistakes, make you a better driver, but not take away the joy of a well-executed maneuver. Or flat take over.
Sure, the Giulia is available with a capable dynamic cruise control system that will maintain a set distance to the vehicle ahead and bring the car to a full stop. There is also a lane-keeping system that can warble the audio speakers on one side or the other when you cross over a painted lane marker without signaling. A backup camera as well as blind-spot and rear cross-traffic systems act as your wingman on the lookout for vehicles or pedestrians you might not be able to see behind you. Contrary to popular Italian car lore, what’s behind you does matter.
Ready to Rumble
All Giulias feature Brembo 4-wheel-disc brakes. Exclusive to the Quadrifoglio (four-leaf clover in Italian) are aluminum monoblock calipers and optional carbon ceramic material.
(Ron Sessions)Clearly, and certainly more than the typical mid-lux 4-door sedan, the Giulia emphasizes and even fervently celebrates the driving experience. The steering is rapier quick, a scalpel for surgically precise directional control that you, the driver, master. A new brake-by-wire system eliminates the traditional vacuum booster for quicker pressure buildup and response by the standard Brembo 4-wheel-disc brakes. A near-perfect front/rear weight balance and measures taken to reduce unsprung weight, such as aluminum suspension pieces, help give the Giulia’s chassis exceptional poise.
While there is no manual transmission option, because Alfa says the take rate in the segment the Giulia competes within is less than one percent, a new 8-speed automatic co-developed with ZF reels off very quick, 100-millisecond shifts with rev-matching throttle blips in the Dynamic and Race drive modes.
As for those throttle blips, who says turbocharged cars don’t have enticing engine sounds? The 4-cylinder Giulia’s dual-exhaust note doesn’t intrude or drone when driving around town or when cruising down the highway, nevertheless adding just enough attitude to signal the car’s sporty character. The Quadrifoglio V-6 model’s four exhaust pipes are part of a dual-mode system with a bypass around the mufflers for delicious crackle-and-pop lead-footed throttle bursts, yet remain pleasantly civil during normal driving.
Turbo Tales
The Quadrifoglio’s Ferrari-derived 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-6 pumps 505 horsepower and sweet music out of four exhaust outlets.
(Ron Sessions)For sure, the Giulia lineup’s headliner is the Quadrifoglio, which translates to four-leaf clover in Italian. Its vivacious, Ferrari-derived, 505-horsepower, 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 is capable of 191 mph and gets the car to 60 mph quicker than you can say “Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio” (just under four seconds). In case it matters, during an hour of admittedly juvenile driving on local roads I managed just 16.5 mpg. Not once did I select the Advanced Efficiency mode, but that, along with the car’s stop/start system that shuts off the engine at stoplights, will certainly add a few mpg for those buyers so disposed.
More important for Alfa Romeo in its quest to become an affluent household word, however, are the standard Giulia and Giulia Ti versions of the sedan. These are powered by an all-new, 280-horsepower, 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo and Alfa predicts these models will represent 90 percent of Giulia production. The important takeaway here is the 4-cylinder Giulias possess all of the same driving precision and character as the Quadrifoglio, but dosed for daily usage.
The 4-cylinder is available with a choice between rear- and all-wheel drive, the latter a RWD-biased system featuring torque vectoring and the ability to send up to 60 percent of the drive torque to the front wheels if needed. This makes the AWD Giulia much more attractive to buyers in New York and other states that experience poor weather. Over 60 miles of back roads and some freeway driving, I managed an indicated 22.5 mpg in a Giulia Ti Q4, the latter designation indicating the presence of AWD.
Affordable Exotic
The 280-horsepower Giulia and Giulia Ti 4-cylinder cars will start in the $40,000 price range.
(Ron Sessions)Prices have yet to be announced, but according to Alfa CEO Reid Bigland the Quadrifoglio will start in the $70,000 range when it goes on sale in the U.S. in December of this year. The 4-cylinder Giulia will debut in the first quarter of 2017 and Bigland says it will be priced in the low $40,000 range. Because Alfa Romeo is Italian, naturally there is more than one course to the meal. Extensive personalization will be available on the Giulia, ranging from 12 exterior colors, 10 wheel options and three brake caliper colors to numerous interior hues plus trim accents in various woods, aluminum and carbon fiber.
Many buyers of the new Giulia will be too young to remember Alfa’s storied racing history or its past products, good or bad. So the slate is wiped pretty clean. As an affordable exotic or just a refreshing alternative to German and Japanese luxury sedans, the new Giulia is bound to get some attention.
Having said that, this is an all-new vehicle on an all-new platform powered by an all-new engine and built in an all-new plant. What could possibly go wrong? Alfa Romeo’s U.S. sales have been so low in recent years that the brand doesn’t even appear in J.D. Power quality surveys. So the Giulia might be one of those cars wiser folks lease rather than buy.
On the other hand, those long-suffering Alfisti such as myself have been waiting decades for a well-executed, everyday Alfa Romeo sedan to come along. The good news for Alfa and buyers in the luxury sedan space is that even in the more affordable models, the passion of the brand and the thrilling driving experience are alive and kicking. The standard 4-cylinder turbo is surprisingly lively and its smooth and capable road manners are perhaps even more accessible.
You don’t have to go 191 mph to have a ball piloting the new Alfa Romeo Giulia.
It was worth the wait.
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