ALFA GIULIAS
New Veloce meets its Super predecessor. Ciao bella!
FROM A high-point of undisputed reverence and sporting excellence in the 1960s and ’70s, Alfa Romeo’s gradual slide down the automotive spiral towards fashionable mediocrity has been a drawnout and painful one, especially for true believers in the 107-year-old Italian marque’s mystique.
But rising from the ashes of failed joint ventures and broken dreams comes a shining message of hope in the form of the Giulia. Rear-wheel drive and new from the ground up, courtesy of billions of development Euros, this medium-sized premium sedan (and its forthcoming Stelvio SUV offshoot) is what Alfa Romeo’s salvation depends on. No pressure, then...
This latter-day Giulia is Alfa’s first rear-drive sedan for 25 years, but derives its name from a one-time superstar – the original Giulia sedan, launched in 1962 and the progenitor of the most prized Alfa Romeo models of the modern era, including the 105-series coupes (1963-77), the rear-drive Spider (1966-93) and the slightly larger Berlina sedan (1968-77).
So we thought we’d bring along a heritage Giulia – in this case, a stunning 1970 Giulia Super – to put the hottest new turbo four-cylinder Giulia, the 206kw Veloce, in perspective.
Alfa Romeo claims that the original Giulia sedan (1962-77) established five principles that its all-new namesake adheres to – Italian design; advanced technology; performance; lightness and efficiency; and a unique spirit – and there’s little reason to dispute much of that. The new Giulia was designed in-house at Centro Stile in Italy (tick), and incorporates loads of up-to-date tech to enhance its agility, efficiency and performance (tick, tick and tick).
But what about the spirit part? Without the twinturbo V6 QV version’s trick torque vectoring and eyewidening thrust, will the four-pot Veloce expose some weaknesses in Alfa’s all-new ‘Giorgio’ platform and its game-changing ability for the Italian marque?
We know Alfa Romeo can do engines. Trying to think of a dud Alfa donk is like attempting to criticise Rome for being too old, and the Giulia Veloce’s feisty 1995cc turbo-petrol four certainly fits its sporting aspirations.
Featuring all-aluminium construction, direct fuel injection and a twin-scroll turbocharger, this all-new 2.0-litre engine stars in the Veloce as well as the base Giulia and Giulia Super. In the Veloce, however, its outputs are significantly greater – 206kw at 5250rpm (versus 147kw at 5000rpm) and 400Nm at 2250rpm (versus 330Nm at 1750rpm) – for an impressive power-to-weight figure of 138kw per tonne.
Mated exclusively to a slick ZF eight-speed automatic ’box in Australia (Europe also gets a six-speed manual), the Veloce’s punch is impressively urgent. Alfa claims the Veloce will crack 100km/h from rest in 5.7sec (versus 5.8sec for an Audi A4 2.0TFSI quattro and 6.3sec for an Ingenium-engined Jaguar XE 25t), yet its performance is about more than just numbers. It’s about bottling the induction music for which great Alfa Romeo engines are famed, and making it work in 2017.
Thankfully, the Veloce hits the mark, but not in the manner you might expect. There’s no trick acoustic plumbing trying to mimic the post-4000rpm blare of the old twin-weber, twin-cam Giulia Super. Instead, the Veloce serves up an ample platter of forced-induction meat, overlaid with a subtly sporting rasp that sounds both natural and satisfying, uncorrupted by low-class turbo whistle.