Alfa Giulia

OUR editor-at-large James Batchelor is settling into life with his Alfa Romeo Giulia, but the quirks of running one of the brand’s cars are starting to reveal themselves.

One of the most distinctive styling features of all Alfa Romeos is the nose. That downward-facing triangular grille, swept-back headlamps and the number plate screwed to the right-hand side of the bumper look like nothing else. Ever since the 156 of 1997, all Alfas have looked like this, with the reg plate pushed to the side.

But it means Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems can never read the reg, which is annoying. This could be more a case of Batch getting upset that machines don’t recognise him, but we do think he has a point.