New cars: “one of the best-looking cars on sale”
In its heyday, Alfa Romeo produced stunning cars, said Matt Saunders in Autocar. Just think of the Giulia, the Alfasud, the 75 – “handling greats, all”. Since then, however, precious few Alfas have set pulses racing. That makes the relaunched Giulia saloon a “watershed” car for the Italian firm. There’s a standard model, with a 2.2-litre engine; but the more exciting model is the topend Giulia Quadrifoglio. Boasting a 2.9-litre V6 petrol engine, and 503bhp, it’s the most powerful Alfa ever sold. So is it enough to restore the manufacturer’s reputation?
The Quadrifoglio is certainly a “fast, likeable” car, said Andrew Frankel in The Daily Telegraph. It is the first family car from Alpha to offer “genuinely extreme performance”: it does 0-62mph in just 3.9 seconds. Like its illustrious predecessors, the Quadrifoglio handles well – it’s agile and well balanced. And the automatic gearbox (which is the only option available on UK models) works brilliantly, changing gears rapidly. The car is very slightly spoiled by its “needlessly quick” steering, which makes it difficult to guide through quick curves. But it’s still impressive – all the more so considering this is the manufacturer’s “first attempt at a car of this kind”. Alfa has done an even better job with the design, said Sam Naylor in Auto Express. From the outside, this is “one of the best-looking cars on sale today”. Inside, there is “plenty more Italian design flair” – although the materials don’t quite match those used by Alfa’s German rivals – and it’s comfortable in both the front and back. The Quadrifoglio is a very impressive car: “a fantastic return to form”.