AlfaRomeo Giulia SPECIFICATION

REPORT 5 £ 33,190 OTR /£39,270 as tested/£452pcm WHY I T ’S HERE Is a standard Giulia as brilliant as the QV? DRI V ER Esther Neve I THINK WE’RE COMING AT THIS BASE-MODEL GIULIA THE WRONG WAY.

The question shouldn’t be! “Is a standard Giulia as brilliant as the QV?” The question should be! “Is a standard Giulia better than the QV?”

Think about it" Base model cars get all the abuse and all the stress" They get all the long# difficult journeys" All the width restrictors" All the supermarket runs" And they survive" Some even thrive % like the Giulia has in its six trouble&free months with us" Not one breakdown 'the QV had several(# not one glitch 'the QV had many( and not one refusal to start 'the QV was""" temperamental("

We should be celebrating the everyday victories that cars at the lower end of the motoring spectrum achieve regularly" And for which they receive no recognition" The world already celebrates the fastest# the loudest# the widest# the lowest""" time to celebrate the standard"

Which is the prime reason I took the TopGear Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 'base model( to the Festival of the Unexceptional" Held at the Clayton Estate in deepest Buckinghamshire# this car festival celebrates workhorses % base&model cars from )*+, to )*,* that did their job day&in# day&out# and have survived to tell the tale" Sadly# there aren’t as many as you’d anticipate""" because there’s not the same passion for these as there is for the sporty varieties"

So# enough with the Cloverleafs# with the GTIs and with the RenaultSports % I’m leading a movement to share a little love with cars at the cheaper end of the model range" A weekly wash and scrub&up is a good place to start" And if we all take a bit more care of our daily drives# maybe there will be a few more of them surviving to spread the base&models&are&cool message later in life"