Alfa Romeo Giulia
Analysis of this Italian saloon’s DNA reveals a playful temperament that might be felt in the pocket 84 June 2020
Mileage 4190 List price new (2019) £37,795 Price new with options £41,765 Value now £28,000 Test economy 39.1mpg
WHAT’S IN A NAME? Quite a lot, it seems, if that name is Alfa Romeo.
People love the looks of my car, and when you tell them it’s an Alfa Romeo, they grow giddy with excitement. Indeed, my young nephew wanted to rush out to buy one there and then when he first saw it, so great was his ardour. Clearly the firm’s reputation for building exotic and charismatic cars has won out over its reputation for building rusty and unreliable ones.
One month and 1000 miles into my ownership of the Giulia and my love affair is blossoming. I’ve already mentioned how much I love its quick and responsive steering – which makes every journey a joy – and I also love the fact that the electronic warning sound that alerts you that you’re about to hit the car in front has the same delightfully high-pitched tone as an old Ferrari’s Fiamm air horns. How wonderful; it brings a little bit of the Mille Miglia to the Kingston bypass.
I’ve also been experimenting with its DNA, and that’s not as odd as it sounds. You see, the Giulia offers three different driving modes: Dynamic, Natural and Advanced Efficiency. Switching between these really does alter the driving characteristics noticeably, with Dynamic upping responses and Advanced Efficiency retarding them to save energy.
I leave the car in Natural mode most of the time, in which it’s an adequate performer, if a little hesitant at junctions and roundabouts. But stick it in Dynamic and the car takes off like it’s been caught in the tractor beam of the starship Enterprise. It transforms the car’s appeal for a keen driver, making it a delight on a winding road. By contrast, put it in Advanced Efficiency and it feels like you’ve tethered the QE2 to its tail, so tardy does it become in its quest for efficiency.
However, it isn’t all fun and games in Alfaville. I have to admit that the Giulia’s infotainment system is less than sparkling. The screen is a touch low-res and its menus a little confusing until you’ve mastered them all, although the rotary controller via which you access it all is great to use – much better than many purely touchscreen systems. That said, I should point out here that an updated Giulia is now on sale with a new infotainment system that incorporates a touchscreen as well as a dial controller – the best of both worlds, perhaps – and I’m told its graphics are sharper.
Another small niggle: fuel consumption is higher than I’d hoped. I was initially achieving only 36.1mpg, whereas the official WLTP figure is 51.4mpg. Part of this can be put down to my daily urban commute, of course, although it should be noted that my previous car, a petrolengined 1.5-litre Volkswagen Golf, achieved 47mpg in very similar circumstances. Happily, a long motorway run upped my overall figure to 39.1mpg, so maybe I’d just been enjoying the Alfa’s DNA a bit too much on the urban twisties.