Alfa’s latest infotainment

For so long, too many Alfa Romeos have benedn let down by dated infotainment. Has that changed? By Ben Barry

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If the Alfa Giulia and Stelvio quickly established their sporting and design credentials, they lagged behind – often literally – when it came to infotainment. The latest models aim to address the technological shortfall with an all-new system and HMI interface, tested here in the Giulia.

The system comprises an 8.8-inch rectangular touchscreen located above the central air vents and a separate 7.7-inch TFT screen nestled in the centre of the instrument binnacle. Design sleight of hand creates the illusion of one continuous piece of dark glass that tapers from the passenger edge of the centre console and flows through to the instrument binnacle, punctuated by Alfa’s ‘binocular’ analogue driving dials. It’s a neat way to integrate modern tech into a classic driver-focused dashboard.

Functions are controlled either by pressing the touchscreen, or twisting a rotary controller positioned behind the gearstick, BMW iDrivestyle. A knurled, metal band around its perimeter provides a sense of quality and welcome tactility – it clicks around the dial lightly but with precision feedback. Like iDrive, the dial can be nudged forwards or back and left or right to select submenus. It works well, and there’s less eyes-off-theroad time because so much can be accomplished by feel and the screen is mounted high.

Categories on the central screen are organised into tiles, which are scrolled through horizontally much like apps on an iPad – audio, navigation, phone, driving data, the usual stuff. As a default there are three functions per screen, but a preferred function can be made larger, so it’s easier to see at a glance. The TFT screen between the dials provides secondary information – navigation arrows, for instance, though there’s no option to display a map in this space. The graphics in general are smart and the TomTom-based sat-nav map is decently responsive and easy to decipher. Even if it can’t match the super HD/ultra-modern wow factor of rivals, it succeeds in letting you see where you’re going with a simple clarity, which is the actual brief.

Selecting functions is mostly straightforward enough, though not everything is intuitive – a fumbled attempt, for instance, to select the map orientation function and the home button with the rotary controller before realising these were touchscreen-only functions. I also struggled with dragging and dropping the tiles to my preferred order. Voice control worked well for navigation entry, but was clunky for other functions. Familiarity came quickly, however.