GOT A COMMENT ON NO LIMITS? EMAIL ME AT MARK@MARKFORSYTH.NET

YOU know that little pocket within a pocket on a pair of Levi’s? The one that is so small you never know what to put in it?

Well, I’ll tell you what it’s for – it’s for putting USB sticks in when you attend a car launch. These handy little memory cards store all the new car’s valuable details and a mass of colour pictures, too. Most of them are a snug fit in that mystery stash space.

Trouble is, my wife’s clothes washing and ironing fetish is always one step ahead of me. My Alfa Romeo Guilia stick suffered not only a one-hour hot wash and conditioning but also a bout of frenzied ironing.

But let’s hope this is an omen – a taste of Alfa’s new-found electrical and technological reliability progress – because despite the punishment, my memory stick still works. These pics are the proof. The car I drove last week – a fully-specced seventy-three-and-a-halfgrand Giulia Quadrifoglio demands a big leap of faith in the Italian brand when the German opposition is so soundly rooted. But let’s check the facts. That twin turbo, three-litre V6 Ferrari-influenced engine churns out 510bhp and 600Nm of torque, giving this rear-wheel drive five-seater a top speed of over 190mph and a claimed lap time round the Nurburgring that beats the opposition handsomely. From the outside, it’s unmistakably Alfa – that hip-height swage line, the familiar face sporting that traditional grille. It’s handsome rather than beautiful but compared to its German rivals, somehow less arrogant. It’s the same inside. With intricate contrasting stitching on the tactile leather trim, the interior has the whiff of a designer handbag rather than a sombre business suit. The steering wheel, in particular, is a work of art. So is the view framed through the gaps in the alloy wheels of those intricate brake calipers and massive carbon ceramic discs.

Press the steering wheel-mounted starter button and the engine thunders into life – deep, bassy and tuneful. Coolto-the-touch aluminum paddles work the slick, eight-speed ZF auto ’box.

It is a blast to drive. Whatever the revs, the torque is instantly accessible everywhere and anywhere – a mighty, thuggish shove forward which pins you into your carbon-shelled Sparco bucket seat. Speaking of seats, I wanted to sit two inches lower but the adjustment didn’t allow it.

The power delivery makes rapid cross-country progress frighteningly easy. It takes no effort. It flatters. The car feels planted, stable and tactile. The £5k optional carbon ceramic brakes are incredibly powerful (yet blessed with feel) when up to temperature. There is an embarrassment of grip in every plane.

With over 500bhp driving the rear wheels it’s not difficult to break traction. Even at 70mph on dry tarmac this car will light up its rear tyres like a drift king if the correct buttons are pushed. That’s a sales point, right there.

What surprised me is the whole feel you get from the Quadrifoglio.

In any driving circumstance, be you pootling along behind a tractor or furiously trail braking into a tricky downhill hairpin while manually banging back the gears, it only ever feels

comfortable, composed, balanced. At high speeds the active aero probably helps this sensation – the front splitter deploys, creating more weight on the nose.

At lower speeds, the mechanical grip generated by the stiff-ish suspension and huge rubber footprint lends an obvious hand.

That tactile feedback is the same when you’re given some space to drift. The clever rear diff, the throttle connection, the quick-geared steering, the feel you get through the seat of your soon-to-be-washed jeans – it feels developed, engineered, polished.

A perfect 50-50 weight distribution is achieved by using a lot of aluminum and carbon fibre. On this model, the bonnet, front splitter and prop shaft are made from carbon fibre.

Is the Giulia Quadrifoglio good enough to lure people away from their normal Stuttgart/Bavarian highperformance default settings?

Yes, I reckon so – both on paper and in use.

And if my Alfa Romeo memory stick is anything to go by, the new Giulia should be capable of surviving a few hot washes and a bit of ironing, too.

That’ll impress my wife.