The all new Alfa Romeo Giulia will face serious competition from other European sports sedans. Alfa hopes that by bringing more style, more power at a lower price point, it will steal buyers away.
Alfa Romeo promised a starting price under $40,000 for the Giulia, and at $38,990 the base model comes standard with a 2.0-liter turbo four that pumps out 280 hp and 306 lb-ft of torque. For you folks keeping score, the Giulia outguns all of the four-cylinder offerings from Germany.
The motor is mated to an eight-speed automatic, and we already know that a three-pedal option will not be making it Stateside. For the dozen or so of you that would actually buy this car new, that may be a deal-breaker. For the vast majority of other buyers, the automatic is made by ZF so at least the gearbox is a good one.
On the features front, the base model Giulia comes with leather seats, Bi-Xenon headlamps with the all so fashionable LED daytime running lights, a 7 in touchscreen infotainment unit, and a rear camera and a few other goodies. Considering the Germans like to nickel and dime you for some of those options, the Alfa is a decent value out of the box.
Pay an extra $2000 and you step up to the Ti trim, and Alfa will toss in 18-inch wheels, genuine wood interior accents, an 8.8-inch widescreen infotainment display, SiriusXM, heated steering wheel, heated front seats.
But the fun doesn’t end there. There are two paths you can go within the Ti trim line in the way of the Sport or Lusso packages, and either will cost an additional $2250.
The Sport package is probably the one you want because it will get you extras such as front and rear sport fascias, 19-inch dark 5-hole aluminum wheels, gloss black window trim, colored brake calipers, 14-way front power sport leather seats, sport leather steering wheel and aluminum column-mounted paddle shifters.
All of these are very necessary for saying Ciao! and pretending you are blasting down the Italian countryside, but you may want to pony up for the Performance package with the limited slip differential and adjustable sport suspension.
If you prefer your Guilia more on the luxurious side, the Lusso option will give you Pieno Fiore Italian leather seats with cannelloni inserts (that’s right, pasta... in the seats), leather-wrapped dash and upper door trim with accent stitching, genuine wood trim in dark grey oak or light walnut, luxury steering.
The four-cylinder volume cars are all well and good, but you care about the extra spicy meatball that is the Quadrifoglio. The 505 hp monster that sees the M3 and C63 as mere antipasti, to the QF’s main course with its 7:32 Nürburgring lap time.
The Quadrifoglio will set you back $73,595 including destination. In addition to the 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 the super sedan also comes with unique exterior styling, carbon fiber hood, roof, rear spoiler and side sill inserts, carbon fiber active aero front splitter, DNA Pro with Race Mode and adjustable performance suspension, 19-inch aluminum wheels with Brembo brakes, and high-performance leather seats.
The Giulia should hit dealerships sometime January of 2017. You may way want to try it on your driveway during the test drive, though.