The 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is kind of pivotal to the manufacturer’s lineup, and Top Gear presenter and Jalopnik alumnus Chris Harris took it out for a spin recently. He loved the car overall, but get this—he dislikes the shifting so much, it “doesn’t worry [him] at all” that his home country won’t get a manual.
The reason why the Giulia Quadrifoglio is so important is because it’s Alfa’s chance to rival BMW’s M3 and the high-performance Mercedes-AMG lineup, and the car does so with a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 engine and 512 horsepower under the hood. Harris likes the car overall—other than a non-impressive clutch and a “rubbery” shift quality, that is—but said the car is still missing out slightly in most performance areas compared to BMW and Mercedes-AMG.
Is it good as an M3? No, not quite, he says. But it’s still the Alfa Romeo everyone wanted.
In Harris’ country, the UK, the only available option for the car will be an eight-speed automatic transmission. Top Gear produced this one back in June as the premiere of Chris Harris Drives, but the video just made its way to their YouTube channel. Here, have a look at what he had to say for yourself:
The rear-wheel-drive Giulia Quadrifoglio starts at $70,000, and Harris is truly thrilled about the dampening quality, comfort, ceramic brakes and the engine. You’d have to be for that much money, right?