Like a fanatical sports fan with a favourite team, car lovers usually have one brand they’re crazy about. For me, it’s Alfa Romeo, the legendary Italian auto manufacturer.
I’ve owned a 1988 Alfa Spider for more than 15 years. In my (slightly prejudiced) view, driving this torpedo-shaped sculpture-on-wheels is the most fun one can have without getting arrested.
So asking my opinion of the newly introduced Alfa Romeo Giulia is a bit like asking a guy with an “I Kissed a Girl” tattoo on his forehead what he thinks of Katy Perry.
Recently, the GAIN Dealer Group invited me to test-drive the Giulia. I took the car out on the track at the Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit in the Cowichan Valley. As well, I joined a group of people test-driving the Giulia on the highways and byways between Cowichan and Ladysmith.
As a bonus, the Vancouver Island Motorsport folk let me try out the Alfa Romeo 4C, a turbo-charged stallion of a sports car with an exhaust note so swoon-inducing, it would make a dead man cry salty tears of joy. More on that later.
The Giulia is built at the Alfa plant in Cassino, Italy. It’s the first four-door sedan Alfa has offered in North America since 1995.
The Italians are renowned for their sense of style — and this car is a handsome-looking thing. Or rather, it’s bellissimo. The iconic v-shaped grill immediately identifies it as Alfa. There are more subtle visual cues that also tip off its origins.
The Giulia is streamlined and sexy without being over-the-top. And that’s inside as well as out — the dashboard set-up is an elegant sweep: understated, even minimalist.
I drove the basic Giulia model, which has a four-cylinder, 2.0-litre turbo engine with 280 horsepower. It has a eight-speed automatic transmission. This car sells at Alfa Romeo of Victoria for a base price of $48,995.
There’s also a higher-end version, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. Selling for $87,995, it boasts a V-6 engine with 505 horsepower.
I can only imagine what the Quadrifoglio would be like on the racetrack. That said, the basic Giulia has plenty of zip, accelerating from zero to 98 km/h in 5.1 seconds. It grips the road well while providing a smooth ride. Yet, unlike some luxury sedans, you don’t feel as insulated from the driving experience.
We also tried out some of the sedans the Alfa Giulia is competing against: the Audi A4, the Mercedes C300 and a BMW 3 Series. The BMW is perhaps the most similar in handling. Yet the Alfa seems sportier, a little edgier, perhaps grittier.
And it has a great sound. Certainly it’s nothing like the behemothic howl produced by the Alfa 4C. When you gun the Giulia, it offers a well-bred growl. But it’s still a growl.
Of the four cars — Alfa, Mercedes, BMW, Audi — the Giulia was the most fun to drive. Again, bear in mind I view automobiles through Alfa-tinted glass (see Katy Perry remark above).
At the end of the afternoon, as a treat, we had a turn on the Alfa 4C. It’s designed for the true sportscar nut. The 4C is a turbocharged 237-horsepower chunk of automotive muscle with an ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre body.
I’d driven the Alfa 4C on the streets of Victoria before, but never on the track. It’s not for the faint of heart. You have to really yank the steering wheel while navigating the curves. There’s no power steering; the notion is that one gets the raw feeling of the road.
The Alfa 4C is fantastic thing. The roar of this car on open throttle is, for the enthusiast, the equivalent of a classic rock fan hearing Led Zeppelin blast through Communication Breakdown at the Montreal Forum in 1972.
In other words, it’s pretty darned good. As is the Alfa Romeo Giulia.