My Alfa Romeo unexpectedly increases journey times, but it's far from a flaw
Our unassuming Italian saloon might not have the Quadrifoglio badge, but it's a genuinely engaging car to drive regardless
The Sunday Morning Test must be one of the simplest barometers of a car’s appeal. If you feel inclined to get out early on a Sunday, to enjoy some favourite roads before the garden centre fanatics start bumbling around and the speed camera vans pitch up, chances are the car’s a good ’un. When I took a turn in our Giulia for a few days recently, I didn’t particularly expect it to be one of those cars. But after a few short local drives in it, I found my mind being changed.
I’d clearly underestimated the Veloce, written it off as ‘not a Quadrifoglio’ and because it has ‘only’ 276bhp. What I’d half forgotten is how light it is. With a claimed kerb weight of 1429kg, it’s not as heavy as your instinct tells you a mid-size saloon will be, especially these days. And the result is a power-to-weight ratio slap-bang in decently rapid hot hatch territory. Think i30 N or Focus ST.
> Alfa Romeo Giulia review – get one while you still can
But here, of course, you’ve also got rear-wheel drive. And while, as we may have mentioned once or twice, you can’t switch off the stability control and throw some shapes on corner exit, you can still enjoy the sensations of a car being pushed rather than pulled, of uncorrupted steering, of both axles working to balance the car through a turn.
On the right kind of twisty-turny B-roads – the kind that would suit a hot hatch, funnily enough – it can make for a genuinely absorbing drive. So much so that the 90-minute drive I headed out for during my weekend with the Giulia ended up becoming twice that.
The Sunday Morning Test? The Giulia passes.
| Total test mileage | 7547 |
|---|---|
| Mileage this month | 689 |
| mpg this month | 28.8 |
| Costs | £0 |
| Price when new | £47,759 |
| Value today | £32,000 |
This story was first featured in evo issue 319.
