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GTPlanet Quick Drives: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
What is it?
This is the hottest version (aside from the limited-run GTA and GTAm) of the Alfa Romeo Giulia small saloon, or Alfa's answer to the top-tier German performance saloons. The car we're driving here is a post-refresh car, benefitting from some upgrades implemented in 2020.
For those of you who don't speak Italian, "Quadrifoglio" literally means "four-leaf" but is also a term that specifically refers to the four-leafed clover - which you'll see in various places around the car and has been an Alfa Romeo performance branding for 50 years.
What makes it go?
Ferrari. Well, technically and to a point. The Quadrifoglio has a model-specific, 2.9-liter, twin-turbo V6 that might be familiar to you if you've spent a lot of time around Ferrari's recent V8s - in fact it shares the bore and stroke of the California T's unit, but has two fewer cylinders.
That doesn't translate to a 25% loss of power though, as the Q still produces a considerable 503hp, along with 443lbft of torque all bunched in the middle of the rev range. It's all delivered to the rear wheels only, through an eight-speed automatic gearbox with manual override on a pair of (actually metal) steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
In the dry, 60mph comes up in just under four seconds, and without a German-standard speed limiter it will hit 191mph out of the box. Fuel economy is not necessarily a strong point; even with cylinder deactivation the Giulia manages just under 28mpg (by the new, harsher WLTP test; previous NEDC figures were as high as 33mpg), giving a range of 353 miles from the 12.7-gallon tank.
Interior image from Alfa Romeo UK's press pack; mine corrupted for some reason...
What's it like to drive?
I mean, do I even need to write this section? Oh, very well then: it's brilliant.
You will have heard or read all of this before, but the Giulia Quadrifoglio is right up there when it comes to drivers' cars - ever mind those that happen to have four doors. If its even possible to conceive of a 500hp, rear-wheel drive car as accessible, that's what the Q is; you can definitely upset it with the aids switched off in the "DNA" Race Mode but, with the colossal grip and remarkably compliant chassis, you would have to be driving like an absolute imbecile - or doing it on purpose.
Compared to its rivals the Giulia feels incredibly light on its feet, not least of which because it is; there's close to 170kg less Giulia than any direct opponent (even before Mercedes piled on the pounds for the latest C63) and it shows. Combined with a very quick steering rack the Q is a cut above when it comes to chucking it into corners, with very little body roll or understeer, but somehow not a chore on a straight cruise.
If you're expecting the ride to be terrible as a consequence, guess again. Certainly it's not Citroen-smooth (though they're now in the same family) and it can be a little firm in the sporty "Dynamic" mode, but it's genuinely supple in its regular "Natural" setting - which also does a good job of keeping the driving manners, if not the gearbox calibration. Around town it's just a four-door saloon car to drive and no more hard work than a Volkswagen Passat.
And on the inside?
On the first Giulia, this was a little bit hit and miss. The hit was the driving position and general materials quality above the hip, while the miss was the rather clunky infotainments system and materials quality in the bits you don't typical poke and prod but would annoy when you did.
Alfa's 2020 model refresh kept all the good bits and mostly rectified the bad, more so in the slightly spruced up Q model. There's a new carbon-fibre piece, with leather trim, down on the centre console around the gear selector, replacing a fairly scratchy plastic-on-plastic item, and although you might find some harder plastics deeper into the recesses fingers aren't intended to probe, general perceived quality is now up among the best in class.
The infotainment system is still probably a step behind, but at least now it's a much more intuitive system and actually has a touchscreen. There's also a specific screen just for Quadrifoglio models. I'm definitely still going to gripe about how much wasted space there is in the decorative trim piece that houses the 8.8-inch rectangular screen, but not to any significant level.
There's a lot of standard kit in here too. We've got DAB radio, a Harman Kardon sound system, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, navigation, Qi-standard wireless phone charging pad, and plenty of sporty decor like the anthracite head lining, aluminium pedals, and special flat-bottomed wheel (our car didn't have the natty red trim/stitching you can see in the image above). There's lashings of carbon fibre, matching the exterior rear spoiler and adaptive front splitter, and while maybe not as much storage space as rivals - and certainly not as much rear headroom (not to mention the pointless centre rear seat) - it's a very nice place to be generally.
As a saloon car, the boot space is decent but limited in terms of height and aperture; 480 litres is pretty good, and enhanced by the folding rear seats (40:20:40) if you have something long to fit in, but you can't fit particularly tall stuff, and there's a marked narrowing between the wheel arches.
How much does it cost?
As of the most recent pricings, the Quadrifoglio starts at £74,999 - a leap of more than £23,000 over the next model down. Folding in all the options added to our test car you'll be looking £84,499, though items like the Trofeo White paint and Akrapovic exhaust are not available on current cars. In the USA the Giulia Quadrifoglio is available from $79,760. It's not possible to perfectly match the specification, but an equivalent vehicle would come in at roughly $88,000
What are the main rivals?
There's going to be exactly three names you think of when it comes to cars of this size, body type, and performance: Audi RS4, BMW M3, and Mercedes-AMG C63. For most of us, the Alfa is the only actual alternative to those three; while the Lexus IS F continues in the US market it was removed from sale in Europe in 2021, and as Cadillac has never had a real presence in Europe the CT4-V Blackwing has never been available.
What's the verdict?
The Giulia Quadrifoglio is one of our very favorite cars on sale today, and despite some mild escalation in its price since it first arrived it remains among the most engaging and fun experiences - with the 2020 updates to the interior addressing the only real weak spot.
We might argue that you get most of the experience of the Q with the considerably cheaper (and cheaper to run) Veloce/Estrema models, but it's a point soon drowned out by the noise from the quad-pipes out of that very special engine.
At one time almost everyone made a hot version of their saloon, but as we can see with the shortage of direct rivals it's an age that has very much passed; every other price/performance rival is now an electric (or hybrid) SUV and the next Giulia may well head that way too. If you can, grab a Giulia Quadrifoglio while it's still possible...
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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