2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio—The Return of the Italian Sport Sedan

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition presented by Tire Rack

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 I may look incredibly young-ish, and I act like a child,

00:07 but the fact is I'm old.

00:09 And yet I didn't even have a driver's license yet

00:11 the last time Alfa Romeo sold a sports sedan in America.

00:14 So I've spent my entire adult life

00:18 trudging through the intolerable misery

00:20 that is BMW after BMW, after Mercedes,

00:24 after the occasional Infiniti,

00:26 and really all I wanted was an Alfa Romeo.

00:28 Now I can have one, finally,

00:30 the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.

00:34 It has 505 horsepower, rear-wheel drive,

00:37 and it comes only with a manual transmission.

00:39 (sighs)

00:40 Alfa Romeo, where have you been my whole life?

00:44 (sighs)

00:46 The (beep)

00:48 What the (beep) is that?

00:48 This is an automatic?

00:50 No clutch pedal?

00:51 What is this, some sick joke?

00:52 (dramatic music)

00:55 (upbeat music)

00:57 (gentle music)

01:15 Oh, I know there's a clutch pedal in here.

01:19 I know it, I know, yep, there's a cutout

01:22 in the bottom of the dash for the clutch pedal,

01:23 and yet it's not there, it's gotta be hidden.

01:25 It's hidden somewhere else.

01:27 This is unbelievable.

01:29 We see the car for the first time, it has a manual.

01:31 I watched the Chris Harris video, it has a manual.

01:33 I have the specs in front of me

01:34 from Fiat Chrysler North America,

01:36 and it says six-speed manual.

01:38 It doesn't even mention an automatic.

01:40 (paper crinkling)

01:42 (groans)

01:44 (gentle music)

01:46 Sergio, listen, $10,000.

01:49 Just take $10,000 and put a manual back in the car.

01:52 Okay, if it's not about money,

01:53 have half of my liver.

01:54 I don't really drink all that much anyway.

01:56 Please, okay, look, Sergio.

01:58 (gentle music)

02:00 (explosion booms)

02:12 (explosion booms)

02:17 - Camisa!

02:19 - What?

02:20 - Are you kidding me?

02:20 Review the freaking car!

02:23 - Fine, fine, fine, I'll review the car,

02:25 but I will never, ever accept that transmission, ever.

02:29 All right, so I've gotten the transmission ramp

02:37 mostly out of my system.

02:38 But I gotta say, I'm very excited

02:45 about the Alfa Romeo Giulia, and you should be too.

02:48 This is the first rear-wheel drive

02:49 Alfa Romeo sports sedan in 30 years.

02:53 Obviously, I love the fact that this one

02:55 has 505 horsepower and a torque vectoring rear differential.

02:59 But there's something bigger going on.

03:01 For the first time in decades,

03:03 we have Italian competition against the Japanese,

03:06 Americans, and most importantly, Germans,

03:09 who rule the sports sedan segment.

03:11 (car engine revving)

03:13 For a long time, that segment has been defined

03:16 by the BMW M3.

03:18 No surprise then that the Giulia's measurements

03:20 are within those of a middle finger to the M3

03:23 in every dimension.

03:24 And although we've criticized the latest one,

03:27 the 3 Series has been so far ahead of the game

03:29 for so long that everyone copies it.

03:32 While I'm on the subject of Germans,

03:37 let me please point out that these gauges

03:39 are a complete and total rip-off of Audi.

03:41 The infotainment system, copy of BMW's iDrive.

03:45 And the shift paddles, well, they're column-mounted,

03:47 and they're total Ferrari.

03:49 If you're gonna copy, you might as well

03:50 steal from the best.

03:51 However, Alfa Romeo didn't steal any

03:56 of the important stuff from anyone.

03:59 This Giulia is a 100% brand new car

04:01 riding on a brand new chassis developed specifically

04:04 by and for Alfa Romeo to be the best sports sedan

04:08 in the world.

04:09 This is a new identity for Alfa Romeo.

04:13 We've not seen any of this stuff before,

04:15 but the fundamentals are there.

04:16 The driving position is really good.

04:18 The steering wheel feels great.

04:20 The ergonomics work.

04:21 The car is quiet inside.

04:23 It rides well.

04:24 And the engine...

04:25 (engine revving)

04:27 definitely sounds different.

04:29 Have you ever heard a V6 sound like that?

04:41 No, I haven't.

04:42 This sounds nothing like any other V6.

04:45 It sounds more like two drunk three cylinders

04:47 having an argument.

04:48 But it sounds cool.

04:51 It just doesn't really change in pitch

04:53 and go all screamy like you'd expect from a Ferrari engine.

04:56 Oh yeah, it's a Ferrari engine.

04:58 This is a California T V8

04:59 with two cylinders lopped off of it.

05:01 The resulting V6 has a displacement of just 2.9 liters.

05:08 And it gets stuffed with 20 pounds of boost

05:12 to make 505 horsepower.

05:14 That would normally mean huge turbo lag.

05:16 But thanks to that relaxed engine note,

05:18 you wind up spinning the snot out of this engine,

05:21 keeping it in the upper part of the rev range

05:24 where turbo lag isn't so bad.

05:26 Look, even the car knows better.

05:32 You put it in an automatic and it says,

05:34 "Best race experience with shifter in manual."

05:36 Even Alfa Romeo is telling me,

05:39 "Yeah, the car would be better with a stick."

05:40 So grazie Alfa Romeo for telling me that

05:43 and (beep) for putting this transmission in here.

05:48 Actually, it's really good.

05:50 It's a ZF eight speed.

05:51 It's the best automatic in the business and I love it.

05:53 Damn, I didn't want to say anything nice

06:01 about that transmission.

06:02 It is nice in here.

06:07 It's quiet.

06:08 The ride is good.

06:09 The suspension tuning is absolutely brilliant.

06:12 The steering is fast and incredibly direct.

06:15 This car pulls.

06:17 This is way closer to the M3

06:20 than I think I expected Alfa could pull off.

06:22 My God, is it fast.

06:25 Only thing is for some inexplicable reason,

06:29 it has brake by wire.

06:30 There's no physical connection

06:32 between the brake pedal and the wheels

06:34 and that's all well and good,

06:35 except I don't know when the wheels are locking up.

06:37 I don't know when I'm in ABS.

06:39 So I'm trying to listen to the tires

06:41 telling me what's going on.

06:42 I don't hear anything and I don't feel anything.

06:45 It's a little bit disconcerting.

06:48 (car engine roaring)

06:50 You know what else is disconcerting?

06:52 That everyone seems to forget their history lesson.

06:54 BMW didn't invent the sports sedan.

06:58 Alfa Romeo did.

06:59 Flashback to 1962 when BMW was still farting around

07:05 with Isetta bubble cars

07:06 and Alfa Romeo came out with this, the Giulia Super.

07:09 This was the sedan version of the 105 cars,

07:12 the Duetto and the GTV.

07:13 Sports cars that changed the world with twin cam engines

07:16 and great power.

07:18 Took 25 years for the next one to come out,

07:21 which was the 75, sold in America as the Milano.

07:24 And this is the Verde.

07:26 This has a three liter version of the Busso V6,

07:29 widely regarded to be the best sounding V6 engine

07:32 of all time.

07:33 And it's taken 30 years to replace it.

07:36 And here it is, the Giulia.

07:38 Randy, stop licking the front of the car.

07:40 (record scratching)

07:41 - But Jason, she's so beautiful.

07:43 - I know, I know, I know.

07:44 - I want her.

07:46 - We're all happy Alfa Romeo's back, but guess what?

07:48 Two, we got two of them.

07:50 We got a blue--

07:51 - Twins!

07:52 (laughing)

07:53 - We got a blue Giulia over there

07:54 with carbon ceramic brakes, carbon seats,

07:57 and your name on it.

07:58 Also, don't go anywhere, BMW M3 competition package.

08:02 So if you could do me a favor,

08:04 do that amazing magic thing you do

08:05 where you lap the two cars simultaneously,

08:07 BMW on the left, Alfa on the right.

08:09 - I got it.

08:10 - Go.

08:11 - I got it.

08:12 (engine revving)

08:15 (engine revving)

08:18 (engine revving)

08:21 (engine revving)

08:24 (engine revving)

08:26 (engine revving)

08:30 (engine revving)

08:33 (engine revving)

08:36 (engine revving)

08:38 (engine revving)

08:41 (engine revving)

08:44 (engine revving)

08:47 (engine revving)

08:49 (engine revving)

08:52 (engine revving)

08:57 (engine revving)

09:04 (engine revving)

09:10 (engine revving)

09:19 (engine revving)

09:22 (engine revving)

09:30 (engine revving)

09:37 (engine revving)

09:44 (engine revving)

09:46 - It's the time.

09:58 The Giulia is just as fast out of the box

10:01 as the latest, greatest, likely highest performing M3

10:04 of this generation.

10:05 See, told you everyone was copying the Germans.

10:11 Welcome back to the red car.

10:13 - Happy to be here as usual, Jason.

10:15 - So, what'd you think of the M3?

10:19 - That M3 is the best current version M3

10:22 I've driven on track.

10:23 - Competition back, way better,

10:27 kind of like GTS is, right?

10:29 - Yeah, it reminded me a lot of the GTS,

10:31 extremely well damped, and the car puts down power

10:34 better than any other current generation M3

10:36 or 4 I've driven.

10:37 - Totally agree.

10:38 So now, the big question is,

10:39 how did the Alpha do against the best of the current M3s?

10:42 (engine revving)

10:47 - See my pants, the Alpha felt faster.

10:50 - Did it?

10:51 - When I came out of the Alpha, I was happier

10:52 than I was when I came out of the BMW.

10:55 Generated a lot of confidence.

10:56 Part of it is the tires, it has a very aggressive Pirelli,

11:00 tread wear 60, they're sticky.

11:02 - They're sticky.

11:03 (engine revving)

11:10 And I noticed on your out lap, you flew.

11:13 I mean, you just got in that car and went for it.

11:16 Is that because you had just set the lap time on the M3?

11:19 - That's part of it, Jason, in fairness.

11:22 I've been on track, but in the BMW,

11:24 I just didn't get the kind of confidence at the limit

11:28 that I got instantly from the Alpha.

11:30 And the Alpha has this super quick steering response.

11:33 I mean, I noticed it coming out of pit lane,

11:36 way before I ever got to speed on the track.

11:39 But the quick steering response at the front

11:42 did not mean an unwillingness at the back.

11:45 It was quick and stable.

11:47 And you know what that means?

11:48 I can go fast right now.

11:50 (tires screeching)

11:55 - But here's the important part.

11:59 You had a bigger smile.

12:01 - True.

12:02 - You thought it was faster, you had more fun,

12:04 you trusted the car more.

12:05 - I trusted it was easier to do.

12:07 - Isn't that the whole point of an Alpha Romeo?

12:09 To bring joy to the world?

12:11 It's like throwing flowers at everyone.

12:13 Yeah, nailed it.

12:15 Absolutely nailed it.

12:16 - Feel that torque.

12:18 - Yep.

12:19 It took three decades for the return

12:24 of the Alpha Romeo sports sedan.

12:26 And sure, the automatic transmission

12:28 was an absolute heartbreak.

12:29 But in spite of all of that,

12:32 the Giulia Quadrifoglio was absolutely worth the wait.

12:36 It is everything the Giulia Super

12:39 and the Milano Verde once were.

12:41 Which is to say, it's everything

12:43 an Italian sports sedan should be.

12:45 Well, you know, except the transmission.

12:48 (upbeat music)

12:56 (engine revving)

12:59 (upbeat music)

13:02 (engine revving)

13:04 (upbeat music)

13:07 (explosion)

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