Why The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Is Among My Top Five Cars Of All Time

By Phil Bradley

For petrolheads like me, there's such a thing called a 'poster car'. The definition of which is one, or several cars that feature on a poster on the wall in your bedroom. For me, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio was one of those cars. The understated, subtle performance and Italian design is something that I felt Alfa Romeo did really well with this car. For the 2020 model year, the Italians gave the Giulia QV a bit of an update, and when the opportunity came along for me to drive one, I was like a kid at Christmas. It was going to be hard give this one an un-biased impartial review from the start. I also know that Alfa Romeo fans, or Alfisti, as they're known, know their stuff about the cars, so I'll try and get everything spot on in this story!

Ultimately, the changes that come with the mid-life update of the Giulia QV are relatively subtle. On the exterior, the tail lights are now clear, with a darker tint and there's now options to have an exposed carbon fibre roof and bonnet. Furthermore, Alfa have updated the infotainment system, that brings the car up to modern times with a touchscreen, with more apps and functionality, but more on that later. Technology has improved too, with lane assist, active cruise control and speed-limit warning systems. What the Italians have done with this update is round off what was already a beautiful looking car. No ghastly front grilles, just pure, Italian design. - I wonder how many times I'll mention that here!?

Where Alfa have really finessed this model is the little extras that are now available on the Giulia QV. From the heritage, Montreal Green paint colour now on offer, to carbon shell, Sparco front seats and an Akrapovic exhaust system, along with a whole host of Mopar accessories that lets you add carbon to from everything from the front grille to the key fob. All very sexy stuff. Other than that, the car is essentially the same, but why fix something that isn't broken?

Under the bonnet is the same, 2.9L V6 engine. Good for 510BHP and 600NM of torque. Power is driven to the rear wheels via an 8-speed automatic gearbox, that combined with the engine reaches 62MPH from a standstill in 3.9 seconds. Top speed on the other hand, is a whopping 191MPH. No speed limiters here. Let's not forget, this car is a super saloon, and with a top speed like that, it's supercar beating too! It's little wonder that they call this the four-door Ferrari.

I was hoping the press car delivered to me would be finished in the all-new Montreal Green, however the car arrived in Misano Blue, making me feel a bit like a spoilt brat with my disappointment. I have to admit though, the colour really grew on me, and went well with the iconic, 19 inch, 'dark hole' alloys, red brake calipers and blacked out window trims. The Quadrifoglio gets a lower front splitter, made from carbon, along with those bonnet vents which make it look just a little bit more aggressive than the standard Giulia. To the side of the car, the Giulia gets side skirts finished in carbon fibre once again, along with big Quadrifoglio badges on either side, similar to the Ferrari Scuderia shields. The rear of the car is what gives away it's performance nature the most, with the signature, quad stacked exhausts, clear tail lights and that carbon fibre boot spoiler. It was interesting throughout the week, as to those who had little knowledge of Alfas, this was just another Alfa Romeo.

Some passers by wouldn't bat an eyelid at the car, whereas others would notice the badging or exhausts and understand what they represented. This is something I really liked about the Giulia. Beautiful, yet very subtle and understated. Sadly, I believe we live in times where there are a lot of jealous people out there. Having a fancy supercar would worry me that a jealous person would take a disliking to it. This however, doesn't seem to have that affect, and is certainly something I could live with.

Inside my Misano Blue Giulia, the car came with the standard seats, as opposed to the Sparco, carbon shelled ones. I was surprised at just how comfy these were, and once I'd adjusted the electric seat to the right position, it was like being in my parents' arm chairs at home - the comfiest chairs, ever. The seats were a mix of Alcantara and leather, as was the steering wheel, which also had a carbon fibre insert. The interior was certainly ticking all the boxes so far. - Alcantara and carbon fibre, what's not to like? Carbon fibre was also wrapped around the centre console, door handle surrounds and parts of the dashboard. The sound system was pretty good too, with Harman Kardon sound.

The dashboard screen itself was a mix of both digital and analogue. The central digital screen did enough to show your navigation map and driving mode, whilst the analogue rev counter and speedometer did the rest. The screen also shows your digital speed, for those of you who prefer it, like me. Now, onto the central infotainment screen. As previously mentioned, Alfa Romeo have updated this to now be touch screen. It's a nice little feature, as you can control it in this way, or with the control wheel in the centre console. The climate control, heated seats and steering wheel all still have physical buttons beneath the screen, so it was nice mix of both touch screen and retaining the buttons on the inside. The screen has a huge area of the dashboard, but only takes up three quarters of this, leaving gaps of black space around it. It would've been nice to have a screen designed around the space it was made to fit into.

Now, onto the driving. One word, Wow. This car had a split personality when it came to driving it. The QV has 4 driving modes. Race, then D, N and A modes. D is for dynamic, or sports mode. This stiffens the suspension and partially opens the exhaust valves. N is Natural Mode, or Comfort to you and me. This is for your every day driving. The A is Active Efficiency, or fuel economy mode. Normally, switching modes in a car, stiffens the suspension, or makes it noisier. I don't think I've ever driven a car that physically changes it's driving characteristics with a press of a button. The Giulia genuinely amazed me with it's ability to drive as if it were a standard saloon car in Natural mode. You could be pottering about town, or dropping the kids off at school, and there would be no exhaust noise, soft suspension and a little bit of body roll.

Change this mode into Dynamic, and wow does it transform the car. All of a sudden, you hear the exhaust note from behind you, the car feels a lot tighter and the body roll has disappeared. All of a sudden, I was driving a completely different car. I can't emphasise enough how different this driving experience was. Go one step further, and put the car into Race mode and all of the assist systems are switched off, the exhaust becomes a wailing banshee and the horses beneath the bonnet are unleashed completely. Sheer bliss. Race mode does exactly what it says on the tin and transforms the Giulia QV into a "race car". Sadly, with Covid-19, the race tracks were shut, but with 510BHP under the bonnet, I can only image what this weapon would be like on the race track.

Click both of the steering wheel paddles in at the same time, and the car would flick into neutral. This may be a minor feature, but it's something that many modern cars no longer have, and it's a feature that I really admired on this car. I felt this was Alfa Romeo giving the Giulia QV some heritage from the past.

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It's been a long time since I've enjoyed reviewing a car like I did with the Giulia QV. I was even tempted to tell Alfa Romeo that I'd lost it, just so I could keep the car. I genuinely struggled to pick faults with it and was amazed at how it has such a split personality, from being a car that could fit a family of four, with room for golf clubs in the boot, but at the same time be completely at home when being thrashed around the race track. I'm not saying you'd get terrific MPG out of the Giulia QV, but that is what other models within the Giulia range are for. The QV is priced pretty high, with a starting price of £67,995 plus options, but this price is similar to some performance models from German rivals, and like I said, you don't get funny looking grilles with this, either. I've not been able to drive the new M3, but as far as looks are concerned, the Alfa would be my choice.