Chris Riley tests the 2022 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio with pricing, specs, ride and handling, safety, verdict and everything the over-50 driver needs to know.
Summary: The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is a worthy competitor for the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63. That four-leaf clover on its flanks hints at a proud motor racing heritage.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Pricing: $139,950 (plus on road costs). (Or thereabouts – see text)
Warranty: Three-years, 150,000km (come on, Alfa, get with the program)
Safety: 5-star ANCAP
Engine: 2.9-litre turbo intercooled V6 petrol
Power: 375kW at 6500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2500rpm
Transmission: 8-speed sports automatic, rear-wheel drive
Body: 4639mm (long); 1873mm (wide); 1426mm (high)
Weight: 1622kg
Towing capacity: not stated (but you wouldn’t really want to tow with it, would you?)
Wheels: 19-inch alloy
Tyres: 245/35 R19 (front), 285/30 R19 (rear)
Ground clearance: 100mm (sure to catch every spoon drain and speed hump)
Turning circle: 10.9m
Fuel tank capacity: 58 litres
Official consumption: 8.2L/100km (95 RON fuel)
Consumption on test: 10.5/100 (530km)
seniordriver consumption on test: not tested (not happy, Jan!)
[review]
What is it?
It’s a mouthful, that’s for sure, but the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is just one of those cars that will take your breath away.
Whether that’s struggling to get in and out of the low-slung machine, or being slammed back in the seat as it bellows its way to 100km/h.
The four-door, twin-turbo V6 sedan is a lover and a fighter, both a looker and a consummate performer – a car without compromise.
Quadrifoglio is designed to go head-to-head with the likes of the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63, both of which we’ve been lucky enough to drive. (That’s right, Chris, rub it in!)
The badge
Quadrifoglio is Italian for four-leaf clover.
It’s a term used to denote Alfa’s high-performance models, in much the same way as AMG is to Benz, M to BMW and HSV to Holden.
The practice dates back to 1923 when race car driver Ugo Sivocci wanted to break a string of second-place finishes.
Preparing for the legendary Targa Florio in Sicily, he painted a white diamond with a “Quadrifoglio”, or four-leaf clover, on the front of his Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio.
He finished in first place.
Sadly, the Quadrifoglio couldn’t save Sivocci, who died later that year during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
His death led to a symbolic change to the Quadrifoglio: before Monza, the clover sat inside a white diamond, each point representing one of the four factory drivers.
When Sivocci died, one of the points was removed, creating the Quadrifoglio triangular emblem that continues to this day.
What’s it cost?
Prices for Giulia start from $63,950 for the Sport, $71,450 for the Veloce, then almost double by the time you get to Quadrifoglio at $138,950 – all before on-road costs. (Prices are somewhat flexible at the moment. seniordriveraus found a listed price of $139,950, $1000 more than Chris quotes, and then another at $143,500. As always, check with your dealer for up-to-date prices.)
Both the Sport and Veloce feature a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, Sport with 140kW and Veloce with 206kW.
Quad ups the ante with a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 that pumps out a thumping 375kW.
Even more mind-boggling is the GTA and GTAm versions, both with 397kW of power – but they’re silly money. (And the limited allocation for Australia has already sold out)
Options include Carbon Ceramic Brakes at $13,500, Sparco Carbon Fibre Seats $8250, Tri-Colour Paint $3650 and so forth.
Black or yellow brake calipers are a mere $1000.
Quadrifoglio is distinguished by a different front bumper, with carbon-fibre splitter and larger air intakes for the intercoolers as well as brakes.
Sideskirts also feature carbon-fibre inserts and the bonnet has two cooling outlets for the engine bay and there are gill-style outlets either side at the front to allow air to escape from the wheel housings.
And let’s not forget the green-on-white, four-leaf clover badges and those gorgeous clover leaf wheels.
The equally stylish cabin features an 8.8-inch touchscreen, integrated into the dash, with interactive widgets, full-screen maps and performance management features.
You also get 19-inch aluminium wheels with 245/285 Pirelli rubber, a carbon fibre active splitter, Monza exhaust with quad tips, carbon fibre bonnet, roof and rear spoiler, red brake calipers, leather and Alcantara trim, heated front and rear seats, active suspension and active cruise control.
Infotainment comprises an 8.8-inch Colour Multi-touch Display with Navigation, Harman Kardon 14 Speaker Sound Theatre, Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB), with Apple Carplay and Android Auto – plus wireless phone charging.
Safety systems include Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, forward collision warning (FCW), rear view camera, front and rear parking sensors, traffic sign recognition, auto high beam, intelligent speed control, active blind spot assist and driver attention alert, blind spot monitoring (BSM) with rear cross-path detection.
What’s it go like?
Firing up the Quad for the first time, the bark from the four tailpipes is pre-emptive.
It felt quick from the get go, even before I’d checked the specs to see what it actually cranks out.
Those figures are 375kW of power at 6500 revs and 600Nm of torque between 2500 and 5000 revs, with drive to the rear wheels through a conventional 8-speed auto.
To put this in perspective, that’s significantly more power than the pinnacle of the HSV range, the E Series GTS which, in its final form, pumped out 325 killer wasps.
That’s impressive, even more so given the Alfa is smaller and lighter, with a carbon-fibre roof, bonnet and rear spoiler to help trim the puppy fat.
Winner of numerous awards, the Quadrifoglio set a new lap record for a sedan at the Nürburgring, with a time of 7 mins 39 seconds.
That was the manual – the auto trimmed the figure to 7 mins 32 seconds.
The all-aluminium engine was reportedly developed exclusively for the Quadrifoglio by Ferrari.
It’s related to Ferrari’s own twin-turbocharged F154 CB V8 engine, sharing the California T’s bore and stroke.
The turbochargers are single-scroll units that have been integrated into the manifold, with water-charge air coolers.
It has side-mounted direct fuel injection, with maximum turbo boost of up to 2.4 bar.
The car is fitted with a torque vectoring diff to help put power to ground and can send up to 100 percent of torque to either rear wheel.
Without getting any further into the technical nitty gritty, Quad dispatches the dash from 0-100km/h in just 3.9 seconds, with a lofty top end of 307 km/h.
To help keep the fuel bill under control, the drivetrain also incorporates auto engine stop-start and cylinder deactivation, the latter shutting down three of the six cylinders when not required.
It drinks the good stuff and with a claimed fuel consumption of 8.2L/100km, we were getting 10.5L after more than 530km of mixed driving.
One-piece aluminium paddle shifters are fixed to the steering column, while DNA Pro drive adds a fourth Race mode:
- Dynamic: Delivers sharper brake and steering feel with more aggressive engine, transmission and throttle tip-in calibrations
- Natural: Comfort setting for balanced daily driving
- Advanced Efficiency: Achieves lowest fuel consumption with cylinder deactivation
- Race: Harder suspension, different torque vectoring settings and the stability system fully turned off.
Unless you’re going to track the car, however, Dynamic offers everything required and most buyers will almost certainly choose this mode.
The ability to modulate the active suspension, between sport and a softer ride – bears some scrutiny.
The funny thing is, though it feels too busy in the softer mode, too twitchy and unable to settle – so which switched back to sport.
The throttle is if anything overly responsive, even jerky at times, while steering is super direct and the brakes bite hard and fast (they need to).
Under hard acceleration the rear tyres manage to break traction despite the electronics, even with fat Pirelli 285 P Zeros on the back.
Handling, meanwhile, is fantastico. You can barrel into corners almost as fast as you can barrel out.
Stunning looks are matched by a stylish interior, trimmed in a combination of aluminium, carbon fibre, natural leather and Alcantara.
The dash flows in a swoosh across the cabin, dominated by two bulging analogue instrument dials for the driver and some might say old-fashioned inset infotainment screen.
Importantly, a small information panel between the two dials can display a digital speedo and the current speed limit. Grazie mille.
At 8.8-inches the touchscreen is not exactly large, understandable perhaps in a performance-focused machine – but that means a small rear-view camera (and to be honest, I don’t trust it, or more specifically – I wouldn’t rely on it).
Sadly, we didn’t get to take the car to the track, but the driver of a VW Golf R Wolfsburg edition got the shock of his short life when he lined us up at the lights.
It wasn’t even close, even though he got going first.
Say no more.
What we like
- It’s an Alfa
- A very quick Alfa
- Eye-catching looks
- Engine engineered by Ferrari
What we don’t like
- Low and difficult to get in and out
- Scrapes on driveways and speed humps
- Cramped claustrophobic back seat
- Boot lid does not remain fully open on hills
- Small infotainment screen (including rear camera)
What over-50s drivers need to know
My GP’s ears pricked up when I mentioned this car.
At the moment he has an E-Class Coupe but is always talking about what he should buy next.
One of the vehicles well and truly on his radar is the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.
It’s not too expensive, looks like a million bucks and has plenty of Golf Club cut-through (although I’m not sure he has any time for golf).
I cautioned him however that it is low slung, with bolstered sports seats and getting in and out requires some agility.
The first time the car scrapes – and trust me it will – driveways and speed humps will henceforth be your enemy.
At the same time, it offers a staggering level of performance and the Ferrari -fettled engine is music to the ears.
So my advice to my GP and indeed anyone over 50 years of age contemplating the purchase of the Quadrifoglio, is to please not dismiss these considerations lightly.
This review was prepared by Chris Riley and first appeared on cars4starters, https://cars4starters.com.au/
seniordriver comments
It looks like we’ve going to have some serious words with our car company contacts! Chris has been driving some very tasty machinery that we haven’t, as yet, been able to get our hands on in these COVID-constricted times.
Alfa Romeo has always appealed to the enthusiast driver, and the Quadrifoglio is no exception (if quite a mouthful – you’ll need extra space to fill in insurance and registration forms!).
It’s fighting some tough competition in the form of the BMW M3 ($144,900) and Mercedes-Benz AMG63 (from $169,900) that Chris has identified. To that, we’d add any Audi with an RS badge and, at a pinch, the Porsche Taycan (although only the entry model comes close in price – $156,300). We might also suggest that the Mercedes-Benz C43 might be well worth considering (and quite a bit cheaper). And while we’re talking dollars, you’ll have to ask yourself if the Quad really does justify a huge premium over the Sport and Veloce models. As for the GTA and GTAm version mentioned above, start budgeting close to $300,000. Ouch!
As usual, the European warranty is less than impressive at three years (150,000km). Even Mercedes-Benz has come to the party and increased its cover to five years. Another European favourite is an options list that will water your eyes and burn your wallet. Seriously? $1000 for black or yellow brake calipers?
Also, we’d advise thinking carefully about the practicality of the Alfa Romeo. Old bones don’t cope well with climbing in and out of low-slung sports cars, and while it might be fun for the first few weeks, it can become frustrating over a longer period of ownership.
We’ll put some pressure on and see if we can spend some time in the Quad. But in the meantime, we’d say it’s almost a four-door sedan version of a Ferrari. And when you put it like that, $140,000 is something of a bargain.