Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio – long-term review

Our Car of the Year is finally in the TG Garage. I know this as everyone in the office keeps pestering me for the keys. And they will get to drive it. But not right now, as I’m running RJ66 KYZ as an experiment. 

See, a lot of my esteemed colleagues are, um, ageing men. And so they’re completely love drunk on Alfas; spouting words like “passion”,  “soul” and “greatness” when talking about cars badged with a man being eaten by a serpent.

But I’m not like them. I’m a millennial. And not the good kind that grew up learning HTML code before I could speak. I was the awkward Nineties kid that befriended Tamagotchis and had Sea-Monkeys for pets. So, I simply don’t get the whole ‘Alfa Thing’, as since I’ve been alive they’ve all been crap. Like, really crap. 

Yes, I’m aware that way back when Alfa was fighting off Bugatti, Bentley and Merc – at Le Mans and in Grands Prix – and was perhaps the greatest sports and racing carmaker of an era. But for Generation X, this incredible history has been just that: history. Mere anecdotes and hubbub of the good old days. We’ve never had any substance to back it up. The 156, MiTo and Giulietta never enthused. And not once have we dreamt of being Dustin Hoffman. 

Luckily, things might be about to change. Alfa has had billions invested in it in a quest to take its sales of 75k per year to 400k within three years. But, to make that happen, it needs to convince people like me that its cars aren’t rose-tinted turds. 

With a new-from-the-ground-up platform (codenamed Giorgio), the Giulia Quadrifoglio is genuinely all-new. And even the most militant anti-Alfisti will salivate at the spec sheet. With a Ferrari-derived twin-turbo V6 packing 503bhp, sophisticated adaptive suspension, carbon-ceramic brakes (£5,500), the raciest carbon bucket seats on the market (£2,950), positive downforce, a full torque-vectoring ECU-controlled diff and RWD it’s a seriously juicy thing. But, at £73k as tested, also expensive. 

But then you look at it. Purposeful, angry and all wrapped up in a swollen suit of stance with carbon trimmings. So, could this be a car to change an Alfa cynic? Let’s just say it’s off to a good start.