Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio long-term test: flawed but tonnes of fun

Verdict

The big blue Alfa is not without its faults, but the more time I spend with it, and the more I hone its set-up by playing with the drive modes and tyre pressures, the deeper my affection for it grows. I can’t get enough of it.

• Mileage: 13,895
• Efficiency: 22.1mpg

Tyre pressures. In Formula One they mean everything, but for mere road cars, they don’t matter that much, do they?

It depends. In an average family runabout, or a big heavy SUV, you’d be hard pushed to tell the difference between 30 and 40psi. But in a finely honed thoroughbred like the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, tyre pressures are a key ingredient, and they are often all-too-easy to get wrong. As I’ve recently discovered.

The problem is, the Alfa’s handbook recommends pressures that are, I reckon, too high. And having experimented with various different pressures in the last couple of months, I’ve found a setting that I believe makes the car even better to drive than it otherwise would be. If you’re interested, they are 2.5 bar at the front and 2.2 bar at the rear. Or in old money, 36psi front, 32psi rear.

Both are a touch lower than the figures Alfa Romeo itself recommends, even with two passengers on board, let alone four. But if you have a Giulia QF, trust me – or at least try these pressures and see how it feels. The ride quality alone is transformed.

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I’ve also spent lots of time recently trying to pin down the best combination of settings within the car’s multiple dynamic menus.  In Mode A, the car feels too soft and squidgy, and not very quick, because the throttle map kills the torque flow. Yet in Race Mode the ride becomes way too stiff for UK roads. In D and N Modes I don’t especially like the throttle response, either.

As a result, unless I’m on a motorway, I now drive the Giulia in Race mode, which gives the best drivetrain responses, but with the dampers knocked back to Sport – or D Mode – which sharpens up the body control without going full skateboard. It also puts the steering and gearbox in the best settings for me.

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Now I’ve stopped tinkering and have alighted upon a combination I like, the Alfa and I have been getting along really rather well. I now love it to bits, if I’m honest. Not just the way it looks, sounds and goes, but also 
– at last – in the way it drives. It’s wonderful.

On the right road, in the right set-up, it really is a special kind of car. One that makes your heart beat faster and, just occasionally, goads you into behaving like the demented enthusiast it deserves to be driven by. It is a magnificent machine to climb into and drive for the sake of it, in a way that, in my view, no electric car could ever hope to replicate.

On the down side, it burns through fuel at a horrendous rate; my average fuel economy after 2,800 miles is just 22.1mpg. Its CO2 emissions are a bit embarrassing at 229g/km and the infotainment system is nowhere near as good as the equivalents you’ll find in most of the Alfa’s rivals, either – especially those that are made in Germany.

But as you can probably tell, I don’t care. Warts and all (and there are many warts) I’m deeply in love with ‘my’ Alfa Giulia QF. It’s one of the finest sports saloons I’ve ever had the pleasure of driving over a sustained period, and I’m already trying to work out ways of never, ever handing it back.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio: first fleetwatch

Damp weather plays havoc with the Alfa’s rear end

During recent greasy road conditions, the rear end has felt quite wayward, even in Eco mode, which pegs the torque output in the name of economy. Trouble is, the dampers become so soft in this mode it makes the back end feel too vague. Yet in Sport or Race mode, the ride becomes firm enough to unsettle the rear tyres at the merest hint of full throttle. So I’m taking it easy and enjoying this car for all sorts of other reasons at the moment.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio: first report

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Having just stepped out of an EV, our man is relishing this ICE performance car

• Mileage: 12,519
• Efficiency: 22.7mpg

Car enthusiasts like you and me are spoiled for choice these days, but there’s one question right now that’s hard to answer: do I go EV and join the migration towards a powertrain that will eventually propel most of our cars, or do I stick with a good old-fashioned combustion engine for the time being?

I’m a fan of all good cars, full stop, and in a way I’m not fussed what they’re propelled by so long as they’re quick enough to entertain, sharp enough to excite, practical enough to be usable every day and look good. And to prove this point I’ve just done 6,000 miles in the electric Polestar 2 Performance Pack and, 
with a couple of surprisingly small caveats, enjoyed every minute of it.

But to satisfy my cravings for ‘one last gasp’ in a traditional petrol-engined super-saloon, I’m now going to do the next 6,000 miles in the Polestar’s polar opposite – a thirsty, not-very-clean, but in all other ways really rather delicious Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. The exact same 2024 model-year Alfa Giulia QV that we’ve already eulogised about in Auto Express and compared with the similarly tasty Hyundai Ioniq 5 N last summer.

So which will I enjoy the more – the smooth, fast, squeaky clean but still deceptively mean Polestar 2 PP or chest-thumping twin-turbo V6 Alfa? It’s a tough job, but having enjoyed the Polestar, I still worried about certain aspects such as its range (max 200 miles in the real world), the price of charging it via the public network and its shocking depreciation. I’m keen to see how life alters with the Alfa – beyond the obvious draws of its 513bhp twin-turbo V6, its recently revised cabin and much-improved rear-wheel-drive chassis.

After just a few weeks with the Alfa, I’m pleased to report that range anxiety is a distant memory: even at 22mpg the Giulia can still do 350 miles between fills, which is a joy I’d forgotten about. And here’s one early shocker; despite its apparent thirst, the Alfa is costing no more to fill than the Polestar did via the public charging network. Living in a city, I had no access to a home charger, which meant I was paying 55-85p per kWh to put 200 miles in the Polestar. The Alfa costs £65-70 for 350-370 miles – so broadly the same as the Polestar for the same mileage.

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The flipside is that the Polestar’s tailpipe emissions were zero, whereas the Alfa chugs out a somewhat embarrassing 229g/km – but while it’s still legal, why not? It’s not like there are Alfa QVs on every street corner: these are rare cars, mainly because they cost (gulp) £78,195 before options, but also because they are not everyone’s cup of tea.

However, after just under 1,000 miles, I’m fairly sure the QV is my kind of brew, even though it’s far from flawless. The ride quality is not as good as I hoped it might be, especially not on the lumpy town roads of Brighton and Hove; the DAB radio reception cuts out too often for my liking (more so than in other cars on the same roads); the rear seats are also not as roomy as they could be; and the fuel consumption is genuinely horrendous – worse than I feared it might be, even in eco mode. I’m seeing 23mpg at best and 17mpg at worst.

But when a car looks like this, goes like this, and sounds like this, why sweat over the small stuff? Okay, that’s not entirely rational. But then a car like this is never going to induce rational thoughts or behaviour. Right now I’m loving it to bits – and not missing my previous EV way of life a whole lot either. Not yet...

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

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