Alfa Romeo Giulia and Giulia Super – full range of Alfa’s new sedan released
Alfa Romeo Giulia and Giulia Super – full range of Alfa’s new sedan released
Alfa Romeo Giulia
After a gap of 3 years in the sedan sector, Alfa Romeo is returning with the new Giulia… and returning with a vengeance.
A primary objective – achieve driving satisfaction
One of the primary objectives at the heart of designing the Alfa Romeo Giulia was to achieve driving satisfaction, with key factors towards achieving this target being perfect weight distribution and an excellent power-to-weight ratio.
Astute management of materials and weights meant adjusting and arranging elements into the right places, while lightweight materials are employed, such as a carbon-fibre propshaft and aluminium for suspension, engine and certain body panels.
All models of Giulia are rear-wheel driven.
Giulia, Giulia Super and Giulia Quadrifoglio
The Alfa Romeo 156 sedan launched in 1998 took Alfa Romeo in a new direction by offering a stylish charismatic alternative in the mid-size market, and in its footsteps followed the Alfa Romeo 159 which was available during 2006 to 2013. Now, Alfa Romeo is ready to take on the mid-exec market with more intent than ever before, picking another name from its history books – Alfa Romeo Giulia.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia is offered in 3 basic trim levels: Giulia (base), Giulia Super, and the headline-grabbing Giulia Quadrifoglio.
Giulia and Giulia Super will be available with a 2.2-litre diesel engine in 2 output variations of 110kW/380Nm or 132kW/450Nm, and either engine can be combined with 6-speed manual or 8-speed automatic. This is a high-tech engine, and the first Alfa diesel constructed from aluminium. Strangely (especially for an Alfa) no petrol engine has been confirmed (yet?) for these Giulia models, as only the Quadrifoglio uses a petrol.
The Giulia Quadrifoglio is the highest-performance Alfa Romeo sedan, ever. Its good to see the Alfa V6 engine lives again in the Giulia, and this time it is a 2.9-litre biturbo. It will also be offered in manual (a rarity these days for this performance level) or an automatic. So, what is this performance level? The engine makes 375kW at 6500 r/min, with torque a neat 600Nm at 2500rpm. Speed? The tech spec sheet says the Giulia QV will sprint the 0 to 100 in 3.9 seconds, putting it power- and acceleration-wise right up against the BMW M3 sedan Competition pack and the Mercedes-AMG C63 S sedan. Where the Alfa QV outruns the M and AMG is in velocità max of 307 km/h. Serious stuff.
Integrated Brake System
Some high-tech safety items developed for the Giulia include the Integrated Brake System (IBS). It introduces a worldwide preview of an electro-mechanical system which combines the electronic stability control with the tradition servo brake. Successful integration of mechanics and electronics is said to give excellent pedal feel and no pedal vibrations, while saving weight.
Other safety systems are the Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Brake with pedestrian recognition.
Alfa Active Aero Splitter
The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio model uses the all-new Alfa Active Aero Splitter – a front carbon flap which actively manages downforce for superior aerodynamic load, using air to give the car higher performance and better grip at high speed.
Enshrouding… Italian style
The media announcement reads “A second aspect of the Italian style is "simplicity" which is capable of enshrouding what is in fact one of the most complex creative processes in industry: designing a car.”
The Alfa Romeo Giulia is destined for South Africa – good news for Alfisti in SA, though a local launch date, model or pricing information has not yet been made available.