2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio—The Return of the Italian Sport Sedan
On this episode of Ignition presented by Tire Rack
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 I may look incredibly young-ish, and I act like a child,
00:07 but the fact is I'm old.
00:09 And yet I didn't even have a driver's license yet
00:11 the last time Alfa Romeo sold a sports sedan in America.
00:14 So I've spent my entire adult life
00:18 trudging through the intolerable misery
00:20 that is BMW after BMW, after Mercedes,
00:24 after the occasional Infiniti,
00:26 and really all I wanted was an Alfa Romeo.
00:28 Now I can have one, finally,
00:30 the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.
00:34 It has 505 horsepower, rear-wheel drive,
00:37 and it comes only with a manual transmission.
00:39 (sighs)
00:40 Alfa Romeo, where have you been my whole life?
00:44 (sighs)
00:46 The (beep)
00:48 What the (beep) is that?
00:48 This is an automatic?
00:50 No clutch pedal?
00:51 What is this, some sick joke?
00:52 (dramatic music)
00:55 (upbeat music)
00:57 (gentle music)
01:15 Oh, I know there's a clutch pedal in here.
01:19 I know it, I know, yep, there's a cutout
01:22 in the bottom of the dash for the clutch pedal,
01:23 and yet it's not there, it's gotta be hidden.
01:25 It's hidden somewhere else.
01:27 This is unbelievable.
01:29 We see the car for the first time, it has a manual.
01:31 I watched the Chris Harris video, it has a manual.
01:33 I have the specs in front of me
01:34 from Fiat Chrysler North America,
01:36 and it says six-speed manual.
01:38 It doesn't even mention an automatic.
01:40 (paper crinkling)
01:42 (groans)
01:44 (gentle music)
01:46 Sergio, listen, $10,000.
01:49 Just take $10,000 and put a manual back in the car.
01:52 Okay, if it's not about money,
01:53 have half of my liver.
01:54 I don't really drink all that much anyway.
01:56 Please, okay, look, Sergio.
01:58 (gentle music)
02:00 (explosion booms)
02:12 (explosion booms)
02:17 - Camisa!
02:19 - What?
02:20 - Are you kidding me?
02:20 Review the freaking car!
02:23 - Fine, fine, fine, I'll review the car,
02:25 but I will never, ever accept that transmission, ever.
02:29 All right, so I've gotten the transmission ramp
02:37 mostly out of my system.
02:38 But I gotta say, I'm very excited
02:45 about the Alfa Romeo Giulia, and you should be too.
02:48 This is the first rear-wheel drive
02:49 Alfa Romeo sports sedan in 30 years.
02:53 Obviously, I love the fact that this one
02:55 has 505 horsepower and a torque vectoring rear differential.
02:59 But there's something bigger going on.
03:01 For the first time in decades,
03:03 we have Italian competition against the Japanese,
03:06 Americans, and most importantly, Germans,
03:09 who rule the sports sedan segment.
03:11 (car engine revving)
03:13 For a long time, that segment has been defined
03:16 by the BMW M3.
03:18 No surprise then that the Giulia's measurements
03:20 are within those of a middle finger to the M3
03:23 in every dimension.
03:24 And although we've criticized the latest one,
03:27 the 3 Series has been so far ahead of the game
03:29 for so long that everyone copies it.
03:32 While I'm on the subject of Germans,
03:37 let me please point out that these gauges
03:39 are a complete and total rip-off of Audi.
03:41 The infotainment system, copy of BMW's iDrive.
03:45 And the shift paddles, well, they're column-mounted,
03:47 and they're total Ferrari.
03:49 If you're gonna copy, you might as well
03:50 steal from the best.
03:51 However, Alfa Romeo didn't steal any
03:56 of the important stuff from anyone.
03:59 This Giulia is a 100% brand new car
04:01 riding on a brand new chassis developed specifically
04:04 by and for Alfa Romeo to be the best sports sedan
04:08 in the world.
04:09 This is a new identity for Alfa Romeo.
04:13 We've not seen any of this stuff before,
04:15 but the fundamentals are there.
04:16 The driving position is really good.
04:18 The steering wheel feels great.
04:20 The ergonomics work.
04:21 The car is quiet inside.
04:23 It rides well.
04:24 And the engine...
04:25 (engine revving)
04:27 definitely sounds different.
04:29 Have you ever heard a V6 sound like that?
04:41 No, I haven't.
04:42 This sounds nothing like any other V6.
04:45 It sounds more like two drunk three cylinders
04:47 having an argument.
04:48 But it sounds cool.
04:51 It just doesn't really change in pitch
04:53 and go all screamy like you'd expect from a Ferrari engine.
04:56 Oh yeah, it's a Ferrari engine.
04:58 This is a California T V8
04:59 with two cylinders lopped off of it.
05:01 The resulting V6 has a displacement of just 2.9 liters.
05:08 And it gets stuffed with 20 pounds of boost
05:12 to make 505 horsepower.
05:14 That would normally mean huge turbo lag.
05:16 But thanks to that relaxed engine note,
05:18 you wind up spinning the snot out of this engine,
05:21 keeping it in the upper part of the rev range
05:24 where turbo lag isn't so bad.
05:26 Look, even the car knows better.
05:32 You put it in an automatic and it says,
05:34 "Best race experience with shifter in manual."
05:36 Even Alfa Romeo is telling me,
05:39 "Yeah, the car would be better with a stick."
05:40 So grazie Alfa Romeo for telling me that
05:43 and (beep) for putting this transmission in here.
05:48 Actually, it's really good.
05:50 It's a ZF eight speed.
05:51 It's the best automatic in the business and I love it.
05:53 Damn, I didn't want to say anything nice
06:01 about that transmission.
06:02 It is nice in here.
06:07 It's quiet.
06:08 The ride is good.
06:09 The suspension tuning is absolutely brilliant.
06:12 The steering is fast and incredibly direct.
06:15 This car pulls.
06:17 This is way closer to the M3
06:20 than I think I expected Alfa could pull off.
06:22 My God, is it fast.
06:25 Only thing is for some inexplicable reason,
06:29 it has brake by wire.
06:30 There's no physical connection
06:32 between the brake pedal and the wheels
06:34 and that's all well and good,
06:35 except I don't know when the wheels are locking up.
06:37 I don't know when I'm in ABS.
06:39 So I'm trying to listen to the tires
06:41 telling me what's going on.
06:42 I don't hear anything and I don't feel anything.
06:45 It's a little bit disconcerting.
06:48 (car engine roaring)
06:50 You know what else is disconcerting?
06:52 That everyone seems to forget their history lesson.
06:54 BMW didn't invent the sports sedan.
06:58 Alfa Romeo did.
06:59 Flashback to 1962 when BMW was still farting around
07:05 with Isetta bubble cars
07:06 and Alfa Romeo came out with this, the Giulia Super.
07:09 This was the sedan version of the 105 cars,
07:12 the Duetto and the GTV.
07:13 Sports cars that changed the world with twin cam engines
07:16 and great power.
07:18 Took 25 years for the next one to come out,
07:21 which was the 75, sold in America as the Milano.
07:24 And this is the Verde.
07:26 This has a three liter version of the Busso V6,
07:29 widely regarded to be the best sounding V6 engine
07:32 of all time.
07:33 And it's taken 30 years to replace it.
07:36 And here it is, the Giulia.
07:38 Randy, stop licking the front of the car.
07:40 (record scratching)
07:41 - But Jason, she's so beautiful.
07:43 - I know, I know, I know.
07:44 - I want her.
07:46 - We're all happy Alfa Romeo's back, but guess what?
07:48 Two, we got two of them.
07:50 We got a blue--
07:51 - Twins!
07:52 (laughing)
07:53 - We got a blue Giulia over there
07:54 with carbon ceramic brakes, carbon seats,
07:57 and your name on it.
07:58 Also, don't go anywhere, BMW M3 competition package.
08:02 So if you could do me a favor,
08:04 do that amazing magic thing you do
08:05 where you lap the two cars simultaneously,
08:07 BMW on the left, Alfa on the right.
08:09 - I got it.
08:10 - Go.
08:11 - I got it.
08:12 (engine revving)
08:15 (engine revving)
08:18 (engine revving)
08:21 (engine revving)
08:24 (engine revving)
08:26 (engine revving)
08:30 (engine revving)
08:33 (engine revving)
08:36 (engine revving)
08:38 (engine revving)
08:41 (engine revving)
08:44 (engine revving)
08:47 (engine revving)
08:49 (engine revving)
08:52 (engine revving)
08:57 (engine revving)
09:04 (engine revving)
09:10 (engine revving)
09:19 (engine revving)
09:22 (engine revving)
09:30 (engine revving)
09:37 (engine revving)
09:44 (engine revving)
09:46 - It's the time.
09:58 The Giulia is just as fast out of the box
10:01 as the latest, greatest, likely highest performing M3
10:04 of this generation.
10:05 See, told you everyone was copying the Germans.
10:11 Welcome back to the red car.
10:13 - Happy to be here as usual, Jason.
10:15 - So, what'd you think of the M3?
10:19 - That M3 is the best current version M3
10:22 I've driven on track.
10:23 - Competition back, way better,
10:27 kind of like GTS is, right?
10:29 - Yeah, it reminded me a lot of the GTS,
10:31 extremely well damped, and the car puts down power
10:34 better than any other current generation M3
10:36 or 4 I've driven.
10:37 - Totally agree.
10:38 So now, the big question is,
10:39 how did the Alpha do against the best of the current M3s?
10:42 (engine revving)
10:47 - See my pants, the Alpha felt faster.
10:50 - Did it?
10:51 - When I came out of the Alpha, I was happier
10:52 than I was when I came out of the BMW.
10:55 Generated a lot of confidence.
10:56 Part of it is the tires, it has a very aggressive Pirelli,
11:00 tread wear 60, they're sticky.
11:02 - They're sticky.
11:03 (engine revving)
11:10 And I noticed on your out lap, you flew.
11:13 I mean, you just got in that car and went for it.
11:16 Is that because you had just set the lap time on the M3?
11:19 - That's part of it, Jason, in fairness.
11:22 I've been on track, but in the BMW,
11:24 I just didn't get the kind of confidence at the limit
11:28 that I got instantly from the Alpha.
11:30 And the Alpha has this super quick steering response.
11:33 I mean, I noticed it coming out of pit lane,
11:36 way before I ever got to speed on the track.
11:39 But the quick steering response at the front
11:42 did not mean an unwillingness at the back.
11:45 It was quick and stable.
11:47 And you know what that means?
11:48 I can go fast right now.
11:50 (tires screeching)
11:55 - But here's the important part.
11:59 You had a bigger smile.
12:01 - True.
12:02 - You thought it was faster, you had more fun,
12:04 you trusted the car more.
12:05 - I trusted it was easier to do.
12:07 - Isn't that the whole point of an Alpha Romeo?
12:09 To bring joy to the world?
12:11 It's like throwing flowers at everyone.
12:13 Yeah, nailed it.
12:15 Absolutely nailed it.
12:16 - Feel that torque.
12:18 - Yep.
12:19 It took three decades for the return
12:24 of the Alpha Romeo sports sedan.
12:26 And sure, the automatic transmission
12:28 was an absolute heartbreak.
12:29 But in spite of all of that,
12:32 the Giulia Quadrifoglio was absolutely worth the wait.
12:36 It is everything the Giulia Super
12:39 and the Milano Verde once were.
12:41 Which is to say, it's everything
12:43 an Italian sports sedan should be.
12:45 Well, you know, except the transmission.
12:48 (upbeat music)
12:56 (engine revving)
12:59 (upbeat music)
13:02 (engine revving)
13:04 (upbeat music)
13:07 (explosion)