Key considerations
- Available for £32,000
- 2.9 V6 petrol twin turbo, rear wheel drive
- Rampaging performance and a brilliant chassis
- Handsome, but cabin not up to best German standards
- Surprisingly practical and happy in non-banzai mode
- Some annoying quality control glitches
OVERVIEW
How much is a new Alfa Romeo Giulia, would you say? It may surprise to you to learn that, at the time of writing, the cheapest current model Giulia starts at nearly £36,000 for the 200hp Giulia Sprint.
Shuffle over to the right of the Sprint on the Alfa website and you'll find what looks (in profile and from a distance, at any rate) like the same car. On closer examination you'll see different wheels and brakes, some extra bits hanging down underneath, a four-leafed clover badge on the wing - and a near-doubling of the Sprint's price to what is now over £68,000. This is the Giulia Quadrifoglio.
Alfa's 3 Series-challenging Giulia compact exec was announced in 2015 for an on-sale date of 2016, five years after firm's last saloon (the 159) had ceased production. If that was a bold move in itself, given the waning interest in saloons, the Quadrifoglio variant was an even bigger leap of faith. It challenged BMW's M3 and Mercedes's C63 by promising more than 500hp from a 2.9 turbo V6 in a lightweight rear-wheel drive chassis. Six-cylinder, rear-wheel drive cars hadn't been part of the Alfa Romeo brochure since the 75, and that car hadn't been in the Alfa showrooms for almost a quarter of a century.
Against that background, you can imagine the volume of bum-squeaking in the Alfa boardroom when the Quadrifoglio plan was hatched. The Germans were utterly dominant in the sporty saloon field and had an established reputation for engineering integrity. Alfa Romeo's established reputation was, well, not that. Much had improved in the years prior to the Giulia's launch, to be fair, but as a Quad buyer you still had to take your courage in both hands when choosing it over an M or an AMG.
The Alfa board members needn't have worried. The firm's engineers went 'all in' on the Quadrifoglio, determined to show just what they were capable of when all the stars aligned. The result was hailed by one well respected UK magazine as 'a triumph', which seemed a bit harsh until you realised they weren't talking about a company that made Acclaims and Heralds.
The Quadrifoglio ran from 0 to 62mph in 3.9sec and on to a top speed of 191mph, which was a most un-Triumph-like level of performance. New production car Nurburgring records of 7m 39sec for the manual version (that we didn't get in the UK) and 7m 32sec for the auto showed that there wasn't much wrong with the handling either. The UK mag we mentioned earlier described the Giulia Quadrifoglio as one of the most magnificent driver's saloons in a decade, ranking it slightly behind the C63 S but ahead of the M3. Right from the off, the highest-profile, highest-priced Giulia had earned its spurs as a standout car, and the Quadrifoglio sub-brand had been hoisted to a level that all but transcended manufacturer or model name considerations. It was a hell of an achievement from what was effectively a standing start.
Suitably emboldened, Alfa celebrated its Nürburgring records by releasing the Giulia Quadrifoglio NRING Edition at the 2018 Geneva show. 108 NRING Giulias were made, one for each year of Alfa's existence, with the same number of Stelvio variants built. Performance was unchanged over the standard car but the NRING had ceramic brakes, raw carbon fibre in the roof and bodykit bits, Sparco carbon seats and plenty more carbon inside, along with adaptive cruise control, a premium sound system, and Mopar-branded floor mats and gear shifter - a clumsy bit of flag-waving to help US customers link Alfa to the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles corporation that had been set up four years earlier.
At the following year's Geneva show, a more purposeful limited edition was announced to mark the arrival of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen in Alfa's F1 team. The Alfa Romeo Racing came with F1-style paintwork, carbon fibre aero parts and a titanium Akrapovic exhaust system. It was 28kg lighter than the regular Quadrifoglio and had a small power uplift to 520hp.
2020 brought a series of tech, design, and safety upgrades. On the outside, changes were limited to LED rear lights, three new paint colours and a carbon fibre front grille. Inside there was a new centre console, a gentle switch away from carbon to leather and the addition of Level 2 autonomy features including traffic jam and highway assist.
In the spring of that year, Alfa commemorated its 110th anniversary by playing another ace from its usefully large pack of branding cards. GTA meant real Alfa goodness, and this time around two models bearing that illustrious badge were offered: a straight GTA and a more track-focused GTAm. Engines in both cars were turbo-boosted and re-pistoned to 540hp and given a higher capacity cooling system. Track widths at both ends were increased by 50mm and centrelock wheels were specified. There was a new Akrapovic twin-exit central exhaust system in titanium, plus carbon fibre for the driveshafts, bonnet, roof, skirts and wheelarches, a redesigned front bumper with new air intakes, and more aluminium in the engine, doors, and suspension, which featured new springs, dampers and bushes.
Both cars had rear diffusers, but the GTAm was distinguished by its extended chin splitter, Lexan side and rear windows, racing buckets and belts up front, back seats binned in favour of a rollover bar, plus of course the enormous boot spoiler in place of the GTA's bootlid lip affair. Altogether, quite a deal of weight was saved over the regular Quadrifoglio. In the GTAm it was quoted as 100kg. Both GTAs were said to offer the same 0.3sec reduction in the 0-62mph time, to 3.6sec. According to Sauber, who had been entrusted with the development programme, the GTAm had double the GTA's downforce and triple that of the normal Quad. But then it did cost more than £150,000...
Luckily, you don't need McLaren money to get a Quadrifoglio in your garage. When new, Quad prices started at £59,000, less than the C63 S or the M3 Comp. Today, higher-mile (70k plus) cars start at around £32,000.
Are they a good investment at that money, or is the grim spectre of old-school Alfa unreliability still lurking and hoping to bite you in the bottom? Let's have a look. At the car that is, not your bottom.
SPECIFICATION | ALFA ROMEO GIULIA QUADRIFOGLIO (2016-on)
Engine: 2,891cc V6 24v twin turbocharged
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 510@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 443@2,500-5,500 rpm
0-62mph (secs): 3.9
Top speed (mph): 191
Weight (kg): 1,595
MPG (official combined): 33.2
CO2 (g/km): 198
Wheels (in): 8.5 x 19 (f), 10 x 19 (r)
Tyres: 245/35 (f), 285/30 (r)
On sale: 2016-
Price new: from £59,000
Price now: from £32,000
Note for reference: car weight and power data are hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it's wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
Anyone coming to a Quadrifoglio from an older generation Alfa V6 might wonder where the personality went in terms of the exhaust note, but those old V6s weren't muffled by turbocharging and besides there is serious compensation to be had in the newer car's vastly improved performance. It accelerates from 0-62mph in the same time as an Aston DB11, a Ford GT, a Caterham R400 or a Ferrari F40, none of which are practical four-door saloons.
The oversquare cross-plane crank V6 was direct injection but rumour has it that six port injectors were added to the normal six direct injectors on 2019MY WLTP-qualifying European engines, greatly reducing if not entirely eliminating any possibility of carbon buildup, which as we know can be the bane of direct injection engines. This additional injection porting would also, you might think, expand the possibilities for tuning.
Alfa Romeo's DNA selector gave four driving modes, the first three - 'Dynamic' (sporty, with a firmer ride, rortier exhaust and more sensitive throttle), 'Natural' (the standard setting) and 'Advanced Efficiency' (for poor traction conditions, with cylinder deactivation for better economy) - having presumably been named to justify the acronym. 'Race' mode loudened up the exhaust still more and set the car up for the track, disabling the electronic stability control.
The gearbox was ZF's much-liked 8-speed torque converter auto that sent power via a carbon fibre propshaft to a torque-vectoring 'active' rear end with electronically controlled clutches each side of the differential. UK buyers weren't given the all-wheel drive or manual transmission options that were made available in other markets, but the ZF auto tried its best to make up for that by giving near-DCT-speed shifts in Race or Dynamic modes and by delivering a meaty barp on full-power changeups. According to those who tried the six-speed manual it wasn't much cop anyway, so no loss there really.
Sadly, some old Alfa traits did reveal themselves in Quadrifoglios over the passage of time and mileage. Warning lights to 'service electronic throttle control' or 'check engine' came on, sometimes for no traceable reason, but they were the sort of lights you couldn't really ignore so you'd have to be taking the car into the dealership to find out what was going on, especially as the car would often insist on a dealer visit by refusing to allow access to any driving modes other than the default one.
Other cry-wolf warnings about low oil levels that weren't, open doors that were shut and malfunctioning parking sensors and indicators were less concerning but no less frustrating. Often as not the issues would turn out to be wonky sensors needing a reflash or a software update, or slapdash plug connections, but it could also be down to broken wiring through harness abrasion. Look for paperwork detailing the fitment of an updated scuttle panel to early cars as the original one allowed water to land on an ECU, which would never end well. Poor quality control could lead to coolant leaks through inadequately tightened hose clamps.
In terms of actual rather than imagined problems, fuel pumps blew and were replaced under warranty. Turbo overboost valves could go the same way. Batteries failed. A whine from the rear could quite easily turn out to be a faulty differential rather than the considerably cheaper dodgy wheel bearing you'd have been praying for.
The problem with any car from the top of a range is that it's usually saddled with the same size fuel tank as the most parsimonious models in that range. The Giulia tank wasn't that big at 58 litres, but 400-450-mile stints between fill-ups were attainable in a Quad if you were cruising the big roads whilst wearing a trilby, a lifestyle this car was surprisingly good at despite a twitchy first-time driver's likely expectations. Then you'd be achieving mpg figures in the mid-30s. Cane it and you'd be down to the mid-teens, but this was a staggeringly quick 500hp car at the end of the day.
CHASSIS
In some, if not most, sporting vehicles you might have to sacrifice ride quality for secure handling, or vice versa, but there were no such compromises demanded by the Ferrari-honed Alfa chassis, which consisted of a double wishbone front/multi-link rear setup with aluminium subframes and chassis arms, plus a very smart electronic control package and a superb set of ZF Sachs continuously variable damper. These provided first-rate body control and bump absorption and could be toggled separately from the engine modes (a bit like Ferrari's bumpy road button) so you didn't need to have the dampers on 'raging' just because the engine happened to be in that mode. This was a very handy attribute on busted-up British roads.
On smooth tracks, max firm was the setting of choice. On all roads you would be enjoying typically direct Alfa steering. It was a little light in Natural mode but needed just two and a bit turns lock to lock. The pointy front end was brilliantly complemented by the Quad's combination of rear-wheel drive balance and more than enough poke to unstick the specially developed Pirelli P Zero Corsa Asimmetrico 2 tyres that were originally fitted, usually on the optional grey 19in five-hole alloys that were designed to evoke memories of classic Alfa teledials. The standard Quad wheels were actually lighter though. Add the ability of Alfa's Chassis Domain Control to sort out an ideal mix of settings between the Integrated Brake System, diff, dampers, and stability control and you had a car that could reflect more or less exactly what your brain and right foot might be hoping to achieve on a perfect day. The transition from grip to slide was easy to manage in the dry thanks to the high-geared steering, but things became more ticklish in the wet, especially under power. In general terms though the chassis was a fine piece of kit. While we're here, carbon trim was a popular option for the steering wheel, but it didn't really add anything to the driving experience. Leather made a quiet comeback in the 2020MY refresh.
Standard braking was by Brembo 'co-cast' (iron and aluminium mix) floating ventilated discs, 360mm front and 350mm rear using six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers. 390/360 carbon ceramic discs and aluminium calipers were a £5,500 option. Nobody argued with the CC brakes' ability to deliver consistent stopping well beyond that point in a hard track session when regular metal brakes would be crying for mercy, but the feel of the carbons at the 'fly-by-wire' pedal was not admired by testers. Unless some heat had been built up, which it wouldn't have been in town unless you were constantly resting your foot on the pedal, a hearty shove was required to avoid making contact with the back of the car in front, even at very low speeds.
Tyre wear will obviously be conditioned by the type of use. One long-term magazine car chomped through theirs at a rate of 5,000 miles a set but in less hooliganistic driving you might be able to get 12,000 out of them. A new front Pirelli P-Zero will be about £180 and £230 for a rear from the likes of Blackcircles. Owners who switched to Michelin Pilot Sport 4s reported better wet and cold weather performance and less tyre skip/crabbing at low speeds on full lock. Goodyear F1 Supersports also worked well.
Regular short services should come in at £200 or less, but the 30,000-mile service includes replacing the spark plugs and can hoist costs to over £500.
BODYWORK
The Quadrifoglio was most definitely one of those cars you looked back to after you'd parked it, a neat trick for a saloon. The four-door bodywork made it easy to see out of, although some owners did notice a degree of wobble in the rear glass. The wings and doors were made of aluminium, which was nice, while the bonnet and roof were in carbon fibre, which was even nicer.
The angle of the electrically driven carbon Active Aero Splitter was variable by up to 10 degrees. More pertinent for urban owners was the teeth-clenching scrape it made over sleeping policemen. Bump stops on some of the early cars weren't properly set, allowing the boot lid to hit the top of the bumper.
Stone chipping was very normal and so were unscheduled visits to the hedgerows, so always carry out the usual checks for crash damage.
INTERIOR
Although most of us would think of a Quadrifoglio as an out and out performance car, and the low driving position in supportive Alcantara/leather seats nicely emphasises that, it's worth noting that the Giulia platform is also spacious and practical. It's a genuine four-seater (and only a four-seater in this guise, as there are just two belts in the back) with stacks of leg and headroom.
The quality of the cabin materials used was generally good and the gearbox paddles were lovely, but somehow the overall ambience was not really up to snuff for a £60k car. The cheapish feel of the controls told you that Alfa still had some way to go to catch up with the premium German offerings.
Lightweight carbon-backed Sparco seats were an interesting option but a rarely ticked one at £3k. The standard Recaros had heating and electric adjustment as well as comfort so you shouldn't disqualify a car you're looking at just because it doesn't have the Sparcos, especially (ironically) if you are planning to do track work, because the angle the Sparcos set your head at when you've got a helmet on is sub-optimal.
The alarm system wasn't the most stable and the 7.0-inch screen and infotainment system on early Quads wasn't so hot either, but things did improve on 2020MY cars thanks to the arrival of a new 8.8-inch screen with standard Apple Car Play and Android Auto compatibility.
PH VERDICT
Against Alfa's less than sparkling historical reputation, the launch of the Quadrifoglio could have been seen as a last chance saloon at best, or commercial suicide at worst. Even the most cynical observers will accept that the firm's act has been substantially cleaned up in recent years but in the unforgiving world of high-performance motoring, total confidence is key. Buyers had to be sure that rocketship performance wasn't going to be hard-wired to rocket-fuse unreliability.
The Giulia Quadrifoglio looked like it might play a big part in rehabilitating the firm's image. It generated ecstatic reviews in its first flush of youth. Not only did it show itself to be a fast, extremely capable and incredibly exciting way to travel, it was also hinting that it might be a well engineered and credible ownership proposition.
Unfortunately, reality has bitten into that dream to some extent. In fairness, many of the 'faults' reported here often turned out to be not real faults, or not the faults the sensors said they were, but the scares you got when the false warnings popped up did kill the moment and could, over time, kill the joy of ownership because your car might end up spending too much time at the Alfa dealership. It wouldn't be right to generalise about the quality of that network experience, but it's probably fair to say that a zen-like attitude to time spent off the road continues, as always, to be the best way to approach Alfa motoring.
That's a shame in this day and age, but Alfa owners are a doughty bunch who don't seem to mind this sort of thing. The faith they show in Alfa's higher profile products has kept catastrophic Quadrifoglio depreciation at bay. As noted at the start, you'll need at least £32,000 to buy a Quad, but at that price it will have accumulated 70,000 miles or more and these cars aren't very easily unearthed. Realistically you'll be fishing in a £40k-£50k pool where you will find cars like this 14,000-miler priced at £44,980. Red paint will always ring the bell for Alfa traditionalists but the Competition Red you could get a Quad in does take a bit of looking after.
The most affordable car on PH Classifieds at the time of going to press was this 48,000-mile 2017 car at £37,000 but that has now been sold. Sill, throw an extra £995 into the pot and you'll be able to knock 14,000 miles off that cheaper car's mileage with this (also 2017) offering. At the top of the price tree, how about a 2019 NRING with 5,000 miles and all the trimmings, coming in at £71,490?
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