Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce Ti | A tribute to the Giorgio-platform
With the exception of the Quadrifoglio that nobody can afford, we’ve never actually covered the Alfa Romeo Giulia in a review. A statement that astounded me, because the introduction of the Giorgio-platform back in 2015 raised great expectations and re-enabled the option for rear wheel drive in Alfa Romeos.
Here we are then, almost seven years later and we’re finally driving one. To provide a bit of background information on the Giulia, the Veloce (the car we’re testing) bridges the gap between the regular Giulia and the 510 horsepower Quadrifoglio. But in all fairness, it’s best described as a potent version of the regular Giulia. It comes with the same layout, but a bit more of everything. A tuned version of the 2-liter engine, bigger brakes, sharper looks, and sportier seats.
For the Veloce, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, being merely a potent version of the regular Giulia. In essence, all flavors of the Giulia are built to deliver proper on-road capabilities. All Giulias (including the diesels) have a 50:50 weight distribution, suspension components borrowed from the Quadrifoglio, and even more noteworthy equipment like a carbon fiber prop shaft. The high amount of shared parts between the top dog Quadrifoglio and the regular Giulia is because Alfa Romeo built the Q first and reworked it into the regular car, rather than the other way around.
Perfect driving machine
The Veloce is the 280 horsepower Giulia and to start off with the engine, it’s a 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. And at first glance, it is not the most sophisticated piece of machinery that you’ll ever experience. At idle it sounds not too far off from a bag of marbles and with the redline starting at 5500 rpm, it doesn’t really feel nor sound exciting. But, it’s very quick to respond and delivers its peak torque of 400 Nm at 2250 rpm, which makes it useful in every gear. The downside of this is that it’s never really satisfying to chase high revs, because it feels a bit diesel-like and (do I dare to say this in an Alfa Romeo?) a bit emotionless.
Any shortcomings in the driving experience from the engine are easily recovered by, well, everything else. The widely appreciated ZF 8-speed gearbox for instance is being operated by ridiculously large, column-mounted aluminum paddle shifters. The short gears make the Giulia feel really fast and ensure you’ll use the paddles a lot. The brakes are easily managed and highly effective in slowing the car. The steering is very communicative, and the chassis is beautifully balanced. It makes this car quick on the turn-in and so much predictable that it feels like you’ve had the car for years, even after the first few corners. You can get on the gas early and experience the significant acceleration that the engine brings about without the engine, or ESP, holding back. The seating position can be set very low and the seats themselves provide a lot of support. A general conclusion of the driving aspect of the Giulia is that it’s not overly sporty, it’s just insanely nice to drive in. It can be any type of car that you want it to be at any moment you desire.
Alfa Romeo offers the Giulia Veloce with all-wheel-drive (Q4) or rear wheel drive, we drove the Q4. Although at 1530 kg it’s 126 kilograms heavier than the rear wheel driven Veloce, it’s also half a second quicker to a 100 kph at 5,2 seconds. The drivetrain is most definitely rear-wheel biased and certainly doesn’t kill off any of the liveliness. Push it hard and you’ll be able to unsettle it, only to the point when power is sent to the front wheels and grip is recovered.
It turns heads
This car is the Veloce Ti. As before with Alfa Romeos, the Ti-pack intensifies the experience of the dynamic credentials of the car. In this car, it does that with a complete overload in carbon fiber trim pieces in the interior and door sills, and leather and Alcantara seats that are definitely of supportive type, yet not being uncomfortable. The interior is very much focused on the driver and the fit and finish nowadays is better than I can remember from early Giulias. Though, material-wise, the Giulia is a step behind the direct competition. The steering wheel itself is correctly sized and can be positioned perfectly in relation to the driver’s seat. On it are various controls for ADAS and multimedia, buttons that you use a lot during the driving. Then strangely, the one button that you’ll use only once per drive (the start button, that could literally be on the ceiling and not be bothering you) is – in true Ferrari fashion – located on the wheel too. And I like it for that.
What better car can bring some Italian flair to the predominantly conservative mid-size segment than, well, an Italian car? Although this will be subjective, I really like the looks of the Giulia, especially in the Veloce Ti-trim. The Grigio Vesuvio paint has a beautiful hint of a gold metallic and the look is finished off with the 19-inch Quadrifoglio style wheels and aggressive Veloce bumpers and side skirts. It occurred more than once to me that people asked me whether it was the Ferrari-engined Giulia or not, this thing really turns heads.
Living with the Giulia
Midway through its life, Alfa Romeo updated the Giulia. Changes were mostly down to subtle enhancements in the interior, such as the wireless charging platform in the center console and a dedicated spot for the key fob. Also, the car can since then be equipped with level 2 autonomy. I used it a lot on the highway and it works perfectly well. It can be comprehensively controlled via buttons on the steering wheel and indicator stalk. Especially the traffic jam addition to the adaptive cruise control is useful and will bring the car to a full stop in slow-moving traffic.
For some parts of the infotainment system, I can imagine that potential buyers think it’s outdated. In fact, things like the rear-view camera might have been considered outdated even seven years ago. Although the system is far from refreshing, it doesn’t derogate using the car. It’s easy to understand and quick enough to work with. Definitely not perfect, but far from infuriating either. However, since it supports Android Auto and Apple Carplay, I assume this will be used most. It lacks a bit of the options and gimmicks other manufacturers offer, but I think that’s a good metaphor for the car as a whole. It’s a basic concept that is very good at delivering you a pleasant drive, and it does that with no special trickery or complexity. Just a potent engine lengthwise in the car, no excessive weight, and excellent response to your inputs. It feels analog while in fact, it isn’t. Without going on the cliché nostalgia-tour, I think that these are characteristics to appreciate. Especially when enveloped in a practical car that’s perfectly fine to live within the real world.
I can end this review with the meaningless phrases we are used to reading at the end of reviews on Alfas in the last decades. Where journalists covered up the imperfections of Alfa Romeos by calling it the soul of the car. This time around, you don’t have to like this Alfa because it’s a car with a so-called soul created by imperfections, but because it’s genuinely likable. Apart from quirks like a heated steering wheel that heats the entire circumference, except the spots designated for your hands and the world’s brightest indicators, all is good with the Alfa Romeo Giulia. In fact, this is a car I would highly recommend buying, like Kenny from Team CJ already did. I feel like Alfa Romeo hit the sweet spot with this Giorgio-platform, which makes it especially regrettable that the platform is discontinued. Inevitable of course, since it simply doesn’t facilitate the physical presence of a (partly) electric drivetrain. Perhaps this is your cue to enjoy this short-lived renaissance of rear-wheel-driven Alfa Romeos.