74 wheelsmag.com.au
Never sold in Oz but
stylish to the end
1977), every model
as badged Super in
he 1.3- and 1.6-litre
uova Giulia line-up.
rille went plastic
hile flat bootlid lost
s trademark spine.
ut the Nuova (Italian
r ‘new’) lost none of
srort and rasp.Alfa’s classic twin-
cam fours and zesty
V6 couldn’t save the
front-drive 155. Based
on a 1988 Fiat Tipo,
its narrow platform
and dull handling
were panned by the
European media. An
extensive ‘wide-body’
akeover in 1995
artly made amends.elebrating Alfa’s
75th anniversary,
the 75 was a topped
and tailed Giulietta,
keeping its platform
and centre body, but
shifting upmarket
with a new interior, a
V6 f lagship and even
an auto option. Alfa’s
last rear-drive sedan
until the new Giulia.ll-new replacement
sing Alfetta sedan
nderpinnings,
eaning a balance-
nhancing transaxle
earbox and a suite
ftwin-cam engines.
igh-boot design
as cutting edge
n ’77. Rare 125kW
.0 Turbodelta
odel was a serious
erformance tool.smashing return-
o-form stylistically,
hough still no BMW
Series dynamically,
he front-drive 156
as finest in four-pot
anual form. Feral
6-engined GTA did
uchtoenhance
sporting image,
e problematic
eed gearbox.autiful 159
ageing Alfa
es for all-new
derived from
its. But best
ot was the
t turbo-diesel
ey enough to
e 159’s heavy
en in sexy
gon form.Despite just 2.3 turns lock-to-lock, it doesn’t take long
to synchronise your brain with the small steering
input required, yet the Giulia somehow strings these
direction changes together with delicious seamlessness.
Wearing such grippy Pirelli boots, even with 206kW,
the LSD-equipped Giulia Veloce has little hope of
overwhelming its rear-end traction. Exiting tighter
corners at pace, with your right foot a fair way down,
the Veloce is capable of subtle oversteer drifts, but this
is no QV. Without the V6’s ‘Race’ drive-mode setting,
or any ability to switch the ESC or traction-control
off – or even half off in a ‘Sport’ setting – the Veloce is
ultimately constrained by what its electronics will let
you get away with. But below that point, the Giulia’s
supreme chassis balance is more than compensation.
Choose a cornering line and the Giulia Veloce almost
magnetically sticks to it. Keep adding throttle and it’ll
keep astounding you with its poise and purchase, all
the while absorbing the surface beneath with composed
surety, and damping out unwanted noise without
isolating its driver from the experience.
Yet it all comes back to the seamlessness of that
steering. The amount of time it took Alfa Romeo to
bring the Giulia to market has clearly paid dividends in
the superb cohesion of its dynamics, not to mention its
hugely impressive refinement.
It’s somewhat surprising, however, that its brake
feel isn’t to the same standard. You often find yourself
adding more travel than you thought you’d need to its
rather wooden-feeling pedal, as though it could use a
bit more servo assistance. Alfa claims 38.5m stopping
distance from 100km/h (against a superb 32m claim for
the QV), which is below average for this type of car.
Seated inside the Veloce’s striking cabin, beyond
its beautiful sports steering wheel, resides Alfa’s
trademark deeply set instruments, decorated with
the finest fonts this side of a Ferrari. The slick centre
screen fits perfectly into the dashboard’s architecture,
and we have no qualms about its functionality, even
though at only 8.8-inches, some may feel it should
completely fill the space, à la Audi’s Virtual Cockpit. It
isn’t a touchscreen either – everything happens via a
neatly intuitive rotary controller.
The Veloce’s sports front seats offer six-way electric
adjustment (meaning no proper cushion tilt) and
electric bolster adjustment. Initially, they feel too flat,lfa’s
nlike
elespStill be
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