2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Review

It’s no surprise that the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is a looker from all angles. Whether cruising the roadways or en pointe slicing its way through a curvy canyon road, there are few complaints about what Alfa Romeo has accomplished with the Giulia’s design. Quite frankly, few cars measure up to the Italian’s esperienza di guida emozionante.

M’ama mia!

This Turin tour de force can generate a frightful 505 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque from its 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6. All that power sends the Giulia Quadrifoglio into a dizzying zero to sixty 3.8 second dash and achieves a top speed of 191 mph. Don’t look for a manual transmission cause only an eight-speed automatic is available.

Behind the wheel, the driver is instantly overwhelmed with an incredible driving experience. The Giulia delivers a feeling of control and confidence without risking your well-being. The steering response is near-intuitive and more sensitive than most high-performance cars. Due to this nature, it gives drivers an accurate sense of where the wheels are and uniform stability when aiming for apexes.

Body control is superb due to its refined chassis and suspension settings, but the Giulia still retains a particular softness, even in Dynamic and Race modes.

The cockpit is exquisitely driver-oriented, but the build quality and cabin materials don’t quite match up to the hefty price tag. With less than 4,000 miles on the odometer, the upper dash had an annoying rattle that sometimes ruined a peaceful ride. Materials in the cabin looked pretty, but there were places it could have been better.

Not everything is as rosy as the Alfa Rosso exterior color. The peaky power band doesn’t wake up until the revs kick above five thousand rpm; then, be prepared to ride into another dimension. Calibration of the six-piston high-performance Brembo brakes was way too sensitive, especially at low speeds. However, I can’t complain about their tenacious stopping power.

Bellisimo! What’s new for 2020

For 2020, most of the updates for the Giulia take place in the cabin that highlights an all-new center console and a new, standard, 8.8-inch touchscreen. The infotainment system gets an improved user interface, a faster processor, fancier graphics, driver-configurable widgets and Performance Pages that display real-time status of the following features:

• Real-time horsepower
• Torque delivery
• Turbo pressure
• Engine/transmission temps
• Digital chronometers time acceleration and speed
• Race timers

Pleasing to the touch and easy on the eyes are a new steering wheel, leather-trimmed gear shifter and sport seats with leather and Alcantara options. Introduction of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) brings level 2 autonomous driving. Driver attention is monitored closely, but he or she must keep their hands on the steering wheel. Used as intended, ADAS is terrific for absorbing the doldrums when in heavy traffic or on long trips.

Look for new LED taillights and new gloss black badges that subtly designate the 2020 model year. Otherwise, not much else has changed on the outside.

Italian luxury in a sedan

As can be expected, the cost of driving nirvana isn’t cheap. The Giulia Quadrifoglio rings the bell starting at $74,445. My loaner vehicle totaled $80,240 with options and destination charges. There’s a lot of solid gold action at that level — BMW M3, Audi RS5 Sportback, Mercedes-AMG C63, to name a few. Nevertheless, the Giulia Quadrifoglio is still riveting, intoxicating and enthusiastically playful by any measure.