Alfa Romeo hasn’t made any inroads into the executive car market since it stopped making the 159 in 2011. Since then the automaker has been in the wilderness in the segment. And it’s allowed other car makers to muscle-in on its market share.
But Alfa hasn’t abandoned the fight. Back in 2014, the company announced that it would be making the Giulia. The car was pitted to go up against the likes of the BMW 3-Series and the Jaguar XE. Given Alfa Romeo’s problems with the 159, few people thought the company could pull it off. But there was hope: Jaguar had managed to come back from the brink with its XE. So why not Alfa Romeo too?
But Alfa hasn’t abandoned the fight. Back in 2014, the company announced that it would be making the Giulia. The car was pitted to go up against the likes of the BMW 3-Series and the Jaguar XE. Given Alfa Romeo’s problems with the 159, few people thought the company could pull it off. But there was hope: Jaguar had managed to come back from the brink with its XE. So why not Alfa Romeo too?
Safety
Alfa Romeo has a knack for romanticizing cars. Owners of Alfas wax about the company's ability to steal their hearts with its unique design style. It’s all very Shakespearian.
But just as in the play Romeo and Juliet, there’s an element of tragedy in every Alfa story. Their cars aren’t known for their reliability. And when it comes to passenger safety, you can forget it.
Or can you?
According to https://www.dolmanlaw.com/new-port-richey-auto-accident-attorney there were more than 300,000 injuries in Florida alone last year. In the past, you stood a good chance if you were in, say, a Volvo. But if you were in an Alfa, you died in style. But with the Giulia, that’s all changed. There has been a quantum leap forward regarding build quality and safety that blindsided most people.
According to Euro NCAP, the car achieved 98 percent in adult protection. That’s just about the highest of any car, and the highest in its class. Alfa has started fitting all its cars with the latest crash prevention technology too, like forward collision warns. And it has rather clever sensors that alert you if it thinks a pedestrian is about to run out into the road. Couple that with tyre pressure monitoring and ESC, and you’ve got a car that’s just as safe as a Mercedes C-Class. Safer, in fact.
A car for car lovers?
Car lovers might moan about the fact that the Giulia doesn’t come with a manual option. But that’s not what this car is about. The automatic gearbox is there to make shifting as smooth as possible. This is a car that wants to chauffeur you, not the other way around.
The Giulia comes in three engine options. There’s the 148 hp diesel, the 178 hp diesel, and a more powerful 196 hp petrol engine. The diesel versions of the car emit only a small amount of CO2, so you avoid ending up in higher tax brackets. But the price for this is that the car doesn’t perform as well as it looks. 0-62 in the diesel versions of the car takes between 7.1 and 8.2 seconds, depending on which you choose.
Recently www.auto123.com covered the Giulia at the Paris Motor Show. It will be interesting to see where Alfa Romeo goes from here.
