The 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio will have you drooling. Photo/Larry Weitzman

By Larry Weitzman

Besides being capable of super sedan acceleration (0-60 mph times in the mid threes), the experience of driving the new Alfa Romeo Giulia will also help you escape from the mundane and take you to perhaps the twisties of the famed Targo Florio course or maybe Monza, all by driving from your home to work, or even better driving home from work.

It is the second Alfa to come to the United States in about 20 years, the first being the diminutive, sinewy and sexy Alfa Romeo 4C sports car. The new Giulia is a sophisticated, state of the art car designed to grab a market owned by BMW 3s, Mercedes C and E, Infiniti Q50, Lexus IS and some others. It will do it by having the most voluptuous, gorgeous body, the best running gear and the best combination of ride and handling offered in this class of automobile.

Alfa’s dimensions are compact with a length, width and height of 183x74x56 inches on a long 111-inch wheelbase, meaning a usable backseat. Instead of looking like everyone else, the body is all Alfa with its tradition Alfa front end, smooth, curvaceous lines creating perfect proportions. It follows in the footsteps of other great Alfa’s like the 1930’s 8C 2900, a late ’60s early ’70s GTV (a Giugiaro design), the Montreal and the more recent Alfa 8C super car.

When asked about Italian design inspiration, head of Alfa design Lorenzo Ramaciotti said, “Italy has 60 percent of the (western) world artifacts … we have been around it our whole lives.” There is little question Alfa Giulia is the looker of its class and for a lot of other classes too.

Inside may be an even better treat. The instrument panel gives the driver a command position with beautifully done, serious business gauges and a color center stack info screen that magically appears. Instead of a dash push to start button, it’s a big red button located on the fabulous steering wheel. Seating is sublime and gorgeous as well and rear seating which was tested by my friend Rich. He said it is an easy six-hour space with copious room and comfort.

Now to the best part, the drive. In as few words as possible, simply the best. Performance is outrageous. The few times I got into the throttle is was astounding, probably the quickest car I have ever driven, which includes Z06 Corvettes and Vipers. I suspect 0-60 times as above for the Quadrifoglio model which has RWD, a turbocharged, direct injected 2.9L V-6 of 505 hp. For the entry model the engine is a 2.0L turbocharged, direct injected inline four with 280 hp. It is also RWD with an AWD option. Both models have a superb eight-speed auto cog swappers. Expect 0-60 mph times of low fives for the 280 hp four cylinder. Why I didn’t mention some other allegedly competing cars above in the entry luxo class is because many of them are front wheel drive.

In hitting the throttle, the response was instantaneous, hit it hard and the growl it makes will give you goosebumps.  During mild throttle applications, which will still bring on startling acceleration, it is reasonably quiet. Driving in traffic, it was a dream, extremely smooth and sharp. Steering is quick, crisp and very accurate as you would and should expect from a world class super sedan. It also gives your four distinct driving modes as well to suit your style, from eco-mild to full on track. They work and do change the character of the car. This car needs to be driven to be fully appreciated.

I would suspect that the standard, non-Quadrifoglio, should be within 99 percent of the Quadrifoglio in almost all driving except for acceleration and track performance, but the base model is still almost world class quick, anyway, with an Alfa claimed 0-60 mph time of 5.1 seconds which bests the competition smartly.

Now it even gets better. The entry level Giulia starts at just $37,995 and a Ti or AWD only adds two grand. Sounds like a deal. For the Quadrifoglio, the price of admission goes up to about $72,000. But remember, it blows the doors off anything in its class and then some. And then there is the Alfa styling, nothing else comes close. This is definitely not a cookie cutter entry level luxury vehicle, that looks like every other entry luxo ride. It has among all its other attributes, panache. Neillo is the dealer with the Franchise for Alfa in Sacramento. It’s worth the drive.            

Larry Weitzman has been into cars since he was 5 years old. At 8 he could recite from memory the hp of every car made in the U.S. He has put in thousands of laps on racetracks all over the Western United States.