The Northern Rivers Times
March 24, 2022
44 MOTORING ROAD TEST
Quadrifoglio . . . say no more
ALFA ROMEO GIULIA QUADRIFOGLIO CHRIS RILEY
aluminium, carbon
It’s a mouthful, that’s for sure, but the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is just one of those cars that will take your breath away. Whether that’s struggling to get in and out of the low-slung machine, or being slammed back in the seat as it bellows its way to 100hm/h. The four-door, twinturbo V6 sedan is a lover
Alcantara.
looker and a consummate performer -- a car without compromise. Quadrifoglio is designed to go headto-head with the likes of the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63, both of which we’ve been lucky enough to drive. STYLING Quadrifoglio is distinguished by a different front design, and larger air intakes for the intercoolers as well as brakes. Side skirts also feature and the bonnet has two cooling outlets for the engine bay and there are gill-style outlets either side at the front to allow air to escape from the wheel housings. And let’s not forget the green-on-white, four-leaf clover badges and those gorgeous clover leaf wheels. The equally stylish cabin features an 8.8-inch touchscreen, integrated into the dash, with interactive widgets, full-screen maps and performance management features. Prices for Giulia start from $63,950 for the Sport, $71,450 for the Veloce, then almost double by the time you get to Quadrifoglio at $138,950 -- all before on-road costs. Both the Sport and Veloce feature a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, Sport with 140kW and Veloce with 206kW. Quadrifoglio ups the ante with a 2.9-litre twinturbo V6 that pumps out a thumping 375kW. Even more mindboggling is GTA and GTAm versions, both
a swoosh across the cabin, dominated by two bulging analogue instrument dials for the driver and some might say old-fashioned inset infotainment screen. Importantly, a small information panel between the two dials can display a digital speedo and the current speed limit. Grazia mille. At 8.8-inches the touchscreen is
with 397kW of power -but they’re silly money. Options include Carbon Ceramic Brakes at $13,500, Sparco Carbon Fibre Seats $8250, TriColour Paint $3650 and so forth. Black or yellow brake calipers are a mere $1000. You also get 19-inch aluminium wheels with 245/285 Pirelli rubber (front/rear), splitter, Monza exhaust with quad tips, carbon rear spoiler, red brake calipers, leather and Alcantara trim, heated front and rear seats, active suspension and active cruise control. INFOTAINMENT 8.8-inch Colour Multitouch Display with Navigation, Harman Kardon 14 Speaker Sound Theatre, Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB), with Apple Carplay and Android Auto -- plus wireless phone charging. ENGINES / TRANSMISSIONS The 2.9-litre Ferrarideveloped twin-turbo V6 pumps out 375kW of power at 6500 revs and 600Nm of torque between 2500 and 5000 revs, with drive to the rear wheels through a conventional 8-speed auto. To put this in perspective, that’s than the pinnacle of the HSV range, the E Series iteration pumped out 325 killer wasps.
That’s impressive, even more so given the Alfa is smaller and lighter, bonnet and rear spoiler to help trim the puppy fat. SAFETY Safety systems include Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, forward collision warning (FCW), rear view camera, front and rear parking sensors, auto high beam, intelligent speed control, active blind spot assist and driver attention alert, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-path detection. DRIVING Firing up the Quad for from the four tailpipes is pre-emptive. It felt quick from the get go, even before I’d checked the specs to see what it actually cranks out. The Quadrifoglio set a new lap record for a sedan at the Nurburgring, with a time of 7 mins 39 seconds. That was the manual -- the auto mins and 32 seconds. The all-aluminium engine was reportedly developed exclusively for the Quadrifoglio by Ferrari. It’s related to Ferrari’s own twinturbocharged F154 CB V8 engine, sharing the California T’s bore and stroke. The turbochargers are single-scroll units that have been integrated into the manifold, with water-
charge air coolers. It has sidemounted direct fuel injection, with maximum turbo boost of 2.4 bar. The car is a torque vectoring diff to help put power to ground and can send up to 100 per cent of torque to either rear wheel. The Quad dispatches the dash from 0-100km/h in just 3.9 seconds, with a lofty top end of 307 km/h. To help keep the fuel bill under control, the drivetrain also incorporates auto engine stop-start and cylinder deactivation, the latter shutting down three of the six cylinders when not required. It drinks the good stuff and with a claimed fuel consumption of 8.2L/100km, we were getting 10.5L after more than 530km of mixed driving. One-piece aluminium to the steering column, while DNA Pro drive adds a fourth, Race mode: Dynamic: Delivers sharper brake and steering feel with more aggressive engine, transmission and throttle tip-in calibrations. Natural: Comfort setting for balanced daily driving, Achieves lowest fuel consumption with
cylinder deactivation, Race: Harder suspension, different torque vectoring settings and the stability system fully turned off. Unless you’re going to track the car, however, Dynamic offers everything required and most buyers will almost certainly choose this mode. The ability to modulate the active suspension, between sport and a softer ride -- bears some scrutiny. The funny thing is, though it feels too busy in the softer mode, too twitchy and unable to settle -- so which switched back to sport. The throttle is, if anything, overly responsive, even jerky at times, while steering is super direct and the brakes bite hard and fast (they need to). Under hard acceleration the rear tyres manage to break traction despite the electronics, even with fat 285 P zeros on the back. Handling, meanwhile, is fantastic. You can barrel into corners almost as fast as you can barrel out. Stunning looks are matched by a stylish interior, trimmed in a combination of
not exactly large, understandable perhaps in a performance-focused machine -- but that means a small rearview camera (and to be honest, I don’t trust it, wouldn’t rely on it). Sadly, we didn’t get to take the car to the track, but the driver of a VW Golf R Wolfsburg edition got the shock of his short life when he lined us up at the lights. It wasn’t even close, even though more. SUMMING UP Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is an impressive motor car. Stunning yet understated looks, top shelf performance, and an engaging drive experience will keep you coming back for more. Unfortunately, this is offset by the mechanics of owning and looking after a vehicle which doesn’t rate very highly in the practicality stakes. If you can live with these things and can price tag, then go for it -- you won’t be disappointed (trust me).
