Alfa Romeo Julia Quadrofoglio Test Drive
Discussion
Just test drove the car at their London Marylebone dealership.
The car is beautiful to behold and to drive: the drivetrain is on the right side of "very edgy": cultured - not crashy nor too fidgety- but unquestionably leashed until you unleash it. The noise and acceleration are just a push away and again, everything is aggressive but still mannered. The drivetrain is truly a success.
The interior is slightly drab and not too the Germans' levels, it is passable in a way Jaguars are, good but not its forte.
I think the interior would benefit from more high quality chrome switchgear and alcantara roof lining.
It is priced like a Macan GTS and having driven both, the Macan is a luxury SUV that can make a geriatric feel sporty, the ARQ would tell the person that it meant business.
All in all miles better than an M3/M5 combination, you can feel an aggressive feline ready to entertai. I would put a question mark on long term reliability though.
The car is beautiful to behold and to drive: the drivetrain is on the right side of "very edgy": cultured - not crashy nor too fidgety- but unquestionably leashed until you unleash it. The noise and acceleration are just a push away and again, everything is aggressive but still mannered. The drivetrain is truly a success.
The interior is slightly drab and not too the Germans' levels, it is passable in a way Jaguars are, good but not its forte.
I think the interior would benefit from more high quality chrome switchgear and alcantara roof lining.
It is priced like a Macan GTS and having driven both, the Macan is a luxury SUV that can make a geriatric feel sporty, the ARQ would tell the person that it meant business.
All in all miles better than an M3/M5 combination, you can feel an aggressive feline ready to entertai. I would put a question mark on long term reliability though.
I drove one today. Can't say what dealership on here as I also did some data collection in order to measure it against my current W204 C63. All I can say is, I'm blown away. For your reference the cars currently in the UK are not saleable due to the lack of some important functions. They are a stand in example designed to attract a few additional customers whilst also hopefully stopping existing ones bailing out due to the lengthy delays in delivery times.
I was not expecting to be as impressed by the car as I was. Myself and the rep took it about 30 to 40 miles around some cracking roads and I really enjoyed it. The car only had a few miles on it and I was the first public driver, quite a privilege.
The drive:
There is no need to drive this car in automatic, the paddles work faultlessly and the shifts are instant and perfect. Everything about that gearbox shouts quality. It's not lacking in any way. Seamless, smooth and quick. I also never thought I'd get on with the fixed paddles. I've always had paddles that rotated with the wheel but the QV has them fixed in place. It's great. No big deal on the move, and actually it's far better when negotiating mini roundabouts and tight corners. No need to guess where your up or down is!
The engine appears to be a thing of perfection too. I'm yet to see if it can match the 6.2 in my AMG higher up the scale but at faster road speeds it's as quick in the damp as my 530bhp Merc is in the dry. I will have this car for an extended test once it's registered so hopefully I can ascertain its ability in more depth then. I was also really happy to see a proper valved exhaust in play. Like the Ferraris and Porsches we see today, the exhaust is pretty quiet when pootling along. Get above 3.5krpm (i think) and it opens up to a really nice bark. I think it could maybe have been improved by making it sound a bit more Italian, but maybe the turbo thing has scuppered that somewhat.
Handling wise the Alfa is pretty spot on. It holds the road really well and acceleration in the wet is managed nicely by the fancy diff and torque vectoring. It also doesn't feel anywhere near as fast as it is. Looking at the speedo I did question at first if the display was showing kph and not mph. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing but the speed it piles on without feeling overly twitchy is impressive.
For me, having driven hard the M3, M4 and also extensively hammered my own AMG's, this Alfa is already better than the //M cars. Going by the digital data I took today it's happily up there with my C63. And that was with only 30 miles on the clock and with 2 in the car. Impressive for a first day. Will I get into one? If things pan out as hoped then quite possibly.
Eddie
I was not expecting to be as impressed by the car as I was. Myself and the rep took it about 30 to 40 miles around some cracking roads and I really enjoyed it. The car only had a few miles on it and I was the first public driver, quite a privilege.
The drive:
There is no need to drive this car in automatic, the paddles work faultlessly and the shifts are instant and perfect. Everything about that gearbox shouts quality. It's not lacking in any way. Seamless, smooth and quick. I also never thought I'd get on with the fixed paddles. I've always had paddles that rotated with the wheel but the QV has them fixed in place. It's great. No big deal on the move, and actually it's far better when negotiating mini roundabouts and tight corners. No need to guess where your up or down is!
The engine appears to be a thing of perfection too. I'm yet to see if it can match the 6.2 in my AMG higher up the scale but at faster road speeds it's as quick in the damp as my 530bhp Merc is in the dry. I will have this car for an extended test once it's registered so hopefully I can ascertain its ability in more depth then. I was also really happy to see a proper valved exhaust in play. Like the Ferraris and Porsches we see today, the exhaust is pretty quiet when pootling along. Get above 3.5krpm (i think) and it opens up to a really nice bark. I think it could maybe have been improved by making it sound a bit more Italian, but maybe the turbo thing has scuppered that somewhat.
Handling wise the Alfa is pretty spot on. It holds the road really well and acceleration in the wet is managed nicely by the fancy diff and torque vectoring. It also doesn't feel anywhere near as fast as it is. Looking at the speedo I did question at first if the display was showing kph and not mph. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing but the speed it piles on without feeling overly twitchy is impressive.
For me, having driven hard the M3, M4 and also extensively hammered my own AMG's, this Alfa is already better than the //M cars. Going by the digital data I took today it's happily up there with my C63. And that was with only 30 miles on the clock and with 2 in the car. Impressive for a first day. Will I get into one? If things pan out as hoped then quite possibly.
Eddie
Edited by ecain63 on Saturday 10th December 22:25
Webdunk said:
ecain63 said:
For your reference the cars currently in the UK are not saleable due to the lack of some important functions.
Would you care to expand on this enigmatic statement?ecain63 said:
There's a whole area of dash / console that has missing buttons. According to the dealer, this is why it's not going to be sold. All cars will return to factory
Very interesting. I wonder if that's why we couldn't disable stop/start or enable noisy exhaust independent of driving mode in the car I drove.Webdunk said:
ecain63 said:
There's a whole area of dash / console that has missing buttons. According to the dealer, this is why it's not going to be sold. All cars will return to factory
Very interesting. I wonder if that's why we couldn't disable stop/start or enable noisy exhaust independent of driving mode in the car I drove.
For the Feb delivery, do you know what your KYI number is? Mine is number 17 but been told March / April for mine, deposit paid way back in June or July.
Do you know if your spec is now locked, was told mine was locked from September but have changed my mind (again)? Wondering if I could pressure on the dealer to change it.
Do you know if your spec is now locked, was told mine was locked from September but have changed my mind (again)? Wondering if I could pressure on the dealer to change it.
davinci said:
For the Feb delivery, do you know what your KYI number is? Mine is number 17 but been told March / April for mine, deposit paid way back in June or July.
Do you know if your spec is now locked, was told mine was locked from September but have changed my mind (again)? Wondering if I could pressure on the dealer to change it.
Not sure what my build number is but early Oct deposit and expected in March. There are various different 'status's(?)' of the orders depending on how far they are. Certain things get fixed earlier, you might be lucky if you are quick. I changed the wheels a couple of weeks ago but was just in time. Btw: my dealer defo ok for 'race' mode! I can't wait now - absolutely awesome machine- it was a four door version of my Strad! Only negative I've found is that it will be my daily, I have 3 kids and there are only two belts in the back! Haven't work out how/when to tell the better half!!Do you know if your spec is now locked, was told mine was locked from September but have changed my mind (again)? Wondering if I could pressure on the dealer to change it.
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