My Alfa Giulietta Test Drive Impressions
Discussion
Hello all,
I suspect nobody is remotely interested in my ramblings, but I just thought I’d share my experience of my first test drive of an Alfa Giulietta. Feel free to ignore the ramblings of a babbling fool.
I’ve liked the G since release, and have had an itch to change cars recently, so I took myself down to the local Alfa dealer and had a look at a 2011 Veloce MultiAir in white. Lovely looking cars in the flesh - so many great angles to view from, most of them good. They need at least 17” alloys to look best though.
I used to own a 156 Veloce Sportwagon so have something to compare it to and the first impressions of the interior were of almost disbelief at the quality feel of it. The interior really has moved on from what I was used to. Controls feel nice, big boot, space in the back for the kids, a bit dark, but that’s not a problem. This one has been very well looked after.
“Okay, Mr Alfa Salesman, where do I sign?”
“Do you think you’d like to drive it first, sir?”
“Oh, yes, that would be a good idea…”
So, off we go. First thing I noticed was how quiet the engine was, then how good the ride was. Then I noticed that the brakes were spongy and then a bit grabby. I was allowed to take it to a stretch of 60mph B-Road I know and opened it up in Dynamic mode. I like the steering in D - whoever says it is heavy must have serious upper body muscle issues as it felt great to me. I was brought up on cars without power steering so it’s still a luxury! Nicely sharp turn-in and very accurate.
No rattles, no squeaks. Okay, it’s only 3 years old with 20k on the clock, but it felt brand new. Excellent stuff Alfa!
Full throttle, so let’s hear the Alfa roar and that turbo shove as the boost kicks in… Nope, nothing of the sort. A smooth spread of torque across the range, and the main noise was the turbo whistle then what sounded like a dump valve. I used to love the burble of my old 2 litre twin spark, but that seems to be a thing of the past. On paper, 7.8 seconds to 60 looks quick enough, but this car didn’t feel fast in the least which is a real shame. My favourite cars have always been ones you can have fun in at slow speeds because they feel fast. Maybe it’s the quiet engine, maybe the good ride, I don’t know, but it didn’t do much for me.
After about 10 minutes I realised I just couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I did withe the adjustments. There is no ability to tilt the front seat, and my main problem with most cars is that there is no support under the thigh for the right leg. I’m 6’1” and had the seat all the way back on the rails and still could not get the support I needed. Anyway, with the seat this far back I could barely reach the steering wheel. What happens to me is that my right leg starts to sort of spasm and shake up and down making driving a little tricky. I experienced this on the 15 minute test drive. Gutted.
Another problem was the pedals were too close together for my wide feet. I remember going to look at an Alfa 33 many years ago, and never got out of the car park as I literally couldn’t press the brake pedal without catching the accelerator or the clutch. I didn’t feel it was safe to proceed. It wasn’t as bad in the G, but it was similar, and I had no confidence in the pedals. I guess you’d get used to it, but it’s definitely an issue for me.
I really wanted to love this car, but I know I couldn’t live with that driving position, and I want a car that feels as fast as it says it is on paper, but this just didn’t excite. I’m sure I’d get used to the brakes, although the spongy nature didn’t inspire - maybe a fluid change? I didn’t push it around corners very fast, but I have no doubt that it would handle superbly and be very composed - the chassis felt great, but without a huge amount of feel.
I was just wanting to ask if anyone has experience with the diesel version? My dirty little secret is that I have had a Volvo V50 2.0D for 5 years, so I guess I’m used to the nice diesel torque shove. Maybe the JTDM 170bhp is more exciting?
Is the brake pedal a common thing or something wrong with this particular car?
The sad thing is I got back in my 8 year old Volvo, with 103,000 miles on the clock and was struck by how comfortable the driving position was, and how fast it felt, and how good the brakes felt, and how confident the handling felt. That comes from experience with a car, I know, but in all my old cars, getting back into them after driving a new one felt like a let down. Not this time, which, if anything, says a lot for the old Volvo.
Cheers,
Sam
I suspect nobody is remotely interested in my ramblings, but I just thought I’d share my experience of my first test drive of an Alfa Giulietta. Feel free to ignore the ramblings of a babbling fool.
I’ve liked the G since release, and have had an itch to change cars recently, so I took myself down to the local Alfa dealer and had a look at a 2011 Veloce MultiAir in white. Lovely looking cars in the flesh - so many great angles to view from, most of them good. They need at least 17” alloys to look best though.
I used to own a 156 Veloce Sportwagon so have something to compare it to and the first impressions of the interior were of almost disbelief at the quality feel of it. The interior really has moved on from what I was used to. Controls feel nice, big boot, space in the back for the kids, a bit dark, but that’s not a problem. This one has been very well looked after.
“Okay, Mr Alfa Salesman, where do I sign?”
“Do you think you’d like to drive it first, sir?”
“Oh, yes, that would be a good idea…”
So, off we go. First thing I noticed was how quiet the engine was, then how good the ride was. Then I noticed that the brakes were spongy and then a bit grabby. I was allowed to take it to a stretch of 60mph B-Road I know and opened it up in Dynamic mode. I like the steering in D - whoever says it is heavy must have serious upper body muscle issues as it felt great to me. I was brought up on cars without power steering so it’s still a luxury! Nicely sharp turn-in and very accurate.
No rattles, no squeaks. Okay, it’s only 3 years old with 20k on the clock, but it felt brand new. Excellent stuff Alfa!
Full throttle, so let’s hear the Alfa roar and that turbo shove as the boost kicks in… Nope, nothing of the sort. A smooth spread of torque across the range, and the main noise was the turbo whistle then what sounded like a dump valve. I used to love the burble of my old 2 litre twin spark, but that seems to be a thing of the past. On paper, 7.8 seconds to 60 looks quick enough, but this car didn’t feel fast in the least which is a real shame. My favourite cars have always been ones you can have fun in at slow speeds because they feel fast. Maybe it’s the quiet engine, maybe the good ride, I don’t know, but it didn’t do much for me.
After about 10 minutes I realised I just couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I did withe the adjustments. There is no ability to tilt the front seat, and my main problem with most cars is that there is no support under the thigh for the right leg. I’m 6’1” and had the seat all the way back on the rails and still could not get the support I needed. Anyway, with the seat this far back I could barely reach the steering wheel. What happens to me is that my right leg starts to sort of spasm and shake up and down making driving a little tricky. I experienced this on the 15 minute test drive. Gutted.
Another problem was the pedals were too close together for my wide feet. I remember going to look at an Alfa 33 many years ago, and never got out of the car park as I literally couldn’t press the brake pedal without catching the accelerator or the clutch. I didn’t feel it was safe to proceed. It wasn’t as bad in the G, but it was similar, and I had no confidence in the pedals. I guess you’d get used to it, but it’s definitely an issue for me.
I really wanted to love this car, but I know I couldn’t live with that driving position, and I want a car that feels as fast as it says it is on paper, but this just didn’t excite. I’m sure I’d get used to the brakes, although the spongy nature didn’t inspire - maybe a fluid change? I didn’t push it around corners very fast, but I have no doubt that it would handle superbly and be very composed - the chassis felt great, but without a huge amount of feel.
I was just wanting to ask if anyone has experience with the diesel version? My dirty little secret is that I have had a Volvo V50 2.0D for 5 years, so I guess I’m used to the nice diesel torque shove. Maybe the JTDM 170bhp is more exciting?
Is the brake pedal a common thing or something wrong with this particular car?
The sad thing is I got back in my 8 year old Volvo, with 103,000 miles on the clock and was struck by how comfortable the driving position was, and how fast it felt, and how good the brakes felt, and how confident the handling felt. That comes from experience with a car, I know, but in all my old cars, getting back into them after driving a new one felt like a let down. Not this time, which, if anything, says a lot for the old Volvo.
Cheers,
Sam
I agree with you regarding the driving position and seat comfort, also find visibility to be awful if you have the seat all the way back, when looking left at junctions you are looking straight at the B post and combined with very thick A pillars the blind spots are verging on dangerous. The 170 Diesel will give you the oomph you require but not the soundtrack.
The seats on the pre facelift cars are just rubbish. Even the Cloverleaf lacks any support at all. Didn't have much problem with the pedals bar the complete lack of a foot rest when I tried a 2013 QV a few months back. The shove from the QV is also much more appealing. Not in the super hatch league but it felt quick enough. Given that QVs sell for only a little more than a 170 MA, why not try one instead?
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