RE: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio | Spotted

RE: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio | Spotted

Thursday 26th May 2022

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio | Spotted

If inflation is a killer, could a Giulia Quadrifoglio for less than a Golf R could be the saviour?


I’ve just checked, and the current price of a new Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is £73,999 including taxes. Wow. If you needed a demonstration of our current inflationary pressures, then a £12,000 price hike since the QF hit the shelves is certainly something to dwell on. But, what about an early example of bright yellow clover for less than the price of a VW Golf R?

The penalty is this 510hp 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 bullet has travelled 55,000 miles, but, from looking through the pictures can you tell? I can’t. Everything looks shiny where it should – like the paintwork – and everything that shouldn’t – like the steering wheel and seats – doesn’t. So potentially not much of a penalty at all, then.

Just to be clear, at times I’ve had a tenuous relationship with the QF. The first one I drove broke down on me before I’d left the car park I assumed, wrongly, I’d be driving it away from. It was repaired, of course, so I tried again. This time I made it out of the car park and onto the streets. Brilliant. But sometime later that weekend it started running on less than its potential sextet of cylinders. These experiences left me a little indifferent, shall we say.

However, not to be outdone or left underwhelmed by the car that every other journalist in the world was welling up about, I grasped the reins of the next one that arrived on the scene. I was full of optimism, too, which was repaid; this one ran like a dream. Finally, I got to experience Alfa’s return from oblivion and to form first hand.

I found out there are several things about the QF that are quite, quite charming. Its steering, for one. It’s so quick and light, but once you’ve attuned to its fingertip hypersensitivity it’s not nervous at all. It’s just keen to get on with the hunt for apexes and keeps you engaged. As does the chassis balance. Actually, this brings me onto an aspect of the Alfa that, at first, I thought was a bit unnecessary.

If you’re going to bring out a rear-wheel-drive mega saloon – with over 500hp and a staggering amount of torque – you’d think it’d be wise to offer more than a binary stability set-up. You know, something halfway between off and on its roof. But they didn’t do that at Alfa, and on the road you do start to wonder whether that’s such a good idea. I mean, you can be the greatest helmsmith since Colin McRae - who was obviously a merchant of flamboyance - but you can still get caught out from time to time; a patch of oil or a change in surface, that sort of thing. It’s why I quite like the AMG and M systems, which now allow you to dial down from 'Stop it!' to 'I ain't doing nothing' via a variety of safe havens in between.

Anyway, back the QF. The ESP is a right-old killjoy when it’s on, which compelled me to venture into no man’s land and switch the thing off. Then you start doing that initial dance around the throttle, and, after you find that the thing’s not one big untethered twitch muscle, start dipping it down a bit more. And a bit more, and more… Well, it turns out that a 500+hp Alfa is a proper little pussycat. I don’t know, maybe it was memories of the F80 M3 that made me weary, but I needn’t have been. The QF is no more demanding to go sideways in than a GT86 – or the GR86, from reading NC’s latest review.

The Alfa's still not a perfect machine, because, for instance, the brake-by-wire system is something else that’s binary. And, technically, it’s outclassed by the current G80 M3, which is a car that astounds me every time I reacquaint myself with it. But back to the inflationary thing again, that’s £80,000, and my brain hasn’t caught up with that – to me, an M3 is still a £50,000 car at most.

So, think of this QF as your bonafide inflation buster then, PH-style. And to keep the Latin up, if you’re feeling a bit caveat emptor after my tails of wow from those earliest Quadrifoglio days, that’s probably sensible. Nevertheless, buying second hand has its advantages: the fact that this one’s done a few miles should mean the bugs have been ironed out. Quod erat demonstrandum.


SPECIFICATION | Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio  

Engine: 2,891cc, V6, twin turbocharged 
Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive 
Power (hp): 510@6,500rpm 
Torque (lb ft): 443@2,500rpm 
MPG: 28.2 
CO2: 227g/km
Recorded mileage: 55,000
Year registered: 2017
Price new: £73,999 (2022)
Yours for: £38,000

See the original advert here

Author
Discussion

1974foggy

Original Poster:

669 posts

143 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Great looking car, potential for disaster Im sure but hey - just needs the wheels in grey then good to go!

pycraft

764 posts

183 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
article said:
Quod erat demonstrandum
Ooh, you speak French!





(Name that car-related album...)

cayman-black

12,625 posts

215 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
looks great in yellow, what a car they are!

LARK F1 GTR

3,186 posts

145 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
I commented then the article disappeared confused Anyway.

It doesn't look nice in yellow at all. Also, when looking at them a lot don't have a decent spec frown

originals

1,635 posts

26 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Didn't think they came in yellow. Is it a wrap? Great cars. Look even better in the metal.

trevalvole

965 posts

32 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
"tails of wow" (last paragraph)

originals

1,635 posts

26 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
trevalvole said:
"tails of wow" (last paragraph)
Weary/Wary.

200Plus Club

10,677 posts

277 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Fairly hefty depreciation and possibly a bit more to come yet.
Fabulous performance car, wasn't impressed with my local alfa dealership though when these came out after a test drive and glad I didn't take the hit on one from new.
A lot of bang for the bucks now.

howardhughes

980 posts

203 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
You see an epic car like this then look across the home page and see a pile of French ste for £46k.

200Plus Club

10,677 posts

277 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
howardhughes said:
You see an epic car like this then look across the home page and see a pile of French ste for 46k.
Very true!

pSyCoSiS

3,581 posts

204 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
This does look rather sexy - that colour actually suits it. Was that a factory option, or has someone repainted it?

macky17

2,210 posts

188 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Finally got an extended test drive in one of these last weekend. It's true, they are very impressive cars and if I could afford to run one as a daily driver then I wouldn't hesitate. However, I was looking to replace my 997 C2S as a weekend car. I'm sorry but at the weight they are (and occasionally feel), the slightly laggy power delivery and the generic zf box (no better in operation than the one in my 335d) they aren't THAT good. Much preferred driving the 911 to and from the Alfa dealer than the test drive itself. Short version: it's not a sports car and anyone who says otherwise needs to go out and drive a dedicated one (ideally manual or dct, normally aspirated) to remember the difference.

Dombilano

1,113 posts

54 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Looks odd at the back, like it's on spacers

dibblecorse

6,872 posts

191 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
macky17 said:
Finally got an extended test drive in one of these last weekend. It's true, they are very impressive cars and if I could afford to run one as a daily driver then I wouldn't hesitate. However, I was looking to replace my 997 C2S as a weekend car. I'm sorry but at the weight they are (and occasionally feel), the slightly laggy power delivery and the generic zf box (no better in operation than the one in my 335d) they aren't THAT good. Much preferred driving the 911 to and from the Alfa dealer than the test drive itself. Short version: it's not a sports car and anyone who says otherwise needs to go out and drive a dedicated one (ideally manual or dct, normally aspirated) to remember the difference.
Not sure this post is serious, its a 4 sports door saloon not a sports car, amongst its peers its a highly relevant option, I wouldn't compare it to my 911.

fantheman80

1,412 posts

48 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Dombilano said:
Looks odd at the back, like it's on spacers
Yep, wrap, spacers and I’d be checking for a remap. I am not saying this ones had a tough life as modded cars can be the most cherished but...

Lavazza1

28 posts

54 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
pycraft said:
Ooh, you speak French!





(Name that car-related album...)
It's Latin...

fantheman80

1,412 posts

48 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
macky17 said:
Finally got an extended test drive in one of these last weekend. It's true, they are very impressive cars and if I could afford to run one as a daily driver then I wouldn't hesitate. However, I was looking to replace my 997 C2S as a weekend car. I'm sorry but at the weight they are (and occasionally feel), the slightly laggy power delivery and the generic zf box (no better in operation than the one in my 335d) they aren't THAT good. Much preferred driving the 911 to and from the Alfa dealer than the test drive itself. Short version: it's not a sports car and anyone who says otherwise needs to go out and drive a dedicated one (ideally manual or dct, normally aspirated) to remember the difference.
Who told you it was a sports car?? U thinking of the 4c??

Digger

14,591 posts

190 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Lavazza1 said:
pycraft said:
Ooh, you speak French!





(Name that car-related album...)
It's Latin...
biggrin

cerb4.5lee

30,197 posts

179 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
fantheman80 said:
Dombilano said:
Looks odd at the back, like it's on spacers
Yep, wrap, spacers and I’d be checking for a remap. I am not saying this ones had a tough life as modded cars can be the most cherished but...
Very aggressive spacers too when you look at how far the wheels stick out from the rear. This definitely suits yellow though I reckon.

pycraft

764 posts

183 months

Thursday 26th May 2022
quotequote all
Lavazza1 said:
It's Latin...
"You ask me do I love you - does the Pope live in the woods? Quad erat demonstrandum, baby - "
"Oh, you speak French!"

"Airhead" by Thomas Dolby, from the album "Aliens Ate my Buick".

I'd go with the opening song though, "The Keys to Her Ferrari". Particularly the spoken bit halfway through. "And then I saw her - she was a bright red '64 GTO, with fins and gills like some giant piranha fish ..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OND9cGBWC7g