QV blah blah noog, but what about the Gulia Veloce?
Discussion
I had a test drive today. It wasn't demo, just car from show room. My point of view is very skewed due to coming from Audi A8, so bear it in mind when reading my post.
I liked the way it looks, I liked interior but it's rather smallish. Felt a bit claustrophobic before I adjusted seat all the way down. I'm 5'7 so not that tall. Not a lot of space on the rear seats but adults will fit for a short drive. Boot a bit smallish, comparing to previous c-class coupe.
Checked heated seats to make sure it doesn't take ages as it happens in Mercedes and VW. Heated steering wheel is also standard. There are only rear parking sensors as standard. Seats can be configured easily. I noticed that leather was already wrinkled on driver's seat bolster. I asked if it's Nappa or other special leather that it wrinkles so easily but was told it's standard leather.
Power tailgate is option and I noticed that boot is not closing well when doing it manually, you have to use a bit of force to make sure it closes first time.
Standard red looks nice, unfortunately red leather doesn't go well with red paint, due to different tones.
A lot of buttons on steering wheel and I wasn't able to work out all the functions easily coming from German brands, different setup than I'm used to.
Driving: no complains. Only went on 40mph roads but had a chance to boot the car a bit.
Quoted service costs: 1st year £300, 2nd year £500 or 2 years package for £699.
Summary:
Nice interior and it's dynamic car but just a bit too small. I would take it if there's was really good promotion on it but wouldn't want to pay too much.
There's a promotion on this model running right now:
https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/main-dealer...
https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/independent...
I liked the way it looks, I liked interior but it's rather smallish. Felt a bit claustrophobic before I adjusted seat all the way down. I'm 5'7 so not that tall. Not a lot of space on the rear seats but adults will fit for a short drive. Boot a bit smallish, comparing to previous c-class coupe.
Checked heated seats to make sure it doesn't take ages as it happens in Mercedes and VW. Heated steering wheel is also standard. There are only rear parking sensors as standard. Seats can be configured easily. I noticed that leather was already wrinkled on driver's seat bolster. I asked if it's Nappa or other special leather that it wrinkles so easily but was told it's standard leather.
Power tailgate is option and I noticed that boot is not closing well when doing it manually, you have to use a bit of force to make sure it closes first time.
Standard red looks nice, unfortunately red leather doesn't go well with red paint, due to different tones.
A lot of buttons on steering wheel and I wasn't able to work out all the functions easily coming from German brands, different setup than I'm used to.
Driving: no complains. Only went on 40mph roads but had a chance to boot the car a bit.
Quoted service costs: 1st year £300, 2nd year £500 or 2 years package for £699.
Summary:
Nice interior and it's dynamic car but just a bit too small. I would take it if there's was really good promotion on it but wouldn't want to pay too much.
There's a promotion on this model running right now:
https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/main-dealer...
https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/independent...
Edited by PenelopaPitstop on Saturday 3rd June 17:21
Cheers for the input!
FYI I'm 5'10 and noticed that the ones with sunroofs are really bad on head height (not sure if you had with/without), but i didn't have an issue with the cars without the sunroof at all.
Size was not the most spacious, but I don't remember it being an issue. What I do recall is that the car looks surprisingly small from the outside. I thought it was rather cool.
FYI I'm 5'10 and noticed that the ones with sunroofs are really bad on head height (not sure if you had with/without), but i didn't have an issue with the cars without the sunroof at all.
Size was not the most spacious, but I don't remember it being an issue. What I do recall is that the car looks surprisingly small from the outside. I thought it was rather cool.
Just to add a some data points, FWIW and all very much IMO etc. 
.
Will be returning a EU spec Veloce tomorrow, after 8 days of rental and a decent amount of driving in northern Italy and southern Austria (bit of Autostrada, but mainly b-roads). Car has the 210 PS diesel, AWD (Q4) and the ZF auto box. Thing has covered ~ 4k miles as a rental so far.
Random thoughts:
- Car is pretty well screwed together. Paint (silver) looks good all around. Panel gaps just fine. No rattles, lovely interior (Veloce spec black leather). Compared to an Audi there is room for improvement in some areas, but easily BMW 1/2 series level.
- Ergonomics are very good for me. Excellent seats. Easy to find a good driving position. Short legs long torso guy, but despite that everything works well and there is good room from the A-pillar. Better than e.g. on a C-class I recently had for a couple of days.
- Infotainment works well. Easier to grasp / use than on a C-class, and equivalent function wise. Design of the screen UI looks a bit dated which is not important but a shame since that could be easily fixed. Current BMW iDrive is better, but the Alfa system works well enough. Good quality hands free calls (iPhone SE connected via BT). Car has the basic 8 speaker audio system. Nothing to write home about, but acceptable. Bit better than the mid range 'HiFi' upgrade from BMW.
- Driver aids. OK, but had the collision warning 'bong' at me twice in town when someone cut in closely ahead of me. The hazards warning came on twice on a downhill stretch under heavy breaking (hairpins). Was driving fairly quickly but still a bit too sensitive for my liking.
- Handling and controls. Steering is nice and quick, very easy to maneuver in town. A bit to light for my tastes when on the go. But always precise and quick. No understeer despite comparably heavy diesel engine and AWD kit up front. Car has 18" RF tyres but chassis setup feels great, even on patchy c-roads found it almost impossible to make it loose composure while at the same time retaining very good comfort.
- Engine. The 210 PS spec diesel is nice and torquey, but no noise worth mentioning. All in all packs a good punch and very driveable, but pretty boring thing.
- Odds and ends. Steering wheel controls worked nicely for me. Boot large enough for two large suitcases plus decent amount of soft luggage on top of them. Bootlid needs a bit of force to close as fairly light. 25W Xenon lights surprisingly good. DNA selector is fun but a bit gimmicky? Car has non-adaptative suspension so difference seems to be mainly in controls mapping / gear box behaviour.
To sum things up I was *very* pleasantly surprised. Compared to the rest of the class I can see no really relevant shortcomings. What the thing does bring though is very nice chassis balance. I haven't driven an XE, but compared to the German alternatives I'd take the Giulia on that alone. Really easy to drive quick and a very nice 'flow' to things. And that's on 18" RFT. Other things I really liked: lovely interior, nice to touch and use flappy paddles, much lauded ZF box also works very well here, quick satnav (much better than the Garmin kit from Merc).
All in all a very convincing offering. Sweet spot in the affordable range would seem to be the 280 PS petrol in RWD spec. Unfortunately that's only available in the US and UK.
Which is a shame. Can't help to think how good it would be on non RFTs, with RWD, a manual box and the perf pack LSD.
Failing that - anyone knows if there is a way to get a UK dealer to order a Veloce in UK spec but in LHD?
.Will be returning a EU spec Veloce tomorrow, after 8 days of rental and a decent amount of driving in northern Italy and southern Austria (bit of Autostrada, but mainly b-roads). Car has the 210 PS diesel, AWD (Q4) and the ZF auto box. Thing has covered ~ 4k miles as a rental so far.
Random thoughts:
- Car is pretty well screwed together. Paint (silver) looks good all around. Panel gaps just fine. No rattles, lovely interior (Veloce spec black leather). Compared to an Audi there is room for improvement in some areas, but easily BMW 1/2 series level.
- Ergonomics are very good for me. Excellent seats. Easy to find a good driving position. Short legs long torso guy, but despite that everything works well and there is good room from the A-pillar. Better than e.g. on a C-class I recently had for a couple of days.
- Infotainment works well. Easier to grasp / use than on a C-class, and equivalent function wise. Design of the screen UI looks a bit dated which is not important but a shame since that could be easily fixed. Current BMW iDrive is better, but the Alfa system works well enough. Good quality hands free calls (iPhone SE connected via BT). Car has the basic 8 speaker audio system. Nothing to write home about, but acceptable. Bit better than the mid range 'HiFi' upgrade from BMW.
- Driver aids. OK, but had the collision warning 'bong' at me twice in town when someone cut in closely ahead of me. The hazards warning came on twice on a downhill stretch under heavy breaking (hairpins). Was driving fairly quickly but still a bit too sensitive for my liking.
- Handling and controls. Steering is nice and quick, very easy to maneuver in town. A bit to light for my tastes when on the go. But always precise and quick. No understeer despite comparably heavy diesel engine and AWD kit up front. Car has 18" RF tyres but chassis setup feels great, even on patchy c-roads found it almost impossible to make it loose composure while at the same time retaining very good comfort.
- Engine. The 210 PS spec diesel is nice and torquey, but no noise worth mentioning. All in all packs a good punch and very driveable, but pretty boring thing.
- Odds and ends. Steering wheel controls worked nicely for me. Boot large enough for two large suitcases plus decent amount of soft luggage on top of them. Bootlid needs a bit of force to close as fairly light. 25W Xenon lights surprisingly good. DNA selector is fun but a bit gimmicky? Car has non-adaptative suspension so difference seems to be mainly in controls mapping / gear box behaviour.
To sum things up I was *very* pleasantly surprised. Compared to the rest of the class I can see no really relevant shortcomings. What the thing does bring though is very nice chassis balance. I haven't driven an XE, but compared to the German alternatives I'd take the Giulia on that alone. Really easy to drive quick and a very nice 'flow' to things. And that's on 18" RFT. Other things I really liked: lovely interior, nice to touch and use flappy paddles, much lauded ZF box also works very well here, quick satnav (much better than the Garmin kit from Merc).
All in all a very convincing offering. Sweet spot in the affordable range would seem to be the 280 PS petrol in RWD spec. Unfortunately that's only available in the US and UK.
Which is a shame. Can't help to think how good it would be on non RFTs, with RWD, a manual box and the perf pack LSD.
Failing that - anyone knows if there is a way to get a UK dealer to order a Veloce in UK spec but in LHD?
Kolbenkopp said:
Failing that - anyone knows if there is a way to get a UK dealer to order a Veloce in UK spec but in LHD?
I'd try calling Craig Lawrence at the Slough, UK dealership, as he has been exporting cars to Japan. Yes they are RHD but he may be able to supply LHD, and at least he is willing to export stuff. His number is +44(0)1753 912 000. When I was looking around at prices, he said he would match anything I found with the same spec.
His email: c.lawrence "at" thamesmotorgroup.co.uk
He's a friendly chap and has none of the hard sell stuff.
Kolbenkopp said:
Just to add a some data points, FWIW and all very much IMO etc. .
Will be returning a EU spec Veloce tomorrow, after 8 days of rental and a decent amount of driving in northern Italy and southern Austria (bit of Autostrada, but mainly b-roads). Car has the 210 PS diesel, AWD (Q4) and the ZF auto box. Thing has covered ~ 4k miles as a rental so far.
Random thoughts:
- Car is pretty well screwed together. Paint (silver) looks good all around. Panel gaps just fine. No rattles, lovely interior (Veloce spec black leather). Compared to an Audi there is room for improvement in some areas, but easily BMW 1/2 series level.
- Ergonomics are very good for me. Excellent seats. Easy to find a good driving position. Short legs long torso guy, but despite that everything works well and there is good room from the A-pillar. Better than e.g. on a C-class I recently had for a couple of days.
- Infotainment works well. Easier to grasp / use than on a C-class, and equivalent function wise. Design of the screen UI looks a bit dated which is not important but a shame since that could be easily fixed. Current BMW iDrive is better, but the Alfa system works well enough. Good quality hands free calls (iPhone SE connected via BT). Car has the basic 8 speaker audio system. Nothing to write home about, but acceptable. Bit better than the mid range 'HiFi' upgrade from BMW.
- Driver aids. OK, but had the collision warning 'bong' at me twice in town when someone cut in closely ahead of me. The hazards warning came on twice on a downhill stretch under heavy breaking (hairpins). Was driving fairly quickly but still a bit too sensitive for my liking.
- Handling and controls. Steering is nice and quick, very easy to maneuver in town. A bit to light for my tastes when on the go. But always precise and quick. No understeer despite comparably heavy diesel engine and AWD kit up front. Car has 18" RF tyres but chassis setup feels great, even on patchy c-roads found it almost impossible to make it loose composure while at the same time retaining very good comfort.
- Engine. The 210 PS spec diesel is nice and torquey, but no noise worth mentioning. All in all packs a good punch and very driveable, but pretty boring thing.
- Odds and ends. Steering wheel controls worked nicely for me. Boot large enough for two large suitcases plus decent amount of soft luggage on top of them. Bootlid needs a bit of force to close as fairly light. 25W Xenon lights surprisingly good. DNA selector is fun but a bit gimmicky? Car has non-adaptative suspension so difference seems to be mainly in controls mapping / gear box behaviour.
To sum things up I was *very* pleasantly surprised. Compared to the rest of the class I can see no really relevant shortcomings. What the thing does bring though is very nice chassis balance. I haven't driven an XE, but compared to the German alternatives I'd take the Giulia on that alone. Really easy to drive quick and a very nice 'flow' to things. And that's on 18" RFT. Other things I really liked: lovely interior, nice to touch and use flappy paddles, much lauded ZF box also works very well here, quick satnav (much better than the Garmin kit from Merc).
All in all a very convincing offering. Sweet spot in the affordable range would seem to be the 280 PS petrol in RWD spec. Unfortunately that's only available in the US and UK.
Which is a shame. Can't help to think how good it would be on non RFTs, with RWD, a manual box and the perf pack LSD.
Failing that - anyone knows if there is a way to get a UK dealer to order a Veloce in UK spec but in LHD?
Just to add to your excellent review re driver aids (from an owner). The collision detection is adjustable with 3 levels in the settings..Will be returning a EU spec Veloce tomorrow, after 8 days of rental and a decent amount of driving in northern Italy and southern Austria (bit of Autostrada, but mainly b-roads). Car has the 210 PS diesel, AWD (Q4) and the ZF auto box. Thing has covered ~ 4k miles as a rental so far.
Random thoughts:
- Car is pretty well screwed together. Paint (silver) looks good all around. Panel gaps just fine. No rattles, lovely interior (Veloce spec black leather). Compared to an Audi there is room for improvement in some areas, but easily BMW 1/2 series level.
- Ergonomics are very good for me. Excellent seats. Easy to find a good driving position. Short legs long torso guy, but despite that everything works well and there is good room from the A-pillar. Better than e.g. on a C-class I recently had for a couple of days.
- Infotainment works well. Easier to grasp / use than on a C-class, and equivalent function wise. Design of the screen UI looks a bit dated which is not important but a shame since that could be easily fixed. Current BMW iDrive is better, but the Alfa system works well enough. Good quality hands free calls (iPhone SE connected via BT). Car has the basic 8 speaker audio system. Nothing to write home about, but acceptable. Bit better than the mid range 'HiFi' upgrade from BMW.
- Driver aids. OK, but had the collision warning 'bong' at me twice in town when someone cut in closely ahead of me. The hazards warning came on twice on a downhill stretch under heavy breaking (hairpins). Was driving fairly quickly but still a bit too sensitive for my liking.
- Handling and controls. Steering is nice and quick, very easy to maneuver in town. A bit to light for my tastes when on the go. But always precise and quick. No understeer despite comparably heavy diesel engine and AWD kit up front. Car has 18" RF tyres but chassis setup feels great, even on patchy c-roads found it almost impossible to make it loose composure while at the same time retaining very good comfort.
- Engine. The 210 PS spec diesel is nice and torquey, but no noise worth mentioning. All in all packs a good punch and very driveable, but pretty boring thing.
- Odds and ends. Steering wheel controls worked nicely for me. Boot large enough for two large suitcases plus decent amount of soft luggage on top of them. Bootlid needs a bit of force to close as fairly light. 25W Xenon lights surprisingly good. DNA selector is fun but a bit gimmicky? Car has non-adaptative suspension so difference seems to be mainly in controls mapping / gear box behaviour.
To sum things up I was *very* pleasantly surprised. Compared to the rest of the class I can see no really relevant shortcomings. What the thing does bring though is very nice chassis balance. I haven't driven an XE, but compared to the German alternatives I'd take the Giulia on that alone. Really easy to drive quick and a very nice 'flow' to things. And that's on 18" RFT. Other things I really liked: lovely interior, nice to touch and use flappy paddles, much lauded ZF box also works very well here, quick satnav (much better than the Garmin kit from Merc).
All in all a very convincing offering. Sweet spot in the affordable range would seem to be the 280 PS petrol in RWD spec. Unfortunately that's only available in the US and UK.
Which is a shame. Can't help to think how good it would be on non RFTs, with RWD, a manual box and the perf pack LSD.
Failing that - anyone knows if there is a way to get a UK dealer to order a Veloce in UK spec but in LHD?
The hazard lights are way too sensitive to heavy braking (you should see how often they come on in a Quadrifoglio!) as you rightly say. However, Alfa are asking for feedback on the cars from new owners and at a recent Alfa UK Millbrook event they did mention the over sensitive hazard lights would get addressed in a future software update.
They seem quite open to updating and improving the software, at least at the moment. I know there's already been a big software update of lots of systems (mine is going in next week to have it done).
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