Today was an AMAZING experience. It's the first time I feel a car of this caliber actually live up to the hype.
The Alfa Romeo... Where do I start? Let's start with the negative.
STEER FEEDBACK = Almost 0.
Unless you're on a super bumpy road, there's almost nothing coming thru your hands. As you know I've ranted for years about electric steering and EVERYTHING wrong with it. Same goes for Alfa but with a major caveat. The seat of the pants communication is second to none. Though this car rides very soft it's also firm in a hard way to explain. But the azz can tell you EVERYTHING the wheels are doing, better than any other car of this type... That's my only real complaint n it's really not a complaint as much as a slight readjustment to how you react to sensations.
Now steering... I typically hate light steering. I love my Z based on the effort you have to put in as you take turns at high rates of speed n so on n so forth.
This car is the first car to make me enjoy light steering. I can't believe I'm even saying this as I write this but... Z steering is perfect for the Z. And Alfa steering is perfect for this application. This thing is SUPERCAR DIRECT. Steering had to come out of the Ferrari steering handbook. I mean, this car on the steering wheel drives like a dream. It becomes very emotional in a good way to engage in traffic. From the steering wheel I say, I've hit, steering feel euphoria in this car. Ok... next.
Pedal responses. Acceleration is near instantaneous. I know all cars have turbo lag. I just expected a 4cylinder to have OBVIOUS turbo lag. Nope... or if it does, the transmission response is so PDK fast, you're losing something in translation. I got the car up to 95mph, and that where you can tell the power is beginning to taper off just a Lil bit. I'm sure if I attempted to go into boost again. I could've gotten a nice second wind to 120mph. I don't know what that top speed is, but if they are pushing 155mph. My guess would be you gonna wait awhile to get there. This is a car where it's power band tops is 130mph. Braking is excellent and ultra responsive and immediate while maintaining smooth stopping power. For just being standard brakes with caliper covers, I'm thoroughly impressed.
Cornering... I was in the AWD model. The AWD truly handled like RWD in the corners and curves. Hitting the curves at 90mph felt a little squirrely but... I believe that was cuz I was on the all season sport trim, not the summer trim.
The Alfa is perfectly balanced. Almost as if, the car engine is in the middle of the car. There's no perceived forward weight in the corners. It just adds to the pleasantry of having such precise steering. I mean, Alfa, you really got this car right. Everything looks, feels and drives right. I'm rooting for this car to be reliable, because ENTHUSIASTS deserve a daily like this.
As I drove this car. I couldn't help but to be reminded of another car, albeit, this is the much more refined, larger, higher quality and sexy version. I was reminded of the Mitsubishi Evo. Yes my brothers & sisters, it's that good. Only thing, it can use more sounds coming out of the exhaust. But that said. It's louder than the Q50 that has a 3.0v6 TT compared to a 2.0 4 banger. Go Nissan!
Let's compare now.
The Q50 weakness is that shytty 7at. Once u drive a Giulia you realize, transmission wise, infiniti is doing it WRONG. The Q50 strengths over this car would be... in v6 guise, it has more power over 90mph, but the Alfa felt faster going to 60mph.
The option of having a red sport at $47,000 is amazing. The downside is you get a barebones interior at $47,000 in a Red Sport. The Q50 is a nice car, but in my opinion, it takes a lot of losses to the Alfa. Shyt, every four door car under $60,000 takes a back seat to the Alfa Ti Sport. Here's the checklist. At a $50,000 price tag you get.
-The most magnificent steering on this type of car. It rivals Porsche's best.
-you get a ZF that rivals Porsche again.
-balanced handling that would almost make this feel like a 4 door Cayman.
-it's quality rivals the Q50 except, you get panoramic sunroof option, and a screen interface 3 generations ahead of the Q dual screen. The seats are better in the Q though Alfa seats are a close 2nd. I love the quality of both interiors, but right out the gate, the Bose in the infiniti is greater than the Harmon Kardon. But I read you gotta break in the Alfa speakers. That might be the issue. But I think even broken in? I think infinit got that.
The Alfa, kept it gully with heritage paddle shifters where infiniti shamefully went on the cheap. If you own a Z, there's something about an Alfa cockpit that u feel ergonomically more at home. They placed things where they need to be and the buttons are minimal. I suck at tech but the Lil nav controller thingy was responsive and intuitive. Easier to read without reading glasses in the Alfa than the infiniti.
The infiniti drives great but the Alfa is a great car. Once you get up to the Red sport though. That's another story. And at $63,000 loaded. I still rather save $10k more and get a base Giulia QV. I got to sit in one, turn it on and rev it out...
OMG... it's the most emotional car I ever been in while it was PARKED!!!! LMFAO
Are there downsides to the Giulia? The cup holders are literally only good for standard bottles n cups. Lol. N the plastic that makes the cup holder look cheap. I think felt was missing in the center compartment, same in the Q. But the Alfa has a great wallet/ gun compartment on the left side of the car dash.
If you asked me the Giulia made the 300HP Q forgettable. But even though the Giulia is down 120HP, from the Red sport. The thrills you get from driving both get closer. That Red sport power delivery is insane. So it ends up being Brawn vs Balance.
I'm not ready to leap into a Quadrifoglio until we have 3 years of history. That's an expensive car to maintain and I'd be going in blind as to reliability. It's the only reason why I didn't sign on the dotted line on a QV, yet...
However, I will be getting a fully loaded, Giulia Ti Sport RWD. I will make final decisions on colors and specs by labor day. At which point I will order the car. It's the perfect car to compliment a true enthusiast driver. Infiniti is almost there with that Red Sport engine. If they stop being bytches with all that Autonomous crap and focus on drivers cars. They can easily rival a Giulia. I know it. A lot of companies can. They just won't. Thank you Alfa, for bringing this car to the table when everyone else is punkin out. It's a true Italian classic. It's funny. The Alfa weighs 3,500lbs in the Ti. It feels 3,000. Ferrari engineering at its best.
If I can make any more points? I'll add it.