Alfa Romeo Giulietta 2010 Review - International

What we liked
>> Strong, flexible engines
>> Brilliant ride quality
>> Seamlessly helpful new technology

Not so much
>> Handling more stable than sparkling
>> Exterior design a bit generic
>> Diesel feels lumpier than it should

About our ratings

The new Giulietta is a critical car, and he knows it. It's the first car in the Sergio Marchionne era to be a full step forward. Every other car the Fiat Group has done during Marchionne's early stewardship has been designed to consolidate its heartland, so they've all been based on something else.

There has been the Fiat 500, which the world loves, but its engineering is so close to the cheaper, more-practical Panda that it's built on the same production line. There was the Alfa MiTo, which was built off the Fiat Grande Punto. There was the Fiat Bravo/Ritmo, which was built off the old Stilo, and the Lancia Delta, which was a stretched version of the Bravo.

Marchionne and Wester initially pushed to shore up the mass volume models, better to concentrate on the rest later. Now 'later' has started with the Giulietta.

Thus there's a lot riding on this car and its all-new, modular "Compact" chassis architecture that will sit beneath a host of other Alfas, Fiats and Lancias.

It will need to be good, because its chief rivals -- the cars Alfa and Fiat have set out to conquer with this car -- are setting the global pace right now.

But it won't lack for standard equipment and it won't lack for options. There will be the obvious and the not so obvious. The former is the Sports suspension pack, which adds a side skirt, lifts up the wheel size from 16-inch to 17 or 18, picks up sports seats and pedals, gains darker headlight surrounds and stiffens up the suspension just a bit.

Then there is a Premium pack, which adds bi-xenon headlights, a panoramic sunroof, a BOSE sound system, satnav and the option of a direct TomTom link via Bluetooth.

The interior is clean and Alfa's designers have made obvious attempts to make the interior seem wider than it is with a broad, sweeping, metallic-look across the dash. They've also chosen materials that only VW and Audi can live with in this class. Mostly... High up on the dash where the fingers rarely reach, they've used far cheaper, clunkier plastics, preferring to save up their money for the things you can touch.

Those things include a set of toggle switches across the dash, designed to remind you of that 8C Competizione you've never seen in the flesh let alone driven. In addition the Giulietta admits its passenger-carrying priorities by using a flat dashboard instead of a driver-oriented one.

There is standard climate-controlled air conditioning; there is Alfa's DNA (Dynamic, Normal, All-Weather) driving mode switch; there is cruise control; and there are surprises, too. Ask for the dual-zone climate control and you also cool the glovebox, so it's handy for the choccies or an aqua minerale plus there are other storage areas in front of the gearbox, in the doors, in the armrest and, in the models without satnav, on top of the dash.

Tick the box for the satellite navigation (which pops up neatly out of the top of the dash so you barely need to divert your eyes to look at it) and you also get a G-analyst which also shows you your throttle inputs and how much turbo boost you've dialed up.

At low steering speeds, it uses the purely mechanical system but when you want it to turn faster, such as an emergency, or turn more, like parking, the electric motor seamlessly takes over, using data from a host of sensors around the car to point the nose where you want it to go -- rather than where you might, inadvertently, be aiming.

There are also some thumpingly strong engines, a twin-clutch transmission and, most importantly, the debut of the architecture Alfa calls simply "Compact".

This architecture follows the Fiat Group's unimaginative naming structure for such things (the Panda/500 architecture is called "Mini" and the Punto Evo/MiTo is called "Small"), but departs significantly from there. Indeed, it's completely new, with some innovations for strength and safety, and more than 90 per cent of its mass is now high- or ultra-high strength steel.

Alfa's been even cleverer than that, though, including a third load path up front (most cars have two) made of a high-strength plastic called Xenoy. The boffins have used it at the back, too, to absorb low-speed impacts without damaging the rest of the structure.

The chassis a modular structure, using adjustable central tunnel panels and side members so it can be stretched or shrunk to different wheelbases and widths without affecting the expensive front and rear structures. While it sticks with Macpherson strut front suspension, it uses a lighter, lower multi-link system at the back that is not only grippy, but gives it Golf-matching luggage space, to boot.

Another breakthrough is the dual-clutch transmission. Unlike most other dual clutch systems, the Alfa system uses dry-clutch technology which saves fuel through reducing friction and saves weight by requiring less lubricant.

Australia will take three of the Giulietta's five available engines -- but they're the best of them. The headline act will be the faster Quadrifoglio Verde (four-leaf green cloverleaf), with a 1742cc, direct-injection four-cylinder petrol engine.

It also runs the biggest brakes (330mm discs up from 305), the strongest brake calipers (four-piston fixed calipers) and the grippiest, widest, lowest-profile 17-inch tyres.

The Quadrifoglio Verde is the most powerful of the Giuliettas boasting 173kW at 5500rpm and it's the only petrol engine in the range to use direct fuel-injection. That helps it (in the sharper Dynamic mode) to pump out 340Nm of torque at just 1900rpm.

The only downside is its stiffer ride and, at 1395kg, it's 30kg heavier than the MultiAir version.

That means the much-smaller, 1368cc four-cylinder MultiAir turbo engine has less weight for its 125kW engine to pull around through its front wheels. It's a completely different character of engine, too, because where the QV's motor is slightly oversquare (its holes are wider than their depth), the 1.4 is deeply undersquare, which helps it to 250Nm at 2500rpm.

The 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine is also deeply undersquare. It has the same power as the MultiAir 1.4, but it arrives much sooner (4000rpm) and it is much stronger in torque (as you'd expect), with 350Nm at 1750rpm. It's also the same weight as the QV.

The rear seats aren't bad, either, and a six-footer will fit back there, though not in long-haul comfort. Most adults will fit happily, though, and kids will have plenty of room.

It's right in the heart of the class numbers for length (4351mmm), width (1798mm) and height (1465mm), while the long, 2635mm wheelbase is what gives it both its ride quality and its interior space.

There are good reasons for this. For starters, the Golf is the default option C-segment hatchback all over the developed world (except the United States). It has an image that neatly crosses all demographics and is aspirational to some and shamelessly practical to others.

Its engineering donates its underpinnings to everything from Skodas and Seats to Audi's A3 and TT. It stretches up to the Golf Wagon and Tiguan mini-SUV and it's also quick enough to spawn the Golf GTi and the Golf R. And in that nutshell is a lot of what the Fiat Group (and Alfa Romeo) expect its new Compact architecture to be capable of, too.

There's a real solidity to this design that combines Italian with German and comes close to achieving the best of both worlds.

Surprisingly, no matter how far or how hard you drive it, it's always the ride quality that's uppermost in your mind. That's because it's just so good, and it's not just soaking up vertical loads that makes it impressive. It muffles road noise well, too, producing a slightly louder thud in the rear than it does in the front. That leaves you with just the engine note and the slight rustling of the wind around the mirrors at high speed.

It's a sweet little engine, this, and it's so strong from any rev range that it refuses to be cowed by the driver's clumsiness. We even tried to stall it, but it kept pulling and got up to speed in first gear, even from 450rpm -- about half its idling speed.

Most of that strength comes from its MultiAir drivetrain system, which controls the inlet valves with incredible precision and boosts power and torque while using even less fuel. It also feels like it combines the best qualities of a diesel engine (low-rev strength) with the best qualities of a petrol engine (free revving, low noise and vibration levels) in one easily accessible package.

The numbers say it only pulls 7.8 seconds to 100km/h but it feels a lot better than that on in-gear sprints and it's more than quick enough most of the time.

Most of the time, the twin-pinion steering stands out as well. And, most of the time, it's for good reason.

It feels beautiful just off centre, in those first few degrees of any turn, and that's because it's the old-school hydraulic part of the system that's doing the work. There's a lovely weight to it and accuracy as well. That's a character that doesn't change whether you're tootling around town or trying to fling into a corner at high speed.

It's also very, very good in the changeover from the hydraulic to the electric system. It does it seamlessly and all you ever know as a driver is that it just goes where you want it to. The only slight negative is that, when you push it into Dynamic mode, it just becomes heavier without any rise in feedback.

The Giulietta's brakes are strong, too, and the driving position is beautiful. Even the standard seats are incredibly supportive and comfortable, providing a good range of height adjustment and plenty of vision.

It's a nice gearshift, without being brilliant, and you get the sense that the whole car is waiting eagerly for its double-clutch gearbox to come on stream. The ratios are very well chosen, which barely seems to matter with an engine this willing to play ball regardless of where it is in the rev range.

We had it pulling from 1000rpm in sixth gear at one point, but it will spin to 6000 and it feels chirpy wherever the tacho needle.

But if the ride and the engine are both brilliant, the handling isn't quite at that level. It has a lot of grip, for sure, and there's simply no situation we could throw at it that caught it out. It just copes with it all without energy or fun.

Up to eight-tenths or so, the Giulietta's nicely nimble and stable. Beyond that, its controls don't have the precision you'd expect from an Alfa. It's better in the QV version, but you'd expect it to get a lift from stiffer suspension, better brakes, lower-profile and larger tyres and a more-powerful engine, but it still doesn't rip the smiles out of you like it might.

The sound of the engine does, even though Alfa claims it never tuned it to be musical (hard to believe). With the Dynamic mode clicked into place, it crunches out the torque and sprints to 100km/h in 6.8 seconds, which is slower than it feels from inside the cabin. With its torque peak arriving so early, it's terrifically flexible and its rolling in-gear numbers would shame many a V6.

Alfa's also worked hard on its brakes and its grip and they've been hugely successful on both counts. The on-board G-analyst showed that the mid-sizer pulled 1.2G under brakes at the end of Balocco's back straight, and 1.17G of lateral grip on a long corner.

But, again, it just doesn't have the dazzle you want out of a sparkling new Alfa when you're climbing the last few steps of its handling ladder. It gets everything done beautifully and the sights and sounds are a joy to have, but there's a certain softness to the way it conveys what it's doing -- as if Alfa is dampening the last traces of feedback before they get to you.

That impression carries over in the diesel, which is overshadowed a bit by the strength of the MultiAir 1.4. Even though it is considerably torquier and stronger on rolling in-gear acceleration, the new engine cradle sees it transmit more of its vibration through into the cabin than it has in past iterations, such as the upgraded 159.

It's still a clean handler and it's still a strong, strong car, but unlike in other Alfas, it's not the pick of the range.

That title goes not to the QV, but the humble 1.4-litre MultiAir. It might not have the sharpness and agility you would expect from Alfa, but it feels like it will be an impressive car to live with every day. And that's the key...

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