Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV 2014 Long-term Review - 2

The arrival of the latest Volkswagen Golf GTI in the motoring.com.au garage recently led to another round of discussion involving our Alfa-Romeo Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde 1750 TBi.

Are the two five-doors direct competitors?

Should the Alfa have been included in our latest hot hatch comparison test? [Ed: the results of which will be published soon.]

Has the GTI stolen the territory Alfa would once have owned in the minds, if not the hearts, of fast-four fans?

The discussion struck a chord with yours truly as the effective custodian of the Giulietta whilst in our hands. Before driving the top-spec Giulietta I'd expected it to be much closer in philosophy (if not execution) to the now-default German hot hatch. The reality is that if you're shopping for a Giulietta and expecting a Latin Golf GTI you're likely to be disappointed. At least a little...

Even after just 2500km it's very clear the Giulietta QV has a different character to the seamless Volkswagen hot hatch. The less Alfa inclined might call the things that make the difference faults, but that wouldn't exactly be fair. In many respects this car is just different.

For a start the Alfa's 1.7-litre turbo engine needs to work harder to produce its 173kW and the power curve is peakier and the turbocharging effects a little more obvious as a result.

People talk about the linear power delivery of the GTI and its Volkswagen Audi Group counterparts and they're right. The VAG engines are very accomplished, very smooth powerplants. But consider that this is a reputation earned with engines that had reasonable capacity and relatively low boost turbocharging. It's only in the most recent generations that the Golf GTI produced more power than the smaller capacity QV – and not that long ago the 2.0-litre direct-injected turbo Golf engine only produced 147kW.

The Alfa's engine gives away 10 per cent in terms of outright capacity to the Golf and so the boffins pack in more boost, which in turn takes longer to build than the best blown petrol fours currently offered. Peak torque is delivered over a narrower rev range.

That manifests itself in the real world as a peakier delivery that's harder to get the best from. Many modern car buyers are no longer used to this sort of power curve – ironically, whether on purpose or not, Alfa has effectively made its turbo 1.7-litre engine feel more like an atmo four with an aggressive cam.

The soft power deliver off idle is aggravated by the six-speed manual gearbox and the Giulietta's very narrow clutch take-up range. And this is not an idiosyncrasy unique to our long-termer. Just like my Alfa 75 all those years ago, the Giulietta's clutch bites way up near the end of the clutch pedal's travel.

Hands up who's driven a new Giulietta manual and not stalled it? Liar!

If there's an upside to this engine room orientation, it's the punch in the back when the engine is on song. The effect is the Giulietta often feels faster than it should be, or is, in actuality.

We'll attempt to settle the arguments on whether the Alfa qualifies for hot hatch status or is merely 'warm' in the coming weeks. There'll be stopwatches at ten paces, but we'll also consider some subjective, seat of the pants factors.

Although I'm yet to drive the Alfa anywhere near quick, I'm tipping our testers will praise the Giulietta for its steering precision, but will comment on the at times poor performance of the rear suspension. I'm tipping they will lament the fact the Alfa doesn't hook-up as well as others on the way out of corners, and I also suspect they won't be happy with the level of intervention of the Alfa's stability control system.

Building a proper hot hatch these days is a balancing act. Seamless performance is expected – and not just in terms of power delivery.

2014 Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV 1750 TBi pricing and specifications:
Price: $39,150 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.7-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 173kW/340Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 7.6L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 177g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

Related reading: ?Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV Extended-Term Test (Introduction)