The New York Auto Show is next week and Alfa Romeo will be debuting its Giulia for the US market there. So in a weeks time, we’ll have all the details we need on the car that’s supposed to spearhead Alfa’s return to North America. However, the Italian firm has just released some new info just ahead of its appearance in NY and we thought it pertinent to share, as the Giulia has the BMW 3 Series squarely in its sights.
We’ve all heard the info about the upcoming Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, the Giulia’s high-performance M3-fighting variant, which made its US debut in LA. But we haven’t heard much about the standard 3 Series fighting car, which makes its debut in NY next week. Now we have some more info on the base car and it sounds quite promising.
There will be three different Giulia variants, the standard car, the Giulia Ti and the Quadrifoglio. The standard Giulia and Giulia Ti will both be powered by a 2.0 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produces a class-leading 276 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. As far as four-cylinder engines go in the segment, this is by far the most potent. That power will be routed through an ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox and send power to either the rear or all four wheels, via Alfa’s optional Q4 all-wheel drive system. A real kicker is the as-standard carbon fiber driveshaft. That’s F1 stuff in a car that competes with the 3 Series.
Also standard on all Giulias will be leather seats, a seven inch full-color LCD Driver Infotainment Display (DID) between the gauges, a cleverly-named Alfa-tainment system with either a 6.5 inch or option 8.8 inch display, a flat-bottomed steering wheel and keyless ignition with remote start. So the Alfa Romeo Giulia will be packed with as-standard features and some serious performance hardware. On paper, the 3 Series, Audi A4 and Jaguar XE should be nervous.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia certainly looks like it could be a fantastic car, one that looks great, has a very stylish interior and a ton of performance and luxury equipment as standard. As it stands now, it seems as if the Giulia will be hard to beat. However, Alfa has a reputation for falling a bit flat with its expectations. The recent Alfa Romeo 4C is the most recent and disappointing reminder of a car that showed so much promise but failed to completely deliver.
One thing we do know, though, is that this segment just keeps getting tougher for the 3 Series. First came the Cadillac ATS, then the Jaguar XE, the new Audi A4 looks to be a tough competitor as well and now this Alfa Romeo Giulia. Typically, the 3 Series held an edge over its competitors for being the more emotional purchase, as it has always been more fun and enjoyable to drive. But if there’s a brand that exudes emotion and fun better than almost any other, it’s Alfa Romeo. So if the Giulia can deliver on all of its promises, a tall order indeed, then the BMW 3 Series could be in some real trouble.
[Source: Autoblog]
