Peter Palmer: First Look: 2016 Alfa Romeo Giulia/Giulia Quadrifoglio

2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

Six months ago, Alfa Romeo unveiled the super-gorgeous Giulia sedan and its high-performance variant, the Giulia Quadrifoglio. Since then, the entire automotive industry has been buzzing with excitement in anticipation to see how this Italian beauty measures up against its German and American rivals.

However, the greatest news to come out of Italy was how the Giulia and the Giulia Quadrifoglio would spearhead the return the of the fabled brand to American shores.

Since then, Alfa Romeo officials have been focusing much attention on the high performance Giulia Quadrifoglio, but at the 2015 Los Angles International Auto Show, the company disclosed a little information about the less powerful Giulia models. We now know that “standard” Giulia models will be powered by FCA’s 2.0 L MultiAir 2 turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which produces a class-leading 276 horsepower. For comparison: BMW’s four-cylinder produces 240 horsepower, the Mercedes-Benz produces 241 horsepower, Audi’s mill produces 252 horsepower, and Cadillac’s produces 272 horsepower.

Like its American and German competitors, the four-cylinder powered Alfa Romeo Giulia models will also offer an optional all-wheel-drive system and dual-clutch automated transmission.

That is all we know about the standard Giulia models for now, but here are all the details you will love (we certainly did) about the Giulia Quadrifoglio.

2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Front Seats

2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Steering Wheel

2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Rear Seats

What’s New

The goal of Alfa Romeo engineers was to keep the weight of the Giulia Quadrifoglio as low as possible. In order to achieve that goal, the Quadrifoglio is fitted with a carbon fiber roof, hood, driveshaft, and various front and rear aero bits. Underneath the gorgeous exterior, aluminum shock towers and subframes help avoid unnecessary mass accumulation. Just to make sure they have all areas covered, Alfa Romeo engineers have also fitted the Giulia Quadrifoglio with aluminum doors, fenders, Brembo monoblock brake calipers, and other unspecified suspension components.

If the owner wishes to further reduce the Giulia Quadrifoglio’s mass, Alfa Romeo will offer carbon-ceramic rotors that weigh half of what the standard cast-iron units do.

When it comes to safety and convenience, the Quadrifoglio comes standard with forward-collision warning and autonomous braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic detection, and front/rear parking sensors. All Alfa Romeo Giulia models will be fitted with driver and front passenger airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, front side airbags, and front/rear side curtain airbags.

At launch, the Giulia Quadrifoglio will be available in Rosso Alfa, Vulcano Black Metallic, Silverstone Gray Metallic, Montecarlo Blue Metallic, Vesuvio Gray Metallic, Trofeo White Tri-Coat, and Rosso Competizione Tri-Coat.

2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Front Fascia

2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Rear Fascia

The cabin of the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio can be finished in five leather-and-suede combinations, all based around black: black/red with red stitching; all black with black, white, red, or green stitching; and black with “ice” featuring green and white Quadrifoglio accent stitching.

Two wheel choices are available on the Giulia Quadrifoglio. One is Alfa’s signature five-hole design rims and the others are lightweight “Technico” wheels, both of which can be painted in silver or dark grey.

Performance

The heart of the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is a Ferrari derived, 2.9 L twin-turbo, direct-injected, 90 degree V6, which produces 505 horsepower and 443 lb.ft. torque. All of the power is sent to the rear wheels via a Getrag sourced, six-speed manual transmission. Alfa Romeo claims the Giulia Quadrifoglio will sprint to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, has a top speed of 191 mph, and will lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 7 minutes and 39 seconds.

With extensive usage of aluminum and other lightweight materials, the Giulia Quadrifoglio’s chassis achieves a near 50/50 front/rear weight distribution. An active suspension manages the vehicle’s weight, while its firmness and behavior is managed by Alfa’s four-mode DNA Pro selector.

The rims of the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio are wrapped with Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires, which measure 245/35R-19 up front, wrapped around 19 x 8.5 forged aluminum rims. At back the tires measure 285/30R-19 and are wrapped around 19 x 10 forged aluminum rims.

When the optional carbon-ceramic brakes are chosen, the front four-piston calipers are replaced with massive six-piston calipers. With the carbon-ceramic brakes, Alfa Romeo says the Giulia Quadrifoglio will stop from 60 mph in 102 feet.

Alfa Romeo 2.9 L Twin-turbo V6

Availability

The 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia will enter production in mid-2016. Pricing and specs on the lesser Giulia models will be announced closer to their launch dates. However, Alfa Romeo officials did announce the Giulia Quadrifoglio will have a starting price around $70,000. For comparison, the Audi S4, BMW M3/M4, Cadillac ATS-V, and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG all start well below the $70,000 mark.

Though the Alfa Romeo commands a steeper price tag when compared to its main rivals, once you get behind the wheel of the Giulia Quadrifoglio and experience what driving an Alfa Romeo is all about, the price will easily justify itself.

*Rahul Raman is the Founder of CARS 360 Mke, an automotive news outlet. He is a regular contributor to Automoblog.net and the author of our First Look series.