► We review mildly facelifted Alfa Giulia
► Sporty saloon rivals 3 Series, XE
► On sale now, priced from £43,259
The Alfa Romeo Giulia was never going to dethrone the Germans as king of the compact executives, but since 2016 it’s provided a welcome alternative for those who value its handsome looks, engaging driving dynamics and touch of something speciale in its character.
It’s had a few updates since launch and this is the latest, bringing with it a new look more in line with the brand-new Tonale SUV as well as a super-simplified range that’ll make choosing a Giulia even easier than before.
Read on for our full 2023 Alfa Romeo Giulia review – plus our video review of the Veloce sports saloon.
What’s new for the 2023 Alfa Romeo Giulia?
The most striking change is at the front, where the Giulia gets a new imagining of the 3+3 headlight motif found on cars like the SZ, the 159 and more recently, the Tonale. The same change has been made to the Stelvio, giving Alfa a cohesive style across its three-car range. For our money, they suit the car well.
There are new finishes for the grilles and reshaped (though very subtly) LED taillights. All Giulias ride on 18- or 19- inch alloy wheels, and though the base cars get a standard turbine design any Alfa buyer who doesn’t opt for the teledials should sod off to the Audi garage instead.
Colour choices are fairly standard, and include a couple of shades of rosso plus a handsome Misano Blue. The new matte-finish Moonlight Grey is available for top-spec Competizione cars and isn’t our cup of tea.
Speaking of specs, there are just three trim levels. Sprint is the entry point, and features most of the basics, though you’ll need mid-spec Veloce for two things we consider essential – heated seats and a limited-slip differential.
Top-spec Competizione cars get a Harman Kardon sound system plus adaptive dampers, nice touches both.
What’s it like inside?
You still get comfortable, supportive sports seats set just far enough behind the B-pillar to make ingress awkward for tall people. You still get a massive, plasticky gear selector contrasting starkly with the most gorgeous, solid metal steering column-mounted paddles. It’d be boring if it was all nice, wouldn’t it?
New for 2023 is a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument panel, which you can configure to show a regular, info-heavy display, a minimalist layout with just speed and other essentials, or a classic-aping twin dial arrangement with a retro edge.
You can interact with the infotainment system via touchscreen or rotary iDrive-style controller behind the gear lever. It’s not really up to snuff compared with the latest BMW system, in terms of graphical prowess, functionality or user-friendliness, but you can always override that with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. And it’s quite refreshing that the comparatively small, 8.8-inch display doesn’t dominate the dashboard like some rivals.
Is it still great to drive?
The engine range has been simplified to the max – there are only two. At one end there’s the ballistic Quadrifoglio, which we’ll drive in its updated form soon. Standard models, though, use a 2.0-litre four-pot petrol producing 276bhp and 295lb ft.
It’s no V6 in terms of character, but produces a reasonably characterful engine note – and there’s no lack of performance, with a top speed of 149mph and 0-62mph dispatched in 5.7 seconds. That puts it somewhere between 330i and 340i versions of the BMW 3 Series, or P250 and P300 Jaguar XEs – certainly a useful amount of power.
An eight-speed automatic gearbox is standard, offering smooth shifts, but if you want to take manual control you can do so through the undisputed best paddles in the business. They’re huge, made of solid metal, and attached to the column rather than the wheel so they’re always where you expect them.
You can switch between three driving modes on their own dedicated dial – D for Dynamic, N for Neutral and A for Advanced Efficiency. On Competizione models the adaptive dampers are switched from their normal firmness to their harder, sportier setting via a button in the middle. We wouldn’t necessarily bother going for the Competizione just for these – the firmer dampers don’t really do much for the handling, and just make it less comfortable.
The steering’s quick, accurate and weighty if a little twitchy, and it’s a pleasure to thread bends together with more communication through the wheel than any of its mainstream rivals. 50/50 weight distribution and generous yet safe electronic aids mean you can have a lot of fun – though it’s not as yobbishly powerslide-y as its Cloverleaf sibling.
The standard Giulia does a roaring trade in poise and agility, with a fun and hugely satisfying drive rather than one that’ll excite you in the wrong ways. It rides well, too, even on the 19-inch wheels most cars will be wearing. The lack of weight is a further boon, giving it rather more of a lightfooted feeling of agility than its rivals steadily nearing two tonnes.
What’s the catch?
As ever, practical considerations. The Giulia’s only available as a four-door saloon, so family buyers won’t give up their Tourings or Avants any time soon. And even if you don’t need space in the boot, the rear seats are cramped and accessed through laughably tiny rear doors.
The Giulia’s single engine emits 168g/km, so it attracts 37% BIK for company car buyers. Its 38.2mpg official mpg is achievable on a long, slow motorway run, but schlep round town or take advantage of that wonderful chassis and you’ll see a figure in the very low 30s more often than not.
Verdict
Hardly a radical departure from the Giulia formula and so this facelifted model remains brilliant in some areas, yet difficult to recommend in others. Don’t expect to see tons as company cars, nor loaded four-up for a family holiday.
But if you’re a private buyer and the most important thing to you is how a car drives, the Giulia will be right up your street – much like the Jaguar XE, it feels like a remnant of the time before plug-in hybrids. It’s packed with whatever the Italian equivalent of joie de vivre is, looks fantastic, and handles beautifully. And for some of us, that’s enough.