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Weekend roadtest : Alfa Romeo Giulietta
publication date: Jun 26, 2010
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author/source: Robin Roberts
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The MiTo for grown ups, Alfa’s Giulietta, hits UK
showrooms at the end of July.
The natural successor to the Alfa 147 will be lunched in a month’s
time in 11 versions from £16,995 to £24,495, but you’ll have to wait
until next year for a dual-clutch automatic to join the line up.
Taking its name from the legendary sports coupe of the 1950s, the
five-door Giulietta also marks the arrival of the company’s centenary.
It is competing in the C-Segment dominated by the Focus
and Astra and
Alfa is relying on its styling to win over customers who would have
bought the MiTo but needed something bigger.
Alfa’s designers and engineers have produced a new
platform and car
which is lighter, more economical, livelier and cheaper to run than its
C-Segment challengers and it has just picked up the best safety results
for a model in this class from the tough EuroNCAP tests. | Three petrol, 120bhp 1.4, 170bhp 1.4 MultiAir and 235bhp 1.7 versions
and two diesels, 105bhp 1.6 and 170bhp 2.0 power the range with standard
six-speed gearboxes and there are Turismo, Lusso, Veloce and Cloverleaf
trim levels.
Building on Alfa’s sporting traditions, all have turbo-chargers, a new
type of electro-mechanical rack and dual-pinion steering, independent
suspension, sophisticated electronic braking control, differential,
traction control, and every model has six-airbags.
|  | Alfa has equipped Giulietta models with the fuel saving
cut off
Start&Stop system. This is calculated to trim 15pc off fuel consumption in
town.
Inside, a clean sweeping fascia has some traditional Alfa
recessed round
dials, most have climate control, there’re sports seats with leather
trim on top versions and choice of two navigation systems.
There is more room inside and in the 350 litres boot than was in the
case of the 147 model. |  | Alfa is launching the Giulietta with competitive pcp
contracts of under
£250 a month over three-years and business users can get one for less
than £260 a month. The 1.4 MultiAir carries a 15pc BIK tax while the
diesels are 18pc, and initial calculations by the residual value
agencies put the Giulietta on par with the Volkswagen Golf.
According to Alfa Romeo, a third of Giulietta buyers will
be retired but
about 20pc will be young families who want a stylish five-door car and
to appeal to these varying potential buyers and more besides, the
company has taken on actress Uma Thurman as the face of Giulietta in
advertisements.
It is expected that 6,000 Giulietta models will be sold this year,
11,000 in 2011 and it already holds 500 orders after just three weeks
since publicity started. Just over half of all sales will be to private
buyers.
| | FIRST IMPRESSIONS | In brief test drives of the 170bhp 1.4 and 2.0 diesels I
found they
exhibited markedly different ride characteristics. The lighter petrol
car felt more agile, twitchy at times, and it did not cope as smoothly
with bumps as its diesel stablemate.
The diesel had stronger acceleration from low revs, was more flexible in
town and significantly quieter. The additional weight upfront also
seemed to give a better ride and sharper handling response.
I averaged 42.7mpg in the diesel and 34.6mpg in the petrol version over a
mixture of country and town routes.
I liked the cloth seats in the Lusso level cars driven but legroom is
tight in the back for anyone over average height, and emerging from
junctions needs a lot of care because of the thick B-pillars obscuring
line of sight to the sides. Vision through the back window is also
restricted by its size.I liked the steering weight
and feedback, the brakes were
strong and
smooth but there was nowhere to rest the left foot between gearchanges.
There is some rubberyness to the gearchange but it’s fairly precise. | Instruments were generally easy to read unless you set up the adjustable
column and wheel so they obscured their faces and the stalk controls
came immediately to hand.
Its high scoring safety assessment will have strong appeal to families
and insurance companies and we can take heart from the significance of
the predicted second-hand value as well. Undoubtedly, Alfa Romeo is raising the game in the
C-Sector with this
stylish newcomer, even if it’s not as keenly as some Alfa enthusiasts
would like, although it still undercuts most competitors.
©Robin Roberts |  |
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