Alfa Romeo Gulia - Ti Sport (Veloce)
Discussion
So, it was time to say goodbye to my beloved V8 Dodge Challenger R/T in search of something a little more sophisticated. The lease was up on the Challenger and not much had changed financially, so I needed to find something that fitted the same budget but offered a bit more of the following:
- Comfort and practicality - The Dodge was a bit of a beast and difficult to get people / things in and out of the back. A recent addition of a baby means rear seat access was now more important.
- Style / sophistication - The Dodge was a brute.. it was damn fun, but very blunt and raw. Interior and exterior quality matched this bluntness and while fun for a while.. it was wearing a little thin. Quality was poor, and even after 12k miles.. things were wearing and looking untidy.
- Fun - Yes the Dodge was very fun in a straight line... it was very much the 'one trick pony' so many have described. Living every day with a straight line drag car was fun for a bit.. but through twisty canyon roads and tight winding lanes.. it felt huge and unwieldy.
So, the challenge was set to find a replacement. At this budget ($300 a month lease) you are not looking at many 'fun' cars at all. The usual suspects in this category are BMW 320i, Mercedes C300, Lexus IS250 and Infiniti Q50.
All very fine cars in their own right, but honestly very uninspiring coming from such a fun car. I briefly considered the V8 Dodge Charger R/T which is essentially a 4 door challenger, but quickly discounted it as it was so similar in every other way.. and I wanted a change.
Now, am a bit of an emotional decision maker when it comes to cars. My plan was to drive all in the list and choose the best at the best price... I made it to just one test drive... the Alfa. They had a deal on where you could pick any Gulia you liked at any spec up to the value of $51,000 and you'd get it for $299 a month. My challenger had a list price of $32k and was also $299 a month on a lease.. so lots of dealer and manufacturer incentives at play here.
So, a decent test drive and a deal was done (Cracking deal, and they paid off the remainder of my old lease if I signed that day) and I'm off driving my new motor. The buying process in the US is fantastic compared to the UK. Almost all high volume dealers carry tons of stock, in all colour and spec combos... so you can literally pick out the exact spec you want from 200/300 cars they have in at any one time. This meant from walking in the door of the dealership with no appointment, I was driving out again in the car about 2 hours later. No waiting for dealer prep, no spec sheets, build slots or wait times. If they don't have the one you want, the dealer in the next city probably does, and they'll ship it in that afternoon.
So, on to the car:
The spec is pretty high end, some highlights:
- Giulia Ti Sport (known as Veloce in the Euro market)
- White with red leather (Wife calls it a tart's boudoir, not sure how she knows what they look like)
- Black Quadrifoglio 19"wheels with red calipers
- 2.0 Turbo with 280BHP / 306lbs/ft of torque. 8 Speed ZF with flappy paddles
- Rear wheel drive
- LSD (On sport and Quadrifoglio models only)
- Adjustable suspension with DNA drive mode selection system
- Multi-adjustable, heated sports seats and steering wheel
- Harmon Kardon stereo with widescreen Nav
- Radar cruise, backup camera, parking sensors etc..
Sorry for the slightly dull photos, a rare cloudy day in California.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/eHdyPVn3[/url]
Initial impressions are frankly fantastic. It feels light, nimble, agile and responsive especially compared to the Challenger. It's clearly slower in a straight line than the Dodge, but in every other way it is a better drive. The paddles are great fun, and huge in your hands! DNA drive mode selection is also fun, a flick into 'D' for 'sport mode' sharpens up the throttle and tightens up the ride.. again, good fun. Exhuast is muted compared to the Dodge, of course it has 4 less cylinders, it does a decent job, but not that inspiring.
Future plans consist of driving it on my commute and blasting a few of the local canyon roads on weekend mornings. I may see if I can get a Quadrifoglio carbon rear spoiler added at some stage as I think it looks fantastic and will really finish the looks.
Hope you enjoyed my ramble.. trying to think what else I would be able to get for the money that would beat it!? So far, I think its the best in its segment.. what do you think?
- Comfort and practicality - The Dodge was a bit of a beast and difficult to get people / things in and out of the back. A recent addition of a baby means rear seat access was now more important.
- Style / sophistication - The Dodge was a brute.. it was damn fun, but very blunt and raw. Interior and exterior quality matched this bluntness and while fun for a while.. it was wearing a little thin. Quality was poor, and even after 12k miles.. things were wearing and looking untidy.
- Fun - Yes the Dodge was very fun in a straight line... it was very much the 'one trick pony' so many have described. Living every day with a straight line drag car was fun for a bit.. but through twisty canyon roads and tight winding lanes.. it felt huge and unwieldy.
So, the challenge was set to find a replacement. At this budget ($300 a month lease) you are not looking at many 'fun' cars at all. The usual suspects in this category are BMW 320i, Mercedes C300, Lexus IS250 and Infiniti Q50.
All very fine cars in their own right, but honestly very uninspiring coming from such a fun car. I briefly considered the V8 Dodge Charger R/T which is essentially a 4 door challenger, but quickly discounted it as it was so similar in every other way.. and I wanted a change.
Now, am a bit of an emotional decision maker when it comes to cars. My plan was to drive all in the list and choose the best at the best price... I made it to just one test drive... the Alfa. They had a deal on where you could pick any Gulia you liked at any spec up to the value of $51,000 and you'd get it for $299 a month. My challenger had a list price of $32k and was also $299 a month on a lease.. so lots of dealer and manufacturer incentives at play here.
So, a decent test drive and a deal was done (Cracking deal, and they paid off the remainder of my old lease if I signed that day) and I'm off driving my new motor. The buying process in the US is fantastic compared to the UK. Almost all high volume dealers carry tons of stock, in all colour and spec combos... so you can literally pick out the exact spec you want from 200/300 cars they have in at any one time. This meant from walking in the door of the dealership with no appointment, I was driving out again in the car about 2 hours later. No waiting for dealer prep, no spec sheets, build slots or wait times. If they don't have the one you want, the dealer in the next city probably does, and they'll ship it in that afternoon.
So, on to the car:
The spec is pretty high end, some highlights:
- Giulia Ti Sport (known as Veloce in the Euro market)
- White with red leather (Wife calls it a tart's boudoir, not sure how she knows what they look like)
- Black Quadrifoglio 19"wheels with red calipers
- 2.0 Turbo with 280BHP / 306lbs/ft of torque. 8 Speed ZF with flappy paddles
- Rear wheel drive
- LSD (On sport and Quadrifoglio models only)
- Adjustable suspension with DNA drive mode selection system
- Multi-adjustable, heated sports seats and steering wheel
- Harmon Kardon stereo with widescreen Nav
- Radar cruise, backup camera, parking sensors etc..
Sorry for the slightly dull photos, a rare cloudy day in California.
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/eHdyPVn3[/url]Initial impressions are frankly fantastic. It feels light, nimble, agile and responsive especially compared to the Challenger. It's clearly slower in a straight line than the Dodge, but in every other way it is a better drive. The paddles are great fun, and huge in your hands! DNA drive mode selection is also fun, a flick into 'D' for 'sport mode' sharpens up the throttle and tightens up the ride.. again, good fun. Exhuast is muted compared to the Dodge, of course it has 4 less cylinders, it does a decent job, but not that inspiring.
Future plans consist of driving it on my commute and blasting a few of the local canyon roads on weekend mornings. I may see if I can get a Quadrifoglio carbon rear spoiler added at some stage as I think it looks fantastic and will really finish the looks.
Hope you enjoyed my ramble.. trying to think what else I would be able to get for the money that would beat it!? So far, I think its the best in its segment.. what do you think?
Edited by ReaperCushions on Monday 2nd April 22:31
That looks beautiful!!!! Alfa really nailed it with this, often found looking at the Quadrfolio (best attempt at spelling!) examples on eBay AT but still very pricey but this looks just as stunning.
Friend has a 4c with the 1.75 engine and it sounds amazing, whats the note like on yours??? Appreciate its not Dodge!
Si
Friend has a 4c with the 1.75 engine and it sounds amazing, whats the note like on yours??? Appreciate its not Dodge!
Si
Been considering one of these myself - they look awesome and the alloys finish it beautifully. Unfortunately, you can't officially get the QF alloys on the Veloce here in the UK, Alfa wants to maintain distance with the actual QF model so you need to retrofit (at great cost!). Strange how they offer them in other regions though....
MattyB_ said:
Been considering one of these myself - they look awesome and the alloys finish it beautifully. Unfortunately, you can't officially get the QF alloys on the Veloce here in the UK, Alfa wants to maintain distance with the actual QF model so you need to retrofit (at great cost!). Strange how they offer them in other regions though....
The impression I got from my dealer was that they were needing to shift as much stock as possible, so offering this deal along with all the bells and whistles. He said they struggle being pretty much brand new against the likes of BMW and Mercedes. For every Alfa they sell, the BMW dealer across the street sells 50 320i's. The way they do stock here is very interesting... you don't really 'spec' anything.. you choose from one of the hundreds they have on the lot in the spec you want. They pretty much have every combination you can think of, and most of the time they are top / well spec'd for the purpose stated above.To the other poster asking about the exhaust, it is 'OK' but not amazing. A good set of pipes would open it up somewhat, but a 4 cylinder turbo... is a four-cylinder turbo. The closest I would describe it would be my wife's old Abarth 500, which was quite growly on startup, but a bit farty when pressing on and reminds me of the old Mcdonalds cruises where the yoof put huge back boxes on their Fiesta RS Turbos.
Looks really nice. Where in CA are you based? I'm up in SF, and also waiting on my Giulia Ti Sport!
I decided to factory order one since it's my first brand new car, and I wanted to go the whole 9 yards. Kinda wondering whether that was the right idea at this point; the communication has been somewhat lackluster!
I decided to factory order one since it's my first brand new car, and I wanted to go the whole 9 yards. Kinda wondering whether that was the right idea at this point; the communication has been somewhat lackluster!
TheDukeGTi said:
Looks really nice. Where in CA are you based? I'm up in SF, and also waiting on my Giulia Ti Sport!
I decided to factory order one since it's my first brand new car, and I wanted to go the whole 9 yards. Kinda wondering whether that was the right idea at this point; the communication has been somewhat lackluster!
I'm in Orange County, although I commuted to SF every other week until very recently!I decided to factory order one since it's my first brand new car, and I wanted to go the whole 9 yards. Kinda wondering whether that was the right idea at this point; the communication has been somewhat lackluster!
No idea what your dealer system is like up there, but mine had hundreds of cars to choose from and had the exact spec I wanted. Depends if you want something unusual. What was your spec?
It's a Ti Sport RWD with the LSD+Active suspension. I wanted a sunroof, but nothing else. I also wanted the staggered wheels.
The idea was "as close to a QV as I can get, but with a sunroof". Not interested in lane departure and harmon kardon. That particular spec is quite tough; they all seemed to be over-optioned with stuff I didn't want to pay for.
But like I say, I also just wanted to custom order a car, just because.
The idea was "as close to a QV as I can get, but with a sunroof". Not interested in lane departure and harmon kardon. That particular spec is quite tough; they all seemed to be over-optioned with stuff I didn't want to pay for.
But like I say, I also just wanted to custom order a car, just because.
TheDukeGTi said:
It's a Ti Sport RWD with the LSD+Active suspension. I wanted a sunroof, but nothing else. I also wanted the staggered wheels.
The idea was "as close to a QV as I can get, but with a sunroof". Not interested in lane departure and harmon kardon. That particular spec is quite tough; they all seemed to be over-optioned with stuff I didn't want to pay for.
But like I say, I also just wanted to custom order a car, just because.
Fair enough, did they give you a lead time on the order?The idea was "as close to a QV as I can get, but with a sunroof". Not interested in lane departure and harmon kardon. That particular spec is quite tough; they all seemed to be over-optioned with stuff I didn't want to pay for.
But like I say, I also just wanted to custom order a car, just because.
Might be worth phoning a few in and out of state dealers, mine in OC certainly had enough that they may well have something close to what you want. When I was in there, the people sat next to me at the sales desks were from Utah having flown in specifically to get the deal I got.
The 'over optioned' thing may play against that, all the ones I saw seemed to have everything (All had HK for example). Worth a few phone calls though, you won't be disappointed when you get it!
Andy665 said:
Looks stunning - pity Alfa Romeo in the UK don't / can't compete on lease deals with the other brands as I'd have one like a shot
Thanks. Yes I know what you mean, they seem to want to make a run at the US market and are flooding the place with high spec stock and cheap lease deals. The equivalent BM / Merc / Audi would be almost double the lease price. Wow that's a gorgeous car, absolutely stunning. As echoed above it's a real shame Alfa UK aren't pushing deals like this (or allowing cars to be specced with the nicer parts) - I'd have one in a heartbeat! Would have to be red for me, but the white really suits it actually
Shame there don't seem to be many about round by me (think I've only ever seen 1 in the wild) - there are more Tesla Model S and X's than there are Gulias!
Shame there don't seem to be many about round by me (think I've only ever seen 1 in the wild) - there are more Tesla Model S and X's than there are Gulias!
ReaperCushions said:
TheDukeGTi said:
It's a Ti Sport RWD with the LSD+Active suspension. I wanted a sunroof, but nothing else. I also wanted the staggered wheels.
The idea was "as close to a QV as I can get, but with a sunroof". Not interested in lane departure and harmon kardon. That particular spec is quite tough; they all seemed to be over-optioned with stuff I didn't want to pay for.
But like I say, I also just wanted to custom order a car, just because.
Fair enough, did they give you a lead time on the order?The idea was "as close to a QV as I can get, but with a sunroof". Not interested in lane departure and harmon kardon. That particular spec is quite tough; they all seemed to be over-optioned with stuff I didn't want to pay for.
But like I say, I also just wanted to custom order a car, just because.
Might be worth phoning a few in and out of state dealers, mine in OC certainly had enough that they may well have something close to what you want. When I was in there, the people sat next to me at the sales desks were from Utah having flown in specifically to get the deal I got.
The 'over optioned' thing may play against that, all the ones I saw seemed to have everything (All had HK for example). Worth a few phone calls though, you won't be disappointed when you get it!
Also, thanks to you, I did some research and decided to lease instead of buy. Seems like the better option all things considered. So thanks very much for the influence, whether intended or not!
TheDukeGTi said:
I just found out it's had the window sticker assigned and is on it's way to the dealer! Excited now!
Also, thanks to you, I did some research and decided to lease instead of buy. Seems like the better option all things considered. So thanks very much for the influence, whether intended or not!
Congrats!Also, thanks to you, I did some research and decided to lease instead of buy. Seems like the better option all things considered. So thanks very much for the influence, whether intended or not!
No not intentional but glad to have helped!
Brief update... I love it! It is so balanced and agile, quick enough to be fun and those paddles are hilarious!
I think I've decided to add the carbon spoiler from the Quadrofiglio, I just can't resist it! Hopefully booking it in next week, I'll update with some pictures.
Looks identical to the Alfa Romeo press fleet car I had the pleasure of a week with earlier this year (writing up the review, or should be, as I type this). 85% as good as the Quadrifoglio, for about half the price. Well, the sticker on the press car was $52k, but there are plenty of bargains available: https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/Alfa+Rome...
More people need to buy these, they're just so good to drive.
More people need to buy these, they're just so good to drive.
Good luck.
My colleague at work had one on lease and had nothing but trouble. They still have massive reliability (electrical) issues - well, his did.
He ended up rejecting it in the end as in the time he leased it (just over three months) he was in the dealers loaner cars (2litre diesel gulia and fiat fullback) for more days than the Veloce, which was a shame. Even though he actually loved the car to drive and own.
My colleague at work had one on lease and had nothing but trouble. They still have massive reliability (electrical) issues - well, his did.
He ended up rejecting it in the end as in the time he leased it (just over three months) he was in the dealers loaner cars (2litre diesel gulia and fiat fullback) for more days than the Veloce, which was a shame. Even though he actually loved the car to drive and own.
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