2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia

Like all Alfa Romeos, the Giulia’s face features the brand’s triangular grille called the “Scudetto,” or shield. Large, low-set front air intakes announce a performance intention. They are offset by eye-slit headlights up top that also wrap into the fenders. 

The car’s lines flow in sensuous curves from that nose, onto the hood, over the roof, and to the rear end. Character lines along the sides start with gills behind the front wheel and run to the rear door handles, carving a slimmer shape below them. They’re offset by similar lines along the rocker panels and both lines give way to flared wheel haunches at the rear. The available clover-leaf wheels play off the car’s rounded styling cues. 

At the rear, the short decklid resolves into a kick-up rear spoiler, and the taillights echo the look of the headlights. 

Inside, the look is sporty thanks to sport bucket seats, a wide center console, and a small-diameter steering wheel complete with a start button. The controls are tilted toward the driver and an 8.8-inch touchscreen is set in the middle of the dash. Rounded gauges, vents, dials, and other controls play off the exterior design, and a variety of trim materials add visual flair.

Alfa Romeo outfits the Giulia with standard rear-wheel drive and offers all-wheel drive except on the Quadrifoglio. 

How fast is the Alfa Romeo Giulia?

Buyers have two choices with the Giulia: quick or outrageously fast. 

The 280-hp 2.0-liter turbo-4 launches the car from 0-60 mph in 5.1 seconds. Power comes on strong and smoothly at low rpm while still managing to feel smooth. 

The twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 in the Quadrifoglio model provides the real fun. Sourced from Ferrari, it sounds a wicked tune as the revs build to its 6,500-rpm redline and pushes the car from 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds. The engine hits its max torque at 2,500 rpm, higher than most turbocharged engines, which encourages drivers to run up the revs to tap into the power. Both engines are mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission that delivers quick, crisp shifts, especially in the Quadrifoglio’s Race mode.

The Giulia’s most outstanding dynamic trait is its super-quick steering. The 11.8:1 ratio creates immediate turn-in response, and the steering provides useful road feedback. The Giulia’s stiff structure, double-wishbone front suspension, and adaptive dampers create balanced handling that allows the car to carve through turns and dart back in the opposite direction. The Quadrifoglio’s stiffer suspension and larger wheels make it even more agile and give it racetrack capability, but the ride may be too firm for some buyers. 

Our only complaint is the wooden feel of the brake-by-wire system. The Brembo brakes have strong stopping power, but the pedal can be hard to modulate due to the lack of a mechanical connection.

The rear will fit a pair of average-sized adults, but they’ll have to slide in around small door openings and once inside they’ll have decent but not generous head room and leg room. 

At 13.4 cubic feet, the trunk is small for a sedan, but its space is useful thanks to a low liftover height and a large opening. 

Interior materials are appropriate for the class: Leather upholstery comes standard, and softer nappa leather is available, as are open-pore wood and carbon fiber.

Standard safety features consist of automatic emergency braking and rear park assist. Available as options or standard on higher-line models are front park assist, adaptive headlights, adaptive cruise control, active lane control, blind-spot monitors with steering assist, and systems that operate the brake, steering, and throttle in certain highway and traffic jam situations.

The Giulia put up top “Good” scores in all IIHS crash tests and a “Superior” rating for front-crash prevention, but the standard headlights rated “Poor” and that prevents the Giulia from earning a Top Safety Pick award. The optional headlights get the top “Good” rating.

Which Alfa Romeo Giulia should I buy?

We recommend the $47,395 Ti Sport model as it fulfills the Giulia’s sport sedan mission better than the base models. It adds front sport seats with 14-way adjustments for the driver and 12-way for the passenger, heated seats, a heated steering wheel, navigation, paddle shifters, a limited-slip rear differential, and 19-inch wheels.

How much is a fully loaded 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia?

At the top of the lineup, the $76,345 Giulia Quadrifoglio comes loaded with 14-way power front seats, extended leather upholstery, a 14-speaker Harmon Kardon audio system, adaptive dampers, larger Brembo brakes, a torque-vectoring rear differential, a two-mode performance exhaust system, a front splitter and carbon-fiber chin spoiler, a rear diffuser, a carbon-fiber hood and roof, and summer performance tires.

The Giulia’s infotainment system uses an 8.8-inch touchscreen that can also be controlled with voice commands or a rotary dial. Added for 2020, this system is leagues ahead of the slow and confusing version that preceded it. However, it’s not state of the art.

All-wheel-drive cuts the EPA ratings to 23/31/26 mpg.

The Quadrifoglio comes only with RWD and gets ratings of 17/25/20 mpg. 

Unfortunately, Alfa Romeo requires premium fuel for both engines.