Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 TB 170 (2010) CAR review

Sounds like the new Alfa Giulietta deserves a decent engine to make the most of it. What’s under the bonnet?

There are five engines at launch, all turbocharged and featuring direct injection. The bottom rung is a 1.4-litre with 118bhp that does 62mph in less than 10sec and achieves 44mpg. But add Fiat’s brilliant Multiair hydraulically operated valvetrain system and power climbs to 168bhp, the 0-62mph sprint drops to 7.8sec, fuel consumption improves by 5mpg and CO2 falls by 15g/km. This is an impressive motor but it’s been tuned to work hard in the mid range and doesn’t take kindly to you trying to introduce needle to red zone.

If you need more speed there’s the 232bhp 1750 TB, a Golf GTI rival that’s good for 62mph in 6.8sec and 150mph flat out. Or if 50mpg isn’t good enough there are a couple of diesels: a 104bhp 1.6 or 168bhp 2.0 JTDM common-rail diesels, Alfa claiming that the gap between the two isn’t as great as the numbers suggest. All are powered by a six-speed manual gearbox but there’s a dual-clutch option for most engines too. And every unit bar the 1750 gets start-stop as standard.

Bit flaky inside though I’ll bet!

Have you driven an Alfa recently? I’m guessing not because while they’re often disappointing to drive, there are rarely letdowns when it comes to fit and finish these days. Perhaps the Giulietta isn’t quite up there with the Golf, but it’s not far off. There’s chunky soft-touch material on the dash top and doors; clear, hooded dials; and rubberised toggle switches instead of boring old pushbuttons. This is a place in which you’d be happy to spend a lot of time.

Gripes? The metal-look but really plastic gearknob feels cheap, uncomfortable and slippery; there’s not enough space in the cabin to stash mobile phones wallets and MP3 players; the front seats need more lateral support and the back seats, while competitive on space, are short on under-thigh support. But the front seat comfort, the range of driving positions available and the boot are a match for the Volkswagen’s.

It leaves the Golf behind for kit too. Climate control, six airbags, the Q2 diff and the DNA selector are standard across the range which starts at around £17k with the brilliant Multiair driven here costing more like £19k.

Verdict

No more excuses? None needed. The Giulietta is the first Alfa Romeo in a long time that actually drives better than it looks. Of course being an Alfa it’s beaten in some areas by less interesting rivals.

But the Giulietta is fun to drive, stylish and cleverly engineered – exactly the car Alfa needs. And if the success of the far less accomplished Mito is anything to go by, it’s going to be a smash. Place a bet for this to become the European Car of the Year 2011.