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Let's see what this italian 3 Series can do. Alfa Romeo Giulia, not the greatest succes in terms of sales but at least it won our hearts so it's basically a Borat on wheels.

And it's easy to see why it didn't sell all that well. I quickly went to the competition to see how overrated the Alfa Romeo Giulia is. So, the 280 horsepower, 2.0 petrol automagic, entry level Alfa Romeo Giulia starts at 42,500 pounds, and the now-retired diesel started somewhere at 47,500 pounds.

Let's see how the competition stands. The cheapest automagic 3 Series is the 184 horsepower 320i which starts from 41,400 pounds, a grand cheaper but also 80 horsepower down on grunt. Up the buget to 47,000 pounds and you're up to the 330e, with it's 292 horsepower 2.0 turbocharged petrol hybrid, on par with the 47,300 Alfa Romeo Giulia with the Veloce pack, or an 330e M for 48,400 pounds. Moving on, with 46,000 pounds you can have an entry level C Class with a 204 horsepower 2.0 litre petrol and a 23 horsepower electric engine, for an tree hugging hybrid C Class. I never thought I'd be saying this, but rather than buying an Alfa Romeo Giulia, go buy a 3 Series instead simply because it's cheaper. bang for buck, features for features, horsepower for horsepower, the BMW 3 Series is cheaper.

And that creates a problem for the Alfa Romeo Giulia, the successor to the 159. After 10 years of development and launch, the Alfa Romeo Giulia was supposed to go head-to-head with the 3 Series, but they were so ambitious that they jumped straight at the throat of BMW M and forgot to make a car for the average buyer. And when you price your Alfa Romeo similarly to an M package 3 Series, most people will go for the BMW badge.

I'm not necessarily a fan of BMW or sports cars in general, I just want to point out the monumental mistake that the Alfa Romeo Giulia made in this approach. And this was also seen in sales numbers, in 5 years in Europe only 70500 models were sold, and last year only 7436 models in all of Europe. 

So why buy a Giulia?

The entire press went crazy about the Alfa Romeo Giulia at launch because of one thing – the 2.9-liter turbocharged F154 engine of Ferrari origin. Yes, the engine is developed by Ferrari and is normally in V8 configuration but for the Alfa Romeo family they removed 2 cylinders and remained kept it at a modest V6 configuration, with a modest output of 510 horsepower. The problem is that this is the only merit of the Alfa Giulia and it started at 85,000 pounds, which is clearly not a car for normal people. And ironically, the BMW M3 of it's era also costs 85,000 pounds, but it only has 480 horsepower. Excuse me, but for 85 grand you can buy a used Ferrari 612 Scaglietti that also offers 4 seats, a 5.8 petrol V12 which churns out 540 horsepower, from 2008 and with 50,000 km. Or a 400 horsepower Porsche 911 Carrera 4S . Or a 2015 Audi R8 Coupe with Lamborghini sourced 5.2 V10 and 525 horsepower. I could go on and on, but I think I'll do a podcast about what cars you can buy with the money that an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quattro Formaggi asks for.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Engines

Petrol

• 2.0 Turbo GME T4 of 200 and 280 horsepower – Used intensively on Jeeps, this engine has, in addition to the one normally mounted on Jeeps, a MultiAir unit of which we have talked about before. It's just a matter of when it fails, not if. Because it inevitably will fail. And on top of that you also have the turbo that can fail as well as all kinds of sensors and cables and plugs that disconnect. Plus it's direct injection so you can feed it strictly quality petrol.


• 2.9 V6 690T of 510 horsepower – The Ferrari engine, only in the version with 2 cylinders removed. In V8 mode it develops up to 720 horsepower, but here it is a modest V6 of only 510 horsepower. It's just that they are not built the same, in the same place, with the same hands and the same engines. The Ferrari ones are much more expensive to build, but the basic design is the same. But what can I say, good luck finding one.

Diesel

2.2 JTDM Multijet of 150 and 180 horsepower – Probably the only engine worth buying, and the only notable problem is the particle filter if you drive it too much around town, but that applies to any modern diesel basically. 

Alfa Romeo Giulia Reliability Issues

• It's an Alfa Romeo so I have to talk about the complementary electrical gremlins. And that's not because the electronics are bad but because they weren't wired properly and something will always disconnect somewhere.


• Differential failures for the snobs who opted for all-wheel drive. That's what you get when you spend over 60 grand on a more pompous MiTo.


• The Giulia's appetite for front tires will make you a friend, patron and sponsor at your local tire shop.


• One of the most common issues is with the battery, namely that the battery does not hold enough current and this will give you constant electrical problems and all your functions and buttons will never work.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Verdict

It's very expensive and not very reliable. Again, I didn't think I would recommend a 3 Series because it's cheaper than an Alfa. It seems that the Alfa Romeo Giulia is the kind of car that goes all in and the only Giulia worth buying is the Quattro Formaggi with the Ferrari engine. There are no other options. And yet, is it worth it? I say you don't need any other example than the sales figures. I would have recommended it if it had cost 30, 35,000 pounds, but at 42 grand for the base model, it's already way too much. Go and buy a new 3 Series, you'll get it cheaper.

Which engines do I recommend? Since the Ferrari engine is virtually untouchable these days, the only realistic choice for a petrol engine is the 2.0 Turbocharged lump, if you don't want to go diesel that is.