2024 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio review | First Drive

This is not the last Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. That will be joyous news to everyone who has ever been near the magnificent super-saloon from Turin. The future of Alfa Romeo’s Quadrifoglio products was assured to us by Jules Tilstone, Alfa Romeo UK’s Managing Director, before we drove the latest fast Giulia.

But, there is a caveat. This is the last one, other than some hinted-at runout specials, that will feature the glorious 2.9-litre V6 engine that has motivated the Giulia Quadrifoglio for its whole life. It might be getting a bit long in the tooth now, but the Giulia remains the darling of road testers. The new-for-2024 Giulia Quadrifoglio has had more than just a mild facelift, so while the recipe remains roughly the same, will this be a new improved Giulia? Or a fiddle too far?

The smallest changes to the new Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio are cosmetic. As already seen on the Veloce launch version, which we drove last year, the Giulia has been given the headlights from the Tonale crossover. That means an end to the arrow-shaped daytime running lights that surrounded the old headlight unit and the arrival of a triple-light setup.

That new headlight is roughly the same size as the old one, so the Giulia’s visage has hardly changed. The rest of the car looks almost exactly the same. In fact, other than the modifications made in the last facelift back in 2021, there are no extra changes. But why change it? The Giulia has always been the best-looking car in its class.

Improving the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio’s drive was always going to be an interesting task. Rather than just making some minor tweaks on a car with only a few years left, Alfa Romeo’s engineers have approached this with apparent gusto. 

Firstly the small stuff: power from that 2.9-litre, part-Ferrari-derived, V6 now sits at 520PS (382kW), an increase of 10PS over the old Giulia. Torque is the same at 600Nm (443lb ft) and 0-62mph is completed in 3.9 seconds, exactly the same figure as the outgoing Quadrifoglio. The negative is that the mass has gone up. The Giulia now sits at 1,660, over 100kg heavier than the outgoing model. But that still makes it nearly 150kg lighter than the equivalent BMW M3. It’s some 400kg lighter than the hybridised Mercedes-AMG C63 E-Performance.

The major changes have come under the skin. The suspension and damping has had a retune, partly to improve the ride in normal mode and partly to remove what Alfa Romeo described as an “oscillation” in some circumstances. But bigger is the introduction of a mechanical limited-slip differential. While the rest of the automotive world moves from mechanical control of the rear axle to electric, Alfa Romeo has chosen to move in the opposite direction.

The difference that has been made takes only as long as pulling out of the first junction to notice. The old Giulia Quadrifoglio had a real tendency to immediately attempt to destroy its rear tyres the moment you stepped on the throttle. While the new setup has not removed the Giulia’s tendency toward tail-wagging, it has brought it under control. Stamp your foot as you exit a junction in dynamic mode and the rear will shift, but only as far as you command. 

The genius here is that it’s tamed the Giulia’s wayward characteristics without ruining what was a brilliant car before. The V6 still sounds good and delivers power above 5,000rpm like a madman, the steering is still weighted to bring you as much information as possible, but now there isn’t a little voice in the back of your head at all times wondering when it’s going to go full psycho.

The balance of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is nigh on perfect. Corner entry has always been good, the brakes are sharp and front end grip, through the dual wishbone suspension, is excellent. Now there is more surety in the middle of a corner. You know that the back end will only swing itself if you really ask it to rather than, at times, acting on its own whim. That allows you to focus on the whole experience rather than splitting a corner into tasks. 

Corner exit is extremely sharp. You can, if you wish, send the rear off into its own world – especially on a freezing cold March morning at Bicester – but you’re also treated to that marvellous feeling of a boot snapping to attention and propelling you. It has made the Giulia not only an excellent road car but also a lot of fun on track. There you can really hustle it into a corner, relying on that grippy nose, and then just feel it turn around you before it brings the dual soundtracks of the Akrapovic exhaust and the V6 gulp in in much-needed air. That’s coupled with the Giulia’s excellent metal gear paddles which remain the best around and are attached to a pretty slick eight-speed gearbox.

The changes to the suspension setup have also helped with everyday road driving. The Giulia feels a little less fidgety than it did through town in its normal driving mode. It becomes a slightly more relaxed machine and probably a little easier to live with.

Another place with slight cosmetic changes for the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. The layout of the Giulia is mostly familiar to anyone who has driven one since its launch. An upgrade in 2021 added a rather well-positioned wireless phone charging pad and updated some of the materials. A 2024 update adjusts the infotainment system so that it runs like the Tonale’s and adds a new fully-digital instrument cluster, still housed within the same double bubble binnacle.

There’s also a new material for the centre console and door inserts. Rather than the shiny, coated carbon fibre found there before, both areas are now finished with what Alfa Romeo calls “3D carbon fibre”. The reality is that the weaves are now open to the touch and rough rather than smooth. It feels like miniaturised garden furniture, the kind of brown rattan you see in B&Q.

Very little else has changed. We drove the Giulia with the standard seats, which are comfortable and provide some support, but not as good when on track as the excellent, if visually challenging, carbon-fibre optional Sparco sport seats. Space in the rear is good and the boot is reasonably cavernous. If you want extra space you’ll have to move to the Stelvio SUV as any dreams of an estate Giulia are surely now dashed.

The Giulia rides as standard on 19-inch telephone dial wheels (which all Alfa Romeos should do of course). There is the option of making those 20 inches, but you’d struggle to find a reason. The standard wheels look good and you’d likely end up sacrificing some of the comfort gains made in the changes to the suspension.

The 8.8-inch touchscreen is standard on all Quadrifoglio models, as is a Harman Kardon 14-speaker sound system, DAB radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. For the £78,195 base price, you’ll also get active cruise control, dual-zone climate control, lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, wireless phone charger, front and rear parking sensors, heated seats, heated steering wheel, automatic windscreen wipers and a rear-view camera.

That infotainment system is probably the Giulia’s Achilles' heel. It is better than it was before, and the integration of a touchscreen system has made it more accessible. But it’s still quite low-resolution and featureless compared to some rivals. It will provide you with audio and sat-nav info perfectly well so don’t think it’s a total dud, but don’t step into a Giulia expecting the ultimate in 21st-century interior technology.

Who knew that there was more to be extracted from the Alfa Romeo Giulia’s package? Yes it had always had that slightly more angry side to it, but you felt that that was just a part of the Giulia. It turned out that some back-to-basics thinking was all that was needed to make it one of the absolute best handling, most engaging cars on the planet.

Some might lament the idea that it’s a little less lairy than before. If you do, I would challenge whether you’d driven the latest Guilia Quadrifolgio. An absolute master of its craft, it also undercuts the BMW M3 by a few thousand pounds. The Bimmer is excellent admittedly, but it just cannot and will never have you looking back at it lovingly like the Alfa would.

The idea that Quadrifoglio will survive the all-EV transformation of Alfa Romeo is comforting. But just before we do that, Alfa Romeo has given one of its greatest a truly worthy sendoff. If you’re looking for driving fun and engagement in a package that just looks better than any of its rivals, snap one up. It’s not around forever.