From the January 2018 issue
Into a sea of cars with indifferent, feedback-free steering systems sails an Alfa Romeo tethered securely to the tarmac via rubber, aluminum, and verve. It comes from Italy, but its steering is from the empyrean realm.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia comes in two guises: the steals-your-heart four-cylinder model and the steals-your-license Quadrifoglio. Markedly different points on the sanity meter, each version nonetheless exhibits sparkling steering fidelity and faithfully transmits chassis motions to its driver’s fingertips, guts, and soul.
At our 2018 10Best Cars test, a lesser Giulia, the 280-hp Ti, was an all-wheel-drive model lacking both the adaptive suspension and the limited-slip rear differential that come with the Performance package, yet it navigated the cratered, off-camber 10Best roads with compliance and composure. The 505-hp Quadrifoglio simply ignored the pavement irregularities with a combination of speed and magic befitting a fully realized sports sedan, which is exactly what it is. Although they share an ultraquick 11.8:1 steering ratio, the 2.0-liter Ti’s light controls can be directed with fingers and toes, whereas the Quad demands a more deliberate grip—both on its steering wheel and on your lunch.
There’s sufficient pace in the QF to rival a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, but it comes without the big American’s bravado and need for attention. It is, on that scale, a subtle Italian. But it’s not a beginner’s car. It doesn’t chase lane ruts like several of the highly focused 10Best contenders, but its animated steering and rear-biased-handling behavior will keep even the sharpest drivers awake when pushing hard. Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes down the road, and the Quadrifoglio delivers the disciplined, precise chassis of a machine that’s alive, intuitive, and real damned quick.
The Giulia’s ability to offer confidence-inspiring control coupled with its refusal to be sterile or stiff is what advanced it easily to our 10Best Cars winners’ circle. We voted it onto our roster keenly aware that, until that point, not a single Giulia Quadrifoglio had passed through our hands without, at a minimum, illuminating a check-engine light. But both cars were completely trouble-free. Plus, the dynamic allure of these machines is absolutely irresistible. If you have a taste for bland buttered noodles, buy a Lexus ES. If you want arrabbiata, get an Alfa Romeo Giulia. Both trim levels deliver on the promise of their heritage, with chassis and steering systems that grant assurance as speed builds. These aren’t just spectacular sedans, they are four-door tools of engagement that drive well, are everyday livable, and are never dull.
Tech Highlight: Steering
Core to the Giulia’s back-road magic is its light, responsive, and superquick steering ratio. At 11.8:1, this Alfa’s rack offers the quickest fixed ratio in any sedan made today. For comparison, consider the 15.0:1 and 14.1:1 ratios used, respectively, by the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63. Alfa benchmarked the BMW 3-series and 5-series for feel, speed, and response and then evidently chose its own path. The Italian brand went with a fixed-ratio rack instead of a variable-ratio unit, conferring on-center quickness and cost savings. The Giulia’s Bosch-supplied steering rack is assisted by an electric motor turning a recirculating-ball drive via a belt.
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