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By Jonathan Crouch

Alfa Romeo returns to its competition roots with this car, the Giulia Quadrifoglio. In many ways, it's the ultimate Italian super saloon. Jonathan Crouch checks out the improved version.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 70

Take one of the most driver-orientated mid-sized premium sports saloons you can buy - Alfa Romeo's Giulia. Then give it a Ferrari-derived 2.9-litre twin turbo V6. Add in a special torque differential to get all that power down through the rear wheels. And assign a Ferrari engineer to finesse this creation. The result is this Giulia Quadrifoglio: and it's rather unique. This lightly revised 520bhp version is even more tempting.

Backgroundword count: 141

Over the last decade, there's been regrettably little from the Alfa Romeo brand when it comes to really powerful sports cars and super saloons - the kinds of models that might really appeal to keen drivers. At the launch of the Milanese marque's important Giulia saloon in 2016 though, we saw a car that represented just that, the Giulia Quadrifoglio. This model certainly has a proper engineering CV. Its V6 engine is inspired by a Ferrari V8 - and it was developed by an ex-Ferrari engineer too, Philippe Krief, the man behind the Maranello brand's much admired 456. The Quadrifoglio (or 'Cloverleaf') badge is one the Italian maker applies only to its most focused models. And its use is certainly justified here. In mid 2023, this model was lightly revised - and that's the car we're going to look at here.

Driving Experienceword count: 255

The engineering of this car hasn't changed in this lightly updated form, which means this Giulia Quadrifoglio model continues to be a four-door Ferrari in all but name. Under the bonnet lies a 2.9-litre petrol V6 Biturbo that's essentially a cut-down version of the 4.0-litre V8 used in Maranello's 488 GTB. It develops a thundering 520bhp, which at the time of this test was an output only 10bhp less than a rival BMW M3 Competition and substantially bettered only by the much pricier Mercedes C 63 E Performance. This Alfa storms to 62mph in a 3.9s time that's not far off that Merc, this figure only slightly slower than that Ferrari we just mentioned. And should you find yourself a track or a stretch of unrestricted autobahn, it'll keep powering on up to 190mph. Alfa's thrown all the performance technology it has at this halo model, though interestingly, not its Q4 4WD system. Not for our market anyway. In lieu of that, 'Active Torque Vectoring' helps get the power down through the bends, 'Active Suspension' varies the damping and 'Alfa Chassis Domain Control' connects the different systems to deliver the best set-up as the car is being driven. There's also an 'Alfa Active Aero' system that alters the angle of the front splitter to help this model scythe through the air more cleanly, plus the 'DNA' drive modes system gets an extra 'Race' setting for tyre-smoking starts. Other markets get a manual gearbox option but an 8-speed paddleshift auto transmission is mandatory for the UK.

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