Alfa Romeo has been back in North American since 2015 when it brought the tiny 4C sports car to this continent, but it wasn't until last year that it broke into the mainstream luxury car market with the Giulia, a four-door sedan sized and priced to compete against the likes of the BMW 3 Series, Lexus IS and Cadillac ATS.
The Giulia gets a number of updates for 2018, all of which are in trim, options and new standard features.
Giulia and Giulia Sport models get new chrome door speaker bezels, while the Ti gains a new 18-inch wheel design. Meanwhile, the high-performance Quadrifoglio variant gets forward collision warning plus and a premium Harmon Kardon stereo.
In terms of options, all models can now be had with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration and a cargo convenience package.
Base model buyers can now option their cars with a set of 18-inch bright turbine aluminum wheels, as well as an 8.8-inch infotainment display, driver assistance package with front park sensors and a Harmon Kardon stereo, all of which are also offered in the Giulia Sport.
Giulia, Giulia Sport and Ti offer a two-tone leather interior, and the Ti Sport can be further customized with two different 19-inch wheel designs, sport two-tone leather interior and a sport performance package. A Ti Lusso trim gets the option of light walnut wood trim.
Finally, the the Quadrifoglio now offers a driver assistance dynamic package.
We're not kidding when we call the Quadrifoglio a high-performance car: it uses a 2.9L twin-turbo V6 that makes an impressive 505 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque, a Ferrari-derived engine that Alfa says earns the distinction of being the most powerful ever used in one of the brand's production cars and lends the Giulia a claimed class-leading 3.8-second 0-100 km/h acceleration time. This was the engine Alfa launched the Giulia with last year and it's not hard to see why.
Quadrifoglio models also benefit from a hood, roof, front active aero splitter, interior trim and rear spoiler made of carbon fibre, adaptive performance suspension, DNA Pro drive modes with a race setting, torque vectoring and 3D navigation.
Elsewise, the Giulia gets its motivation from a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 280 hp and 306 lb-ft. Both engines come with an eight-speed automatic transmission that can be optioned with paddle shifters and the four-cylinder can be had with AWD, while the Quadrifoglio is strictly RWD to preserve the car's sport sedan steering feel.
Fuel consumption estimates are 10.0/7.2 L/100 km (city/highway) in four-cylinder RWD cars and 10.5/7.7 with AWD, while the Quadrifoglio is rated 13.8/9.6 L/100 km.
This vehicle has not yet been reviewed
