Anyone have a new Giulia

With clear roads took the e46 m3 out for a compro spin. The e46 is a smaller car, feels more compact, its ride is far more brittle than the Alfa, Hard to compare the classic Na inline 6, there just a linearity to its response and noise the turbo motors cant cant match. Once on the boil the E46 is also clearly faster,especialy once the speeds rise past say 85. The biggest thing I noticed is that in the e46 it feels like youre sitting in greenhouse, because the door sills are so much lower and the whole machine is more compact.

In comparison, the Alfa has more real world perforrmance because its motor does not need to get caned yo be on the boil, all the Tq is there from 2k rpm. its cocked and loaded all the time. The Alfa is also much more of a luxury car, and is ride is clearly superior as is chassis balance/grip. In a sense the Alfa is what the M series cars used to be, the one machine that can do it all. When pushed its really has a feel and response of a sports car, and when not pushed is a luxury car. Its a dual mode machine.

The e46 always felt like it had too much body roll despite its overall stiffness of ride, and you can really feel it on left to right transitions and visa versa, a car you really had to let the body settle and take its set. The Alfa is just really linear and buttoned down, yet ts ride esp at speed is superior.

The beemer is more "fun" when pressng on because of the stick, motor and view. The Alfa is more fun more of the time and more comfy. I would say its an Italian take on the classic m car formula and the Italians just did it better, plus the Alfas interior is just more stylish/special.

The alfa is a car which like many greats you just bond with as a driver almost imediatly, the e46 took time. The Alfa is clearly underated, and the E46 was somewhat overated. The Alfa is something to use very day and feels good going slow and fast, its useable but always an event.
It was a long search to find the perfect 4 door, in 2020 hands down its the Alfa, nothing else is close.

One last note, the MSRP for the beemer and Alfa are nearly identical and thats 15 years of time later, plus the real purchase price of the Alfa is way less, bargain of the century.

Compared to a more modern BMW the Alafa is just better, as modern beemers are sterile and thats before you look at price.

Yes the Alfa dealer experience does not compare, as Dai said you need to find a good one.

 

Yes the drive by wire brakes take getting used to. It seems its more pedal and ineterplay between speed, pedal position, an pedal pressure. Whereas on a good hydraulic system its mostly pedal pressure.

MPSS are great tires have them on the M3, was wondering what works on the Alfa.

 

Agreed, so simple to bring in these changes. Its crazy that an Italian car, and a sporty one at that does not have a nanny shut off. The italains being more prescriptive than the Germans who would have thought, Its also indicative that manufactuers still miss basic things when it comes to the consumer, doubly ironic that in more pedestrian FCA cars you can turn off the nannies.

I also see the gulia can be ordered with all sorts of self drive gizmos, I wonder how many are sold like that. Seems dealers order all that add on crap, does anybody who buys this car really want that? I had to look pretty far and wide to find ones without it, possibly dealers are left with stock of these unwanted pricey options.
They should really also actively offer the option to order cars.

My fantasy spec would be awd with a NA v6 fory the 4cyl price lol, or relaisticaly the euro 350hp 4cyl motor option. The quadrafoglio is in the end almost double what you pay for the 4cyl car, no awd, and that then becomes a different equation. For me the sport Ti awd came out not much more than a wrx, and the subie is not in the same orbit as the Alfa. A honda CTR costs less but is way more to lease.

In any event no reason why there is not a nanny defeat switch now.

Pls let us know how you like the audi and how they compare.

 

Dont know, its a good question, would like to believe Alfa designed some sort of system to work in snow, but hey Italy so who knows.. Owners manual says use in snow ecodrive mode for softer response, possibly dynamic lets it spin a little.. I can say backroad traction and stability in rain is simply fantastic. This is a car you can have a lot of fun with on days when others cant tread. I wanted a fast entertaining winter fun driver,I got more than that, a luxury sedan thrown in to boot.

Would love to take it to MMC on a snow day and play, but with auto esp probably will be a bummer. If it snows will go to a parking lot and try play. Reminds me of when my wifes new 01 acura mdx went to the bloomingdales parking lot in white plains on snow day, kids were small and we did all types of fun, because you could turn the nannies off on the mom car, cmon Alfa.
I think maybe that corrupted the kids, lol.

 

Yes Im comparing a awd Sport Ti to an e46. The E46 was also remapped to run properly(not more HP) because stock it had all flat spots and didnt really pull past 7k. Its just a point of comparison.
Im not giving Alfa a hard time for not having a NA v6 just my fantasy choice, the Busso V6 was best sounding engine ever, and turbos no matter how good have a little lag and lack the linearity of NA. Yes were in the turbo era so its a fact of life Im just making compros. The 4cyl Gulia is also prob 3-4mpg better than the e46.
For me a 4cyl gulia with the 350hp motor they have in euro would be ideal, because it think it would pull up top harder. The 4cyl cars don't have race mode so you cant ditch the nannies, and thats a serious omission..

The modern BMWS make lots of Hp but are imo a snooze and way too isolated.

 

I guess thats doable, but why does Allfa not just offer it with the switch, what bug crawled up their ass..

 

Had thought the 4 cyl came in two forms. At least thats what I read when the car was first coming out, but then there was suposedly going to be a stick too, and there were one or two road tsts in 16 with a stick. Didnt realize the 350 motor never came out.

On another note the 4 cyl car pushes past 130 mph at least as well as a stock e46, maybe a little better. Remapped the e46 is still quicker but its marginal to 130, the m3 runs to 180 in 5th. I think the autobox/tq really does the alfa favors, the performance is always there and immediate with the flex of a foot.. Still like all turbos theres points in the speed/rev range where its off song. Like most of these modern motors, no real joy is just runing at say 3-4k revs and just tickilign the throttle for feel and sound. In other words part of the joy is lost.

Had a long trip today, part of the drive is 30 mins through farm country undulating single lane roads. In the M3 if youre stuck behind normal moving traffic its really dull, and one feels the need to downshift pass and get going, to then trundle in 3rd and 4th just rolling on and off the throttle through hill and dale. In the Alfa its so comfy might as well roll with the traffic and listen to music.

The Alfa is also really alive coming round and out bends(30-80) hard on the throttle, it just loves that and feels really secure and pointy. You can put all the power down and steer out a bend and nothing feels like it will get overwhelmed. Two very different cars.

 

Got my car from a dealer friend of Elivans, same guys that did the tune. Elsewhere on the net they say not such a big gain. To me the question is whether it wakes up the top end, regardless of numbers. Car is already quick.

I’ll ask Elivan If I can try his car for comparisons. Possibly a top Endy motor needs different cams. Maybe not it’s all electronics.

just passed 1200 miles. It’s quick, wonder how summer heat affects the turbo motor. The crisp air is great for power now though.