How come Alfa Romeo Giulia QV is slower in this test?

Need to be translated, also depends if they are using an Auto or Manual transmission

 

Manual transmission!

It's right in the tech data, first picture: Sechsganggetriebe = six-speed transmission

 

Indeed. The "track" used is tight, which might help the BMW as well.

Plus Auto Motor Und Sport (Autobild as well by the way), two German magazines, are very German orientated. Read many of them, if foreign cars even get any coverage, they hardly ever win any test.

Concerning the test (or part of) they mention that the Alfa's suspension/damping is just about a perfect compromise between agility and comfort. Although it understeers on tight corners, the area where the BMW shines, and on the straights it has to let the Mercedes go. They also wonder why the Alfa somehow can't reach a higher speed then 260km/h, while it should be doing 307km/h.

The BMW initially steers less direct as the Alfa but stays longer neutral through corners until it reaches its rear end grip limit. Finally, the BMW with 1624kg apparently is the lightest (strange), the Alfa weighs 48kg more, the Mercedes 142kg.

 

Maybe the extra weight is the sandbags the Germans put in the Giulia's trunk before the test

 

Yeah, that's it

In this case it's no doubt what cloverleaf said, the manual gearbox. (what they don't mention in the test by the way, at least not in these two sheets).

But what they do in regular comparison tests, is test and judge cars on the basis of a huge variety of parameters. Foreign cars already start at a disadvantage in Germany on "Kosten" and/or "Wirdschaftlichkeit (car costs). About 70%(?) of Germans drive German cars so lease rates and Car trade-in prices/deals are very favourable, a lot of them are made in Germany as well obviously. Plus die "Verarbeitung" (fit and finish) is always another easy target, aka, low hanging fruit.

Just check the "Auto Motor und Sport" or "Autobild" YouTube channels, you can easily see on the basis of a quick scan on cars tested, the basis of country of origin vs. the coverage that they receive, where their interest lies

Thinking about it, just recently (2014), the German ADAC (German Automobile club and National breakdown service) was caught in a scandal favoring German cars in their tests and yearly car awards. Especially cars from VAG were treated with let's say a very favorable attitude. Not a coincidence almost all awards went to German brands.

ADAC-Skandal: Gelber Engel schon seit Jahren manipuliert - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Germans are not just good with software, in print they're pretty hard to beat as well.

 

Well to be fair I trust this laptime test, except;

it's a bit unfair to test two cars with dct gearboxes against a manual (on a tight, twisty track even) without mentioning it as one of the prime reasons why it ended up as the slowest car (other than in the specs sheet).

 

Nationalism....alfas always pale compared to German makes in these tests....lol

 

Why so concerned? So many variables ... Buy the car you love and that makes you feel good. So what if it is slower? I'd take a stick Giulia over either of the other two, and with my distinct lack of skill with a stick it would be slower still. Wouldn't bother me a bit. The Giulia has much going for it. And many question marks. It's an Italian thing, a passion thing. No, the switchgear isn't as good, no it probably won't be as reliable, and in five or so months when the next M3/M4 comes out it will likely no longer hold the HP bragging rights. Life is too short to worry about a few tenths here or there, so unless your ego is so fragile that this would keep you up at night, go for it.


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