MOTORING
Alfa
Romeo
Giulietta
As a car company and a producer of vehicles, the Alfa Romeo name is synonymous with Italian style, panache and exciting models. It has a very strong pedigree and probably over a hundred years they have produced truly superb vehicles.
The Giulietta was first introduced in to the market place over 60 years ago and now the vehicle is once again in the market place for the buyer who wants a stylish, non-mainstream vehicle, a vehicle that makes a statement. The styling especially at the front is without doubt beautiful, it has a classic style to it, it is a dynamic vehicle without being too quirky, I honestly think that frontal area with its offset number place really does turn heads were ever the Alfa brand is utilised, writes Bob Hickman.
There can be little doubt that the Giulietta is up against some serious competition, Alfa really does have a lot riding on the Giulietta. It is available as a 5-door only, but when you look at it closely you think it is a 3-door coupe, because the designers have used that well proven trick of hiding the rear door handles in the back of the window, to give a coupe like appearance.
There are a choice of 4 petrol engines and 3 diesels, 1.4-litre starts the range with a healthy 115bhp. My particular test vehicle was the wonderful 1.6-litre JTDM-2 turbo diesel engine. This was allied to a 6-speed manual box and proved to be a super companion. I have to admit the performance figures were in keeping with what Alfa are suggesting with the exception of course of the miles per gallon. It has a power output of 120bhp and the clever engineers at Alfa have managed to reduce the CO emissions to 99g / km. Where possible a top speed of 121mph should be achieved and a 0-60 gallop is reached in about 10 seconds. The combined fuel figure is excessive high, Alfa suggest 74.3 mpg however in a week of extensively varied mileage with one particular 350 motorway round trip in a day, we averaged 53.7mpg, which in this day and age I find quite acceptable.
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