Giulia (Type 952) 2015 - Current

My love of Alfa Romeo's started around 18 Years ago. I apologise now as this is going to be a bit of  waffle about my car history.

I had loved cars ever since my first driving lesson which was with a local instructor who used a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo for lessons. My first ever time behind the wheel of a car saw me driving at 60mph down a country road and I was hooked.

After passing my test I went through a few mundane Ford models but always wanted to 'make them better' with a few modifications. This escalated over the next few Years as I moved through cars and started buying the likes of XR3i's and then then fitting the engine from an RS Turbo in a friends front garden. This continued with the likes of Capri V6 engines into base model Sierra's and RS Turbo engines (again!) into an Orion Ghia, which also had a one off body kit made using Sierra RS Cosworth parts.

Then I got to the point where I was able to actually afford the 'fast' models and went through Escort RS Turbo's, Sierra XR4x4's and Sapphire Cosworth's, but then I got bored with always owning Fords and wanted something different...so I bought a Peugeot 405 Sri. It was fine but nothing special, but I had plans for it!

Working with a company called Viper Motorsport, I sourced a lot of new parts and the car was moved into a friends large workshop, where it stayed for the next Year. In that time I joined the Peugeot Sport Club and became the Yorkshire Group Rep and joint National event organiser. This put me in close contact with many people within Peugeot Sport themselves (including the, then, BTCC drivers who I had the joy of being in the cars with around MIRA proving grounds on a couple of occasions), and enabled me to get a few parts for the 405 which was now replaced in the BTCC by the 406.

I turned the 405 into a throttle bodied MI16 engined nightmare! It was very fast, VERY loud (it had what was essentially a BTCC exhaust on it), very noticeable, with the actual carbon aero parts from the previous Years 405 BTCC car fitted, and very uncomfortable to be in. Whilst amazing on the track it was pretty much unusable on the road so I ended up selling it for a fraction of what it had cost me to build....only for it to be written off by the new owner a few weeks later.

This had the effect of putting me off modifying cars completely! I went through a few more Peugeots...a 309 GTI being one but mostly mundane diesel models, and then a Renault 19 16v...but I was in my early thirties by this point and was starting to look to cars that were a bit more luxurious.

Whilst driving to to the Leeds office of the company I worked in, I happened to go past the Alfa Romeo dealership and a car on the forecourt caught my eye. On the way home, I decided to pop in and have a look. It was a 156 Selespeed. Now, I knew about the Selespeed as I had read about the Ferrari derived sequential box in some publication previously and liked the idea. That, along with the colour of the car and the interior, had me sold.

I went in and negotiated a deal, which also included them fitting the side skirts and rear high level spoiler (which I saw on another 156 whilst there). I did want the front bumper extension but it was on back order and they could not guarantee I would get it. I test drove the car and that was it, I was hooked. There was something about it that, to this day, is still hard to explain but every Alfa driver just instinctively knows what I mean. It felt special, different, luxurious, sporty, emotional and so much more...this was the car I had to have!

A couple of weeks later and I was in my new 156. Over the space of the next Year I added some brushed chrome Momo mirror caps and swapped the wheels for Momo alloys as well (can't remember the model name?). The car was amazing and only ever let me down once (in a big way though, when the Selespeed box when into an indicated neutral in rush hour traffic at a set of lights in the middle of the city centre and would not go into gear. However, when trying to push the car, it was obviously still stuck in a gear. That was not a fun hour waiting for breakdown recovery and causing a tailback of about a mile!).

I still loved the car though until it was involved in an accident with a truck driving into the side of it. the repairs dragged on for a long time due to sub standard work from the insurance appointed company. Not long after the repairs were finally completed the car was broken into, causing damage to the drivers door and requiring more repairs. This caused me to fall out of love with the car and I decided to move on....but it had to be to another Alfa. 

That Alfa was the GT. I had loved it since first seeing it and knew I wanted one eventually so, when a very well looked after 1.9 GTD cam up for sale locally I went for it.

The GT stayed completely standard and was a great car I would have kept for some Years had it not been for the arrival of my Son requiring something a bit more practical. Over the next decade and a half I went through mundane cars such as an Audi A4, Mitsubishi Outlander (the WORST car I have ever owned!), VW CC and a BMW X5.

I hadn't owned my own car since 2020 when we decided to move to a single car for us to both use. That being the X5 at first and then, in 2022, a BMW iX3. However, in 2020, I saved a picture of a car on my phone with the note attached 'one day!'

That car was the Giulia Quadrifoglio! I knew that I wanted another Alfa Romeo as no other car had ever made me feel the way the Alfa's did but, because of ongoing health issues, I knew that whatever car I bought would most likely be my last so it may as well be a good one I could have some fun with. The main reason we had moved to SUV's was to help with me getting in and out so, going to back to a low slung saloon would be painful....so it had to be worth that pain!

Earlier this Year (2024) I decided that it was now or never. My health was slowly getting worse so, if I wanted my own car again, it had to happen this Year. In January I test drove a Giulia Quad. It wasn't the right one for me but I went away from that test drive grinning from ear to ear knowing that I HAD to own one....but it had to be the right one.

I spent the next nine Months endlessly looking at Auto Trader at every Quad listing until, in September, I saw one....the perfect one. It was 180 miles away but I could not pass this up so, a call was made.

I had created a spreadsheet when I started looking for a Giulia Quad. It included all the differences and options across the various model Years along with spaces where I could put notes in around bodywork, interior, tyres, brakes etc. on any cars that I went to view.

The spreadsheet was currently empty as, by September, I had only viewed one car and that was the first one I test drove that made me sure I wanted one. Ideally, I want an MY20 model as I preferred the rear lights and revised interior. I also wanted the quieter cabin from the thicker glass (I know, a strange thing to want in a Quad but I wasn't intending on driving it in Race everywhere and wanted a comfortable, quiet cruiser as well).

My wish list included carbon mirror covers, carbon scudetto, exposed carbon roof, the telephone dial alloys (in dark grey), Harman Kardon sound system, Sparco carbon shell seats, read stitching with red seat belts or green and white stitching with green seatbelts, black rear Giulia badge and the car had to be either Vesuvio Grey or Competizione Red....if grey, had to be red callipers, if red had to be yellow callipers.

.....so, as you can see, I was being VERY particular and narrowing my choices down significantly.

However, in September, an add appeared for an MY20 Quadrifoglio, in Vesuvio grey, with red callipers, red stitching, red seatbelts, Sparco seats, HK sound, exposed carbon roof, mirrors, scudetto, black badge and the right wheels. The mileage was a bit high but it sounded like a very well looked after example. I had done my homework and knew what were the essentials when looking at any used Quad and this one seemed to have been very well looked after with all the big services done at the right time and the added advantage of just having new Brembo discs and pads all round along with new Goodyear Eagle F1's replacing the Pirellis. 

I spoke to the dealer, found out about the previous owner and his reason for selling the car and talked about finance options.

That weekend we were on our way down South from West Yorkshire on a 180 mile trip to view and test drive the car......a few hours later I was driving home in it. The car was perfect for me. It had everything I had wanted in a Quad along with as much assurance as possible that it would be a good car to own that had been well maintained. It was the right price and I just couldn't pass it up.

The drive home was an absolute joy. I got a couple of other drivers, one in an M5 and another in a 7 Series, pull up alongside and give me a thumbs up and it instantly made me realise what I had missed the most about being an Alfa Romeo driver. Other road users treat Alfa owners differently, with an unwritten air of respect and appreciation it seems? I think it's just seen as a marque that deserves that?

I am now looking forward to getting to know the car, maybe making a few very small upgrades (nothing major though as I am more than happy with her as she is) and getting along to as many AROC events as possible in 2025.

I am now a couple of Months into the ownership of the Quad and, whilst she has certainly not got the use she deservers, I am loving every single drive in her.

A couple of weeks after buying the car I happened to come across a picture on the AlfaOwner forum of her from the previous owner. I managed to get in touch and he just helped to confirm I have got a really good example. He was also extremely kind and offered to give me a few things he still had for the car...including an almost brand new set of Michelin Alpin 4S winter tyres in full protective bags. A quick drive down (120miles) in the middle of storm Bert and an, unfortunately, very short stop and chat with the previous owner was just wonderful. Finding out about the car whilst he had it and what he had done to it.

He had fitted the Squadra Tuning exhaust valve controller and, with this being a 2020 model, the SGW bypass as well. He had, unfortunately, sold the exhaust controller separately but the bypass was still fitted and he gave me the adaptor cable, as well as wireless Carplay adaptor.

One thing I have found surprising is just how comfortable the Sparco carbon shell seats are. They were a make or break decision when buying the car as I told the dealer that, although I wanted them, I had never actually sat in any so wouldn't know if I would want the car until I tried them out.

I think I actually prefer them to the heated and infinitely adjustable 'sofas' in our iX3 as the position and posture they create seems more comfortable on longer journeys. I do miss the heated seats (and steering wheel) on colder mornings but it doesn't take long for the car to warm up inside.

I am now looking at buy the Squadra Tuning Performance Logger to get the exhaust controller along with the extras it adds. The only other modification I am tempted with is to replace the rear spoiler with the Racing Edition one. I don't want to go as drastic as the GTAm or even the GTA, but think the Racing Edition spoiler just gives it that little bit of extra something at the rear.