With the weekend behind us, it’s time to hit our goals again. #mondaymotivation #monday #nomondayblues #giulia #alfaromeo #alfaromeogiulia #italy #italiancars 📸 @forever4tune

A post shared by The Car People (@khulekani_on_wheels) on Jul 1, 2018 at 10:43pm PDT

Recently, I had the opportunity of driving the Alfa Romeo Giulia. I took on the mission trying to understand why a vehicle, which came third in the South African Car of the Year awards, lags behind the competition. This is not to dismiss the overall historical issues about the Alfa brand but just the question was raised from a narrower assessment of the Giulia on its own merits.

The Giulia is a very attractive car. The typical ‘we don’t care about front registration plates design’ Alfa Romeo design is seen the Giulia. The front is has the charming Alfa grille with a bumper that has large air intakes, both of which make the number plate on the side look like a minor irritation to the beautiful design from Italy. The side profile also looks attractive. It’s simple yet elegant. The back is also impressive with the large boomerang LED backlights.

Step inside and you are greeted by a well-crafted interior. The infotainment screen is well integrated into the dash. The overall quality is also good. There are soft touch materials, brushed aluminium and a dark wood grain trim. The infotainment is easy to use with the rotary dial in the middle (although having a touchscreen would help).

The cabin feels spacious. There’s ample legroom for the driver and the front passenger. The back passengers also do not struggle for leg and shoulder room. The boot will not disappoint with its 480 litres of boot space, which is enough to gobble up a couple of bags for a trip to the coast. Weirdly enough, the button to open the boot inside the car is almost hidden near the driver’s legs and proves to be a bit hard to reach. That aside, everything else is within easy reach of the driver.

Oh Giulia, you beauty! Today we welcome the Giulia, a fine but rather underrated Italian sedan from the @AlfaRomeo_SA stable. Under the hood is a 2.0 litre turbopetrol engine with 147 kW and 330 Nm. More here: https://t.co/Mxkf3aTOgv pic.twitter.com/WnfgLNwLTX

— Khulekani on Wheels (@khuleonwheels) June 28, 2018

I enjoyed the power from turbo petrol 2.0T engine with 147kW/330Nm. It’s quicker than most of the cars it competes with in its segment, doing 0-100 km/h in 6.6 seconds. It’s particularly smooth with its 8-speed automatic transmission in highway driving conditions. However, in the city, the car seems a bit too eager. A gentle tap on the accelerator and she’s already a few steps ahead of you at times. A bit tricky when driving in Joburg traffic. The engine sounds a bit too noisy, which is not what you’d expect from a car of its calibre. Perhaps this is one area where the competition has a bit of an upper hand. Other than that, the car is worth your consideration when looking for an option in this segment.

The Giulia is priced from R 536,435 and is sold with a 3-year/100 000 km warranty and a 6-year/100 000 km maintenance plan.