Giulietta

Another weekend away in Turin two weeks ago, another spin of the Avis wheel of fortune. And for once, we got what it said on the order (rather than the "or similar"), which in this instance was a smart silver Alfa Romeo Giulietta. It was in mid-range Super spec and fitted with a 120bhp 1.6 turbodiesel, which is presumably the same engine as the one we had in the Renegade back in September. It was also very well run-in with over 17k kms on the clock.

Now the Giulietta is definitely getting on a bit these days, having been around since 2009. I last drove one in 2011 as a rental up in Scotland. But broadly speaking time has been quite kind to it, at least from an aesthetic perspective. It's always been a pretty car by hatchback standards and my wife was definitely keen on the design. Whatever minor titivating Alfa has done externally has kept it looking fresh and distinctive with a shape that is blessedly neat and uncluttered by modern standards. So it still definitely scores on the looks front.

Inside is where it shows its age: it's more than a bit dated and the quality is a bit so-so, but actually it's not that bad all things considered. The overall effect of the dash design is still reasonably modern and classy but the graphics on the dash and climate control displays are just out of the ark (similar to my 2005-vintage 156) and the resolution on the touchscreen is pretty dire. Some of the controls feel a bit cheap and "clicky" and the plastic door tops have a weird textured finish almost like sandpaper which is actively horrid to touch. The driving position is tricky – it was not easy to get comfortable but I managed it in the end. It's reasonably spacious fore and aft though and, while I recall in the past thinking that the rear visibility on a Giulietta was a bit restricted, it's a measure of modern trends, that it actually didn't seem so restricted on this one. What is notable is a boot that is positively cavernous for what is a relatively compact car. Yes, there is a lip, but that's because the boot is deep. It was much bigger than the Golf we were given in Edinburgh two weekends earlier and happily swallowed four people's luggage with room to spare. The only issue with the boot is that there is no handle for the rear hatch, so you get dirty fingers lifting under the bottom edge.

As for driving, well as noted I believe this is the same engine as the Renegade we enjoyed a month or so earlier. Again, no escaping that it's a turbo-diesel, which is always a shame in an Alfa (which should have at least a revvy petrol four) but it quietens down nicely at speed. 120bhp is enough to allow you to pull off with sufficient oomph, although it felt less eager to rev than I remember from the Jeep. Motorway speeds are clearly this engine's sweet spot and it zooms along very nicely at Italian motorway speeds (which don't correspond much to the formal limit). The six-speed manual gearbox was actually something of a minor gem, being reasonably short of throw and with a satisfyingly smooth action. Talking of good things, this is a car that handles really quite well with a nicely damped ride to boot. It just feels comfortable and secure with a nimble feel helped by a quick-acting steering rack. There is a "DNA" switch, but it seemed to be stuck in Dynamic, which was fine by me so I left it like that. It was actually a pretty good motorway cruiser – as I noted in the similarly powered Renegade, this engine is well suited to motorway cruising and the car felt much more quiet, smooth and refined that perhaps I was expecting, tyre roar excepted. Even in some pretty torrential rain on the autostrada it was unflappable, which is noteworthy since I recall the last Giulietta I tried aquaplaned nastily. That must be down to different tyres and road surfaces.

The main problem with the Giulietta is that it is priced very close to the latest Golf and, while the latter is a charmless beast by comparison, there is no escaping the fact that it is very much better.