Club Alfa Sport

A very typical situation for any more or less large company – hierarchy expressed in vehicles that employees drive. As you look over the parking lot, one could see all the various cars parked outside – while vice president would be driving a souped up Mercedes or Jaguar, a manager could be seen parking his Jeep Grand Cherokee or Ford Mustang, while a regular employee would be getting around in a Civic or Camry or something equally modest.

Of course there are no written rules and no one would be able to formally forbid a junior agent to roll in on a Lincoln Navigator or a Dodge Viper, but as the history shows over and over, one would not stay with that company for too long. And yet the smart Europeans, not wanting to settle for driving a “yawn-mobile” and yet very conscientious of  all the dangers of backstabbing in climbing the career ladder found a way around it. This was as simple, as buying an initially small (thus not creating a wrong impression) car, but with a hot engine and plenty of attitude.

Good examples of such cars could be hot hatches,  that don’t mess with the company hierarchy and yet are a pure pleasure to drive, whether it’s VW Golf GTI or Ford Focus RS or Subaru Impreza. And Alfa is more than iconic in supplying the small cars that could easily take to the places, where the boss’s thumb doesn’t reach. We are referring to the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta and to show how well it performs we chose to compare it to the BMW 1st series, with the help of our Western and Eastern European colleagues. The comparative test took place on Germany’s impeccable Autobahns and in our opinion well proved the point.

The new Giulietta is the car that made to turn heads – with a decreased trunk, and prominent hood, and typical Italian styling. Inside, the cockpit is very stylish, though not very typical for Alfas. This time Alfa has a new chassis, a new engine and comes with the new long-lasting assembly quality. It’s opponent this time is the Bavarian 1st series – ultra compact, with refined maneuverability and the styling of the bigger BMWs. Both hot hatches boast 170 hp, though are of two different mentalities: Alfa utilizes 1.4 TB 16V MultiAir turbo engine, while BMW gets the same amount of power from its 2L 4 cylinder engine, though Alfa has a bit more torque 250 against 210. Both cars use 6-speed manual gear boxes, while Alfa is front wheel drive, when BMW  traditionally comes with a rear-wheel drive.

Giulietta has gained some more interior space, it is 13 cm longer than its opponent, it’s wider and has a massive front, helping it better realize its torque on its FWD concept. Despite the greater size, Alfa engineers were able to keep the weight down to 1365 kg, which is actually 10 kg lighter than the BMW.

Interior inside of Alfa is of a very good quality, though it doesn’t resemble much the traditional Alfa cockpits, may be except for the steering wheel. It also comes with a DNA switch allowing to switch between the various settings. BMW place of the driver looks respectable and in line with the bigger models, and yet as they, it is definitely not as elegant as it once was, before BMW started its strange experiments with styling under the leadership of the new head designer. I guess it could be compared to Android smart phones, where the form and shape is sacrificed for the sake of the gadgets. The rear seats in both cars don’t offer a lot of space, there is less space than even in VW Golf, though Alfa is a little roomier.

And here is the main part, since we are talking about hot hatches, how do they perform on the road? Will Alfa live to its bold styling and claims? The first impression doesn’t let one down – the small turbo fueled power train eagerly starts its work, pleasantly inhaling and exhaling the fed in air and rewarding its owner with a “basso profundo” tone. And in deed the new, technically advanced engine fits well under the hood of Giulietta. The intake camshafts are replaced with the hydraulic actuating drive, the combination that is both more powerful and (together with start-stop system) more fuel-efficient than the previous one – the fuel efficiency is roughly 5,6 litres per 100 km.

In the same time BMW is not able to reach the same index, settling at 6,6 l/100 km, despite direct injection and a similar start/stop system. More so, one has to rev it pretty high to be able to adequately accelerate. Obviously a 6-line in would give a different result. Meanwhile Alfa shines not only in the engine department – Guiletta provides uniquely precise handling and makes negotiating curves a simple task. It makes it so simple that even BMW, renowned for its advanced steering and with a better mass distribution due to RWD, can’t measure up. And switching the DNA selector to the Dynamic position enables helping the steering with the use of the accelerator pedal. This Alfa has a harmonized and well-balanced handling, while BMW strangely fights strong vertical oscillations while negotiating the curves.

So has the time to change the icons finally come?! We will not say that BMW 1^st series will not find its fans and buyers – it already has its following and sells well, while Alfa once again rolls out a hot-tempered car with a better attitude, which sells in Europe for only €22,400 against €27,150 for BMW 120i.