The extra few horsepower, I rather suspect, is mostly for the birds. There’s no extra torque or turbo boost conjured by the 2.9-litre V6; just a slightly greater appetite for revs at the top end. It’s still a very appealing engine, with its elastic rush of mid-range torque and keenness for the redline – but it would benefit from a bit less exhaust rort and a bit more genuine combustion noise.
I needed the few laps afforded to us at the bumpy, cambered handling circuit at Montlhery Autodrome to really tell any difference made to the hot Giulia’s handling by Alfa’s chassis revisions; because, on the road, the car feels very familiar to drive, if perhaps a little more roll-resistant.
But on track, it does feel improved: better tied down over fast crests and through compressions, a shade more precise and feelsome in its high-speed steering – but most of all, more stable through tighter turns from the apex onwards, with greater traction.
While fun, the original Giulia ‘QV’s active diff could pitch the car quite hard into corners initially via an overdriven outside rear wheel, only to throw its hands up once the car had started to slide and you were looking for assured traction to take you onwards. The new mechanical one feels quite mildly calibrated, but tolerates an exuberant line and input style better. WIth improved basic stability, you can fling the new Giulia around with greater confidence, but drive it out of corners much better – and still take it to lurid drift angles if you so choose.
