Video: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Head 2 Head vs M3 Competition, C63, ATS-V

[MCarRacr07]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

Variations are expected when cars are weighed by publications depending on options and fuel levels.

The point is that the Giulia Q is heavier than the M3, not the other way around as you originally stated, and that point is consistent.



The M3/4 is not "underrated" by BMW. Have you put a Giulia-Q on the dyno?

Two examples, one from Car & Driver and the other from Autobild (Giulia-Q on the left and M3 on the right for both). The Alfa keeps increasing the gap as speed builds. If you think both cars are on par in terms of acceleration, you're dreamin'

Now, if you keep this one going, I'll have to pull that troll emoticon on you

weight on the QV is listed at 3735..this is from 2 sources: my retail certificate of sale and NYS Title...question is with full fluids (gas/oil etc?)
not sure who determines actual weight..is it up to the manufacturer? or does the federal gvt get involved?....
as far as HP rating...putting the QV on the dyno was not so cut & dry for one owner...first they used a Mustang? dyno...then they used an AWD dyno and the results were odd...

[OnlySoMany]

Not to revisit or revive an old thread, but I was reading this and had some feedback. This is a bit of a long story, so bear with me if you are really wanting a good read about these two very different cars.

Having owned a few M3's, it was a VERY tough choice when I was looking to trade in the E92. It was lightly modified, and was a car that I never thought I would ever get rid of, honestly.

However, when I saw the first ad for the Giulia I was intrigued. I don't know what first made me look at it in depth, but I literally said to myself, "That is the only car that I would trade in the M3 for."

Being a person that adores many BMW models (I still own my 2009 335i coupe), it was a tough call. I had to know if the Giulia was worth it. Not only the expense, but also giving up what I considered to be a for sure thing with reliability and quality.

Before I went to test drive the Alfa (it's not spelled alpha people!), I went to my local BMW dealer to see what hey had in stock. In the very front of the line, they had a beautiful M4 mineral white ZCP. This was especially a soft spot for me as my e92 was alpine white coupe (manual), and in the light sunlight the mineral white looked amazing. I looked at the sticker and it was around $83K, as it was loaded with pretty much everything other than the new headlight LED upgrade. BTW, I really like the new ZCP wheels, and I think they really add a certain aggressiveness to the car.

I drove the M4 ZCP 2 times for around an hour each time, some on regular roads, some on the fast twisties. I have nothing to say that would create a negative perception of the car. Fast shifts (DCT), great acceleration, great feeling controls, great ergonomics, nice styling. But I had to be sure.

After driving the M4 I went out to the Alfa Romeo dealer, which was a bit further out. Took me about 50 minutes to get there (took the e92 of course), and the m4 drive was still fresh on my mind. I wasn't really sure what to expect.

Now of course, you will expect me to say that I then drove the alfa and was amazed and instantly bought it right away. This is not the case. The Alfa I drove was a black metallic QV with the "black ice" interior, which is to say that it is split between a black leather/plastic and white leather/plastic in the cabin. It was neat, but wasn't really...pretty. The paint was cool, and you could instantly see the level of metallic that was in the paint. But, it did remind me a bit of the boat paint that goes a bit over the top when it comes to the glitter-ness of it. Let me say this though, in person the Alfa is an aggressive looking, pretty car. It has weird sculpted shapes that are pretty, but in a strange way. Its mysterious.

Anyway..the test drive lasted about 40 minutes, and I was slightly offput by the dynamics of the car at first. The salesman went along with me, and was polite and reasonably quite most of the way to let me enjoy the car. I drove the car in the "dynamic" setting, and while it was very fast I was not impressed. I didn't get that raw, fun feeling that I had with my e92, add that to the fact that it was an automatic, and I felt a bit underwhelmed. I then asked the salesman if we could keep driving for a bit, and while hesitant (the car I was driving already had 400 miles on it from people driving it, and with the QV still being so rare) the salesman reluctantly agreed.

It was at this point on he second drive I asked if I could put the car in race mode, and he was like....Oh, I don't know, they tell us that isn't allowed on test drives, etc etc. I told him I was legit and that I would be very careful, as I was still looking for that "rawness" that I got from the e92. I told him that if I couldn't get that, it was a no-go. I just didn't feel it yet, even this far into the drive. It was great, don't get me wrong. Fast, composed, nice. But not raw.

He agreed. So I pushed the car a bit harder. It wasn't mine or going to be due to the interior colors, so who cares? I bet the other people that drove it did the same thing, so I didn't feel too bad about it.

Right about now, you will probably expect me to say that the race mode is what sold me on the car, and to be honest, it did have a slight effect. It was obviously a different feel. The car seemed to shrink around me, and I could start to feel a bit of the "fizz" sensation. But, still...something was missing. I even told him, I can't quite put my finger on it, but idk, something doesn't feel right. Something is lacking.

Quick note: The backroads around the dealership were amazing. When you look at Top Gear (UK) or any motoring show you enjoy you think of stringing together the curves and having trees on either side and sunlight shining through them, yeah, it was just like that. It was a beautiful day.

At this point I was still unimpressed and disappointed. I was like "all this hype and for what?" Then, at the very end of the test drive, the salesman said, "and there is also a manual mode" and pushed the stick to the left, placing it in full manual mode. No more automatic upshifts. The car felt different then. It was like the car felt truly dialed in at that point, and you could see all the work from smart people pouring over maths to get the calibration just right. To get it to hold all gears until you really wanted to shift. The dash lighting up and saying "shift!" There were no computers automatically handling my shifts, now it was me. I was in control. And for being an auto, those manual shifts were fast. Not as fast as the DCT in the m4, but damn close. Unless you are a computer, I urge you to feel the difference. Seat in headrest quick. I was like, holy crap, this changes everything. Full fizz, full Alfa dna.

...and then we pulled back into the dealership. I was told that they were not willing to let me drive it again unless I put a deposit on the car, as I had already put about another 40 miles on it.

Fuck.

Now, I am a weird geeky guy. I have had a lot of fast cars and pretty women (no, really), but I tend to overthink and over analyze things. Needless to say I was a bit pissed. Manual mode and then stop?? It was like getting to third base with a super hot woman only to have your mom walk in on you and tell your date to go home. This was not acceptable.

So now I had some information to go off of. My first thought was to go back to BMW and drive the m4 again. So I did. This time I drove a black m4 ZCP that had about 3k miles on it, as they wouldn't let me drive the new one again unless I was super serious about buying it, aka putting down a deposit. At this point, I was super unsure on what was the better car, and only more driving would solve the issue. For the black m4, they just took a copy of my license and told me to take as long as I needed, up to 1.5 hours as they had another person that had an appointment to drive it. Cool beans. That should give me enough time to figure it out.

It was a great experience. The BMW was so precise and tactile. You could really feel the history, the heritage, and the engineering that went into it. While it wasn't as "engaging" as my e92, you could definitely feel the increase in outright speed. This would require some more thought. I decided to sleep on it and see what stuck in my mind from all the test drives.

It took 3 days. I thought it over, and despite all my comparisons, I could not get over the "sparkle" of the Alfa. It had personality. It had style. It was the white blue jeans when everyone else is wearing blue. That feeling of the car when it shrunk around me and started to dare me to do what I wanted to do was too much. The constant push, push push, go go go please do something you boring fuck feeling in race mode. It was driving me crazy. So like Jeremy Clarkson in that Ferrari 355 review, "I have to have one." It just made me feel special, and that anything that I could want to possibly do with my limited driving skills, I could do, and I would love it.

The next day I went to the Alfa dealer. They said that they had heard that another one was coming in within a week, as I did not want the one that had the black/white interior that other people, including me, had been so mean to. I got the salesman's cell number, and he said that he would text me when the other model came in. Funny thing is, he couldn't tell me what color it was, inside or out lmao. Apparently, alfa is pretty shitty about these types of things, and also their delivery dates. About 4 days later, he said that the truck driver had called and said he would be there tomorrow morning. I made my plans to be there.

Got to the dealer at about 8:45AM. No QV. I decided to wait, as since I own my own business I can kind of make up my own schedule within reason. I had brought my laptop so I could at least get some work done while I was sitting there. Hours pass. No QV. The dealer is calling and trying to see if it will be there today, and not getting any response. Now it's 3pm, and they are starting to think it would come tomorrow, but they can't be sure. Their team was great and was really trying, but it was disappointing to say the least.

Then they get the call, and come running over to me. They said "It's here, he's pulling in now". They were just as excited as me. I about shit a brick.

We all go running outside to see a third party covered truck pull up. When the back slowly opens, I see a new GT3 on the bottom, and as the back goes up....there is the alfa. Wrapped in white cloth, brand new.

They get the car down and I can see it is the Vesuvio grey metallic with the 5 hole dark wheels. It looks stunning. Like a weird dark liquid grey. The four leaf clover badge is a true badge, not a sticker. There is a special indent in the fender for it. It looks like it has a place on the car, like it belongs there. Once the have it down, they open the door, and I can see that it has the black leather with red. As stupid as this sounds, it looks Italian. It radiates it. The passion of all the people who made it becomes apparent.

.....So I bought it. On site, no questions asked. And I bought the 75k mile complete bumper to bumper warranty from Alfa, just to be safe


- skip ahead a few months -


Amazing. Docile when you want it to be, and an absolute hooligan when you need it to be to get away from life. I recently took it to an exotic car show where there were Lamborghini's and Ferrari's (including a few Enzos!) and the car got just as many looks, if not more. Seriously unique. And an absolute blast to drive. It's hard to explain, there is just something to this car that make every drive feel like a true occasion. It's not my daily, my 335i is, but I genuinely look forward to taking it out. I may sound crazy when I say this, but the body has curves to it. When you are waxing it, it just flows. It feel organic. Hell, I even go out in the garage just to stare at it sometimes. When I took the car to get the clear bra over the entire car, the 3 days it was gone I genuinely missed it. WTF is happening to me??

Steering is a joy to use. The lightness is a far cry from the granite like nature of the BMW's I have had. Don't get me wrong, I like heavy steering, and I still like it in the 335. It makes me feel like I have more control. But the Alfa is playful. It's happy, but pissed at the same time. Again, hard to explain. When I drive it I find myself holding my breath unintentionally, just trying to take it all in. It's a weird, mad car.

The bad:

As much as other have bashed the interior, yes, there are a few low quality bits, but they are lower on the doors and in places where don't really notice it unless you are trying to find it. All the places you see when you are driving or just using the car as a car look great, feel great...with the exception of the "Robo brakes". The brake by wire is the car's biggest letdown. After years of hydraulic brakes, you really have to get used to it. Is it bad, meh, I'm not sure, but it definitely takes some getting used to.

The good:

Everything else. All the car's faults are forgivable. Like when you get into a fight with your wife and she pisses you off, but at the end of the day you can lay next to her and be happy. Seriously just buy one. If you want to keep your M4 ZCP or otherwise, I 100% understand. It is a fantastic car that you should be proud of and happy with. It's so very close between the two cars I think we should all be happy that we live in such a great car period, and that such cars exist. For me it was the Alfa. And I don't regret it for a single second.

Be well gents, and be safe.



**** Edit as of January 2018. I traded in the 335i for a 2014 M Sport 435i. Had it for one month. I then upgraded to a 17' Giulia Ti Sport. I had to have that chassis everyday. Call me crazy, but that Alfa is killer. To use one word, it's FUN. Every day I look forward to the hour long drive to work because it means I get to drive my Alfa. The M Sport feels like a well-sorted brick by comparison.

[Bonziii82]

Originally Posted by OnlySoMany

Be well gents, and be safe.

Thank you for this review, I'm in a very similar scenario right now. About to get rid of my e92 for four doors and it'll either be an Alfa or M3 ZCP. The problem for me has been finding an Alfa to drive in my area (Atlanta).