LIKES
- Sexy curves
- Fun to drive
- Strong engines
- Quadrifoglio thrills
- Plenty of build options
DISLIKES
- Quick steering requires small corrections
- Smallish back seat
- Most safety features optional
- No manual transmission
BUYING TIP
Quick and sexy, the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia is an appealing Italian take on the sport sedan.
What kind of car is the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia? What does it compare to?
The 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia is a sport sedan with sexy Italian styling. Offered with a turbo-4 or a twin-turbo V-6, it’s fun in its base form and thrilling in its top trim. Rivals include the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and Volvo S60.
Is the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia a good car?
The Giulia is a hoot for those who love driving. It’s quick, agile, and beautiful. We give it a 6.8 out of 10 TCC Rating.
What's new for the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia?
Alfa Romeo simplifies the Giulia’s lineup for 2021 just like it does for the Stelvio. The models are now called Sprint, Ti, Ti Sport, and Quadrifoglio, with other former models becoming packages. Equipment changes slightly by model, too, and so do the features in the various safety packages.
Inside, the Giulia continues the rounded exterior theme and adds sporty elements like sport seats and a small steering wheel with a start button. An 8.8-inch touchscreen is featured on the dash, and its interface now keeps up with the times. Front-seat occupants are treated to supportive sport seats, but the rear seats and trunk are small for the class.
The Giulia’s dynamics are its greatest strength. It comes with a pair of strong engines, starting with a 280-hp 2.0-liter turbo-4 and graduating to the Quadrifoglio’s Ferrari-sourced twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 that sings as it delivers 505 hp. The 0-60 mph times range from 5.1 to 3.8 seconds.
We love the Giulia’s ultra-quick 11.8:1 power steering ratio, which gives the car immediate responses. A strong platform and a premium suspension deliver the moves to match the steering and the Quadrifoglio has the performance parts needed for track capability. Unfortunately, brake-by-wire technology makes the brakes feel wooden in any model.
How much does the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia cost?
The Giulia starts at $40,945 for a Sprint and tops $75,000 for the Quadrifoglio. The Sprint comes standard with an 8.8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, satellite radio, power leather front seats, Brembo front brakes, and 17-inch alloy wheels.
The only notable standard safety feature is the most-important one: automatic emergency braking. While the rest of the active safety features are available as options, Alfa doesn’t charge too much for those packages. The Giulia has incomplete crash-test scores.
Where is the Alfa Romeo Giulia made?
In Italy.
Styling
Curvaceous lines and a trademark nose make the Alfa Romeo Giulia one of today’s sexier sedans.
Is the Alfa Romeo Giulia a good-looking car?
The Giulia is one of the prettiest cars on the market. It features a sensuous body with a distinctive nose and a sporty interior. We rate it an 8.
Like all Alfa Romeos, the Giulia’s face features the brand’s triangular grille called the “Scudetto,” or shield. Large, low-set front air intakes announce a performance intention. They are offset by eye-slit headlights up top that also wrap into the fenders.
At the rear, the short decklid resolves into a kick-up rear spoiler, and the taillights echo the look of the headlights.
Inside, the look is sporty thanks to sport bucket seats, a wide center console, and a small-diameter steering wheel complete with a start button. The controls are tilted toward the driver and an 8.8-inch touchscreen is set in the middle of the dash. Rounded gauges, vents, dials, and other controls play off the exterior design, and a variety of trim materials add visual flair.
Performance
Every 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia offers sport sedan moves in its base trim and racetrack prowess as the Quadrifoglio.
The 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia delights with its strong turbocharged engines, sport sedan agility, and lightning quick steering, all of which conspire to earn it an 8 for performance.
Is the Alfa Romeo Giulia AWD?
Alfa Romeo outfits the Giulia with standard rear-wheel drive and offers all-wheel drive except on the Quadrifoglio.
Buyers have two choices with the Giulia: quick or outrageously fast.
The 280-hp 2.0-liter turbo-4 launches the car from 0-60 mph in 5.1 seconds. Power comes on strong and smoothly at low rpm while still managing to feel smooth.
The twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 in the Quadrifoglio model provides the real fun. Sourced from Ferrari, it sounds a wicked tune as the revs build to its 6,500-rpm redline and pushes the car from 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds. The engine hits its max torque at 2,500 rpm, higher than most turbocharged engines, which encourages drivers to run up the revs to tap into the power. Both engines are mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission that delivers quick, crisp shifts, especially in the Quadrifoglio’s Race mode.
Our only complaint is the wooden feel of the brake-by-wire system. The Brembo brakes have strong stopping power, but the pedal can be hard to modulate due to the lack of a mechanical connection.
Comfort & Quality
The driver’s seat is the best spot in the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia, but passengers have decent space, too.
The 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia is aimed at the driving experience without much attention paid to passengers or cargo. The driver gets excellent forward vision, a sporty small-diameter steering wheel, and thickly bolstered, supportive seats. We rate the Giulia a 6 for those seats.
The seats are sporty no matter the model. The base seats provide a body hug and have 10-way power adjustments and 4-way lumbar adjustments to tailor a comfortable seating position. The Giulia Quadrifoglio offers leather-wrapped carbon-fiber seats from Sparco that pinch wider backsides while keeping drivers planted.
The rear will fit a pair of average-sized adults, but they’ll have to slide in around small door openings and once inside they’ll have decent but not generous head room and leg room.
Interior materials are appropriate for the class: Leather upholstery comes standard, and softer nappa leather is available, as are open-pore wood and carbon fiber.
Safety
The 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia offers a wide range of active safety features.
How safe is the Alfa Romeo Giulia?
While the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia performed well in IIHS crash tests, it has no NHTSA ratings so we can’t give it a score here.
Standard safety features consist of automatic emergency braking and rear park assist. Available as options or standard on higher-line models are front park assist, adaptive headlights, adaptive cruise control, active lane control, blind-spot monitors with steering assist, and systems that operate the brake, steering, and throttle in certain highway and traffic jam situations.
Features
The 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia comes well equipped and buyers can choose options to fit their desires.
Alfa Romeo offers several ways to personalize the 2021 Giulia. We award it points for its standard features and available options for a rating of 7 here.
The 2021 Guilia lineup includes Sprint, Ti, Ti Sport, and Quadrifoglio models.
Which Alfa Romeo Giulia should I buy?
How much is a fully loaded 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia?
At the top of the lineup, the $76,345 Giulia Quadrifoglio comes loaded with 14-way power front seats, extended leather upholstery, a 14-speaker Harmon Kardon audio system, adaptive dampers, larger Brembo brakes, a torque-vectoring rear differential, a two-mode performance exhaust system, a front splitter and carbon-fiber chin spoiler, a rear diffuser, a carbon-fiber hood and roof, and summer performance tires.
The Giulia’s infotainment system uses an 8.8-inch touchscreen that can also be controlled with voice commands or a rotary dial. Added for 2020, this system is leagues ahead of the slow and confusing version that preceded it. However, it’s not state of the art.
Fuel Economy
The 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia won’t break the bank at the pump.
Is the Alfa Romeo Giulia good on gas?
It’s not bad for a sport sedan. We base our 5 rating on the base engine with rear-wheel drive, which is EPA-rated at 24 mpg city, 33 highway, 27 combined.
All-wheel-drive cuts the EPA ratings to 23/31/26 mpg.
Unfortunately, Alfa Romeo requires premium fuel for both engines.
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