Alfa Romeo Giulia QV sedan: Up there with the best in performance

Alfa-Romeo is enjoying a lift in sales this year on the back of its Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV.
I recently drove the flagship Giulia QV, QV for Quadrifoglia Verde, a stunning high performance sedan that best personifies the Alfa brand, the Italian brand built on its early motor sport successes.
At $143,000 the Giulia QV is a luxury sports sedan in the ilk of Mercedes C63 and BMW M3 – does it do well in this company. Most certainly, this really is a performance car for the diehard enthusiast with a potent Ferrari- derived 2.9-litre twin- turbo V6 with 375kW of power, 600Nm of torque. With a 0 to 100Km/h acceleration time of just 3.9 seconds and a top speed capability of 307km/hour this is surely one of the quickest ways to launch yourself into jail.
Drive is via an eight-speed ZF automatic with manual shift paddles while there’s three selectable drive modes – Dynamic, Normal and Race. The ride is hard but in that context, its handling is up there with the best.
Braking is interesting. The nature of the large Brembo brakes being that they need a little heat to become effective so cold they can be a little disconcerting. Just a small quirk on a car that for a car-enthusiast is just so entertaining.
If you like performance the Alfa Romeo QV is a luxury sports sedan delivering performance in spades. You sit in a superb cabin with cosseted seats and sculptured dash and an exhaust note that is simply music to the ears.
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