Giulia Buyers guide
The Alfa Romeo Giulia is a compact executive saloon introduced to the market in 2015, marking Alfa’s direct competition with the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, and Mercedes C-Class. Its reputation is built on distinctive Italian styling, brilliant handling, emotional appeal, combined with premium interior design. The project was set up by Sergio Marchionne and used a small team of top engineers often referred to as the Skunkworks. This team was allowed a very free reign to come up with a new chassis, the Giorgio platform, and even today this chassis still feels incredibly competent.
Engine Range
Petrol Engines:
2.0 Turbo (200 hp) – Rear-wheel drive (RWD), ZF 8-speed automatic. Smooth and refined with sufficient pace for daily use.
2.0 Turbo Veloce (280 hp) – RWD or optional AWD (Q4). Offers brisk performance with a 0-62 mph time around 5.7 seconds while retaining decent fuel economy. This is probably the sweet spot in the range having a good turn of speed while maintaining a very good level of economy (Mine would be Misano blue with yellow calipers and a limited slip differential).
Diesel Engines:
2.2 JTDm in many power outputs ranging from 150 to 210 bhp depending on the market. All these engines are very efficient with ~60 mpg potential on long runs. The engine being well proven as a development of the 1.9 Mjet.
Performance Model – Quadrifoglio:
2.9 V6 Bi-Turbo (510 hp). The flagship. Ferrari-derived V6 with absolutely blistering performance (0-62 mph in 3.9s and a top speed of over 190 mph) and rear-wheel drive, combined with adaptive suspension, torque vectoring differential, and carbon fibre detailing.
2020 Facelift
In 2020, Alfa introduced a mild facelift for the Giulia, focusing on technology, refinement, and minor aesthetic improvements.
Key changes included:
Revised interior layout with better quality materials and new rotary infotainment controller.
Updated 8.8” touchscreen infotainment system with improved graphics.
Enhanced ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), finally offering adaptive cruise, lane keep assist, and semi-autonomous driving capability as options.
New trim structures (Super, Sprint, Veloce, Quadrifoglio) with rationalised equipment.
Subtle cosmetic tweaks: smoked tail lights, new alloy wheel designs, and fresh paint options.
No major engine changes occurred during this facelift.
2023/2024 Facelift
For the 2023 model year onward, Alfa gave the Giulia a second, more notable refresh:
Matrix LED headlights replacing Bi-Xenon units for improved illumination.
Revised front grille design aligning with Tonale styling cues.
Updated digital instrument cluster replacing traditional dials.
Enhanced driver assistance systems.
New Quadrifoglio special editions with unique carbon trim and optional Akrapovič exhaust for deeper note.
2. Trim Levels and Equipment
Main Trims (these varied by year but broadly were as follows):
Super: Entry level; cloth/leatherette seats, 16 or 17-inch alloys, dual-zone climate, cruise control, rear sensors.
Sprint: Sportier look; upgraded alloys, sporty interior trim, gloss black exterior detailing.
Veloce: Performance-oriented; 280 hp petrol engine, sports suspension, leather sports seats, aluminium paddle shifters.
Quadrifoglio: The ultimate Giulia with all performance upgrades, carbon fibre bonnet and roof (depending on market), active aero splitter, sports exhaust, premium leather/Alcantara cabin.
So what goes wrong with giulia’s?
Generally they are quite reliable and rarely have issues before 100,000 miles so the issues I am listing here are very rare and unlikely to happen to many cars, however we do see an awful lot of Giulia’s so we have seen these problems occur over the years.
The starter relay is mounted in the right hand front wheel arch and this can cause issues as it can get contamination/water ingress from the road and fail. This will stop the car starting but they will invariably start if you try a second time but it will put an engine management light on. The cure is simple, replace the relay. This is a cheap repair and we usually recommend replacing all the relays that are mounted under here as a precautionary measure and they are under £10 each.
On turning onto hard lock the front wheels can skip and make a juddering type noise which you will feel through the steering when the tyres are worn, this is normal and is best ignored. However if you wish to cure it, set the toe parallel and replace the tyres.
The fuel pumps can fail, the in-tank lift pump is a variable speed unit and changes speed to supply the correct amount of fuel required by the engine, rather than pumping at maximum flow rate and using a fuel pressure regulator to maintain the correct pressure in the line. When the pump fails you will get an engine light and the car will not start. The repair involves replacing the pump and the control unit.
The hand brake motors can seize on, this tends to happen in winter and you need to remove the motor from the caliper to free it off and then leave the cable disconnected until you can get it in to be repaired. The repair involves replacing the short section of loom between the brake caliper and the body.
The main engine radiator can leak from the top corner and will need replacing when this happens. This is supplied with coolant from the rear coolant tank so always check the level in this tank to check for leaks.
The drain for the air conditioning box can ”miss” the seal where it is supposed to go through the body of the car and cause the footwell to fill with water, this is simply cured by removing the seal, enlarging the hole and re fitting it, however this is made slightly trickier by the fact that the gearbox is in the way.
Batteries on the Giulia can cause problems, when the battery gets over 4 years old the battery monitor in the boot tells the body computer that it is not capable of operating the stop start system and it switches the stop start system off, which is a good thing! However it also disables the heated rear screen and the heated mirrors which is a pain. The battery will keep on starting the car for many years after this happens.
The multi air units on the 2.0 petrol engine can fail leading to a miss fire, this usually starts with a noticeable engine vibration when cold that goes as the engine warms up and gradually gets worse as the problem develops. If you put the car on a scanner you will get fault code that will tell you which cylinder is causing the problem and the engine management will go to a fail safe mode to protect the catalysts.
Again on the 2.0 petrol engine the bolt that secures the drive gear to the oil pump can come loose and make a rattling noise at idle speeds or just above. The cure is to tighten up the securing bolt with a little bit of locktight on the thread, however you need to remove the rocker cover and the front timing case in order to do this which is a quite involved operation.
On the diesel engine we have known the seal between the engine block and the oil pick up fail resulting in a loss of oil pressure when accelerating, the seal is around £25 but you have to remove the sump to replace it which makes the job quite expensive.
On the Quadrifoglio the turbo actuators can seize causing a lack of power, this can usually be freed off but if it sizes solid you will need a new turbo. Changing the auxiliary belt on the V6 is a huge job and this needs to be done every 36000 miles, if the belt fails and snaps it can cause quite a lot of damage to the ancillaries around it.
The motors that control the active front splitter on Quadrifoglio’s can also cause issues, either through accident damage or the ingress of water and they are ridiculously expensive to replace at around £800 each!
We have noticed that if Giulia’s have a front end accident and the bumper is not replaced, the bumper to wing line never quite fits properly which is worth looking for when inspecting a car.
I am aware that this list of faults is fairly extensive and it is unlikely that you will have any of these problems occurring with your prospective purchase, however it pays to be aware of potential problem areas.
Whichever model you choose you will be guaranteed that smug feeling knowing that you have one of the nicest cars to drive there is, which literally will reward you at every turn!
Jamie Porter,
The Alfa workshop
Unit 4 Orchard road
Royston
Herts
Tel 01763244441