Alfa Romeo has delivered a masterpiece of a driver’s car in the ultra-focused Guilia GTA
Yes, this is a legit Giulia GTA in the country and mind you, this is the only one that Petromax Enterprise (Alfa Romeo and Abarth distributor in the Philippines) has brought in.
So what exactly is the Giulia GTA? Well, basically it’s a hardcore version of an already incredible Giulia Quadrifoglio; a Giulia on crystal meth. There are only 500 units of the GTA and all are spoken for.
GTA or “Gran Turismo Alleggerita”- Italian for ‘grand tourer, lightened’ comes in two variations: plain Giulia GTA and Giulia GTAm, the latter of which is the more extreme version.
Exterior:
More money, less weight is a common mantra for stripped-out, harder-edged versions of production sedans. But it’s usually not this much weight and it’s never this much money. If the low ground clearance and imposing looks aren’t intimidating you, well the carbon aero bits might.
The sleek and sculptured lines feature proud curves, a wider stance, and a Sauber areokit for enhanced aerodynamics and comes standard with 20-inch single nut alloy wheels and a Brembo carbon-ceramic brake system.
The crown jewel of the Giulia GTA range is a titanium central Akrapovič exhaust with carbon fibre tips, which produces an unmistakable, throaty roar when you rev the engine.
Interior:
The GTA features a dashboard with a graceful, sweeping curve and full Alcantara accoutrements that add a luxurious touch to the interior cabin of this four-door, five-seat super saloon. The cluster has a speedometer, tachometer, and digital display, with a separate infotainment screen.
Though there's not a ton of room in the boot, it's got enough space to handle your luggage for a quick weekend road trip.
Engine and Performance:
The Giulia GTA immediately wins a spot in the performance temple, and Alfa will undoubtedly be praised for creating it.
The engine, a 2.9-litre V6 pushing 540hp and 600Nm of torque- raspy at low revs, sings loud and lusty as a flood of boosted torque propels the tachometer needle towards the cut-out, a little beyond 7000rpm. Its work is made even more impressive by the expert calibration of the eight-speed transmission. It’s excellent if left in auto, and a snappy shifter when the steering column mounted paddles are used.
So how does it drive? PERFECT. Well, that’s what I would think. We weren’t really allowed to drive the GTA but having been able to drive a Giulia Quadrifoglio, the steering should be just as PERFECT if not even better. Not too heavy and divinely precise, it speeds the process of bonding with the car. Soon you discover the chassis is fabulously fluent in the jargon of cornering, able to translate steering inputs into the exact lines you want while at the same time offering the option of throttle-guided line adjustment.
That is solely because of the weight. The GTA achieves a 50/50 weight distribution and that diet comes in the form of carbon for the driveshaft, bonnet, roof, front bumper, front wheel arches and rear wheel arch inserts, and the shells for the Sabelt sports seats.
Stunningly, this track-worthy Alfa Romeo is an excellent road car. In either Normal or Dynamic mode, the ride quality is simply superb for such a ferocious car. And none of the Alfa’s charisma disappears when driving at sane speeds on a winding hill road or making a quick autostrada overtake. It truly makes the hideously stiff Mercedes-AMG C63 S feel like the work of suspension amateurs.
With all that combined, the Giulia GTA improvements significantly outperform the sport sedan from Alfa Romeo's lineup's already lofty performance standards. Despite the fact that Mercedes-AMG doesn't currently offer the C63 in that configuration, this is AMG Black Series territory. That also implies that the Alfa Romeo, with its high level of performance and horsepower, competes favorably with the Jaguar Project 8.
Verdict:
The Giulia GTA is truly a great car. Alfa Romeo, against the odds, has created something both thrilling and able. And awesomely memorable...
If you just wanted to be the fastest car at a trackday, you’d go and buy a Radical and be done with it. But that’s not what Alfa Romeo has done here. In pretty much all aspects, these Giulias do not make much sense. But they’re built by engineers as a very expensive, fun-having exercise. Despite the fact that Alfa's love letter to the fast saloon lacks logic, it is still very, very special.
Nothing else out there manages to do what the Giulia GTA does. Nothing comes close to its driver involvement, or the nuance in its steering or the poise and controllability out of corner or the power of its brakes or the ability to change direction in a thought. And yet, when the adrenaline fades away and the car is stuck in traffic, or driving slowly over broken roads, the Giulia GTA manages that with considerably more suppleness than the Quadrifoglio Verde, and with none of the choppiness the BMW M3 Competition has.
There's no denying the unrestrained muscle and power of this super saloon, and it’s a must-buy if you're in the market for such an intricate and expensive machine. In short, the GTA is undoubtedly the best high-performance vehicle ever to grace the legendary Alfa Romeo stable or any garage for that matter. You could use it in everyday life and never be disappointed in its behaviour. It’s a car to be driven and it will engage you whenever you drive it, whatever the conditions.
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