The car looks great and has strong performance, but is hindered by occasionally average ride quality and – more crucially for a car with such obvious sporting intentions - poorly judged drive mode settings that fail to satisfy the enthusiastic driver.
The overall picture isn’t helped by a cramped interior and an awkward driving position, nor do the reflections of owners we’ve surveyed over reliability and build quality inspire much confidence – although residual values are holding up well.
Our Choice:
Alfa Romeo Giulietta 2.0 JTDm-2 150 Business Edition.
Only available as a five-door, the Giulietta is as striking as you’d expect an Alfa Romeo to be, featuring neat design touches such as the firm’s famous triangular grille, hidden rear door handles and LED taillights. It was updated in 2016 with a new look, too.
However, as with many Alfa Romeo models, build quality is lacking and doesn’t match up to the standards set by the current Volkswagen Golf. It’s also not as well laid out as some of its more modern rivals, with limited space in the rear making the Giulietta feel cramped. Having first gone on sale back in 2010, the cabin is now starting to show its age, too.
Trim levels include the entry-level Giulietta, then Super, Tecnica, Speciale and Veloce, which replaced the old Quadrifoglio Verde (QV) model. There are seven power units on offer in the mainstream Giulietta range: three petrol and three diesel. The petrols are all 1.4 MultiAir turbos, offering 119bhp, 148bhp and 168bhp – and the higher-powered version is also available with Alfa’s TCT twin-clutch automatic transmission. (If you really want to push the boat out the Veloce model comes with a 238bhp 1.7-litre petrol.)
Depending on trim level, Alfa offers a 119bhp 1.6 JTDm-2 MultiJet turbodiesel in manual or automatic, or a choice of 2.0-litre units, including a 148bhp engine and a more powerful 173bhp unit that comes with a six-speed TCT gearbox.
You’ll have to pay more for a Giulietta than many of its rivals, but all models do get air conditioning, all-round electric windows, DAB radio and Bluetooth as standard.
The Giulietta's blend of comfort and performance is genuinely effective, with the Alfa proving to be at home on the motorway, uneven city streets and winding country roads.
The Giulietta gets what Alfa calls its D.N.A switch. This alters the throttle response and steering weight between three driving modes: Dynamic, Natural and All-weather. Unfortunately, it feels like a gimmick and fails to provide a satisfying compromise between aggression and comfort, with too much weight in Dynamic mode and slack throttle response in the Natural and All-weather settings.
The suspension on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta isn’t supple enough to soak up many of the worse bumps on UK roads, and together with questionable cabin ergonomics it means the Giulietta isn’t the most comfortable car to live with.
Twin-clutch (TCT) models also get the option of paddle shifters mounted behind the steering wheel for manual gear changes if you want a sportier drive. This is only available on the most powerful 168bhp petrol and 173bhp diesel engines – the latter does get a bit loud at times but is relatively efficient. It’s also relatively quick, with lots of low-down torque on offer and manages 0-62mph in 7.8 seconds. The twin-clutch petrol car does it in 7.6 seconds, and both are flat out at around 135mph.
The 149bhp diesel with manual gears accelerates from 0-62mph in 8.8 seconds and is our pick of the range.
As for the petrol line-up, the 1.4 litre turbocharged petrol works better in Alfa’s smaller Mito as it can struggle with the comparative bulk of the Giulietta. It remains a charismatic unit though, and the most powerful 168bhp 1.4 version feels punchy and keen to rev.
For fans of the hot hatch there is the Veloce, with the same engine found in the 4C sports car. Producing 237bhp, it has a Golf GTI-bothering top speed of 149mph.
This makes it one of the fruitiest-sounding hot hatchbacks around, but it's far from the most entertaining to drive. The dual-clutch gearbox isn't as snappy when driving quickly as the Veloce's main rival, nor is it as smooth to shift when pootling through town.
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta was facelifted in 2016, refreshed with a tweaked front bumper and a new grille. Different alloy wheels, extra colour choices and a slightly tweaked interior also helped improve the car’s appeal, and there’s no doubt it’s one of the most stylish hatchbacks on the market.
In fact the Giulietta has very few competitors in the style stakes. Rivals like the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf are far more conservative, and well-finished details like the eye-catching front and rear LED lights, and hidden rear door handles really help the Alfa to stand out.
The interior mirrors the Giulietta’s exterior, with a heavy focus placed on style. There’s a good balance between simplicity and head-turning design elements that add extra appeal, meaning the cabin is easy to use day-to-day, but still feels special.
However, the interior isn’t ultimately as pleasing as the exterior. Alfa has addressed some of the old car’s flaws, with sturdier seat bolsters, better quality leather on the steering wheel and anti-scratch paint finishes added, but the Giulietta just isn’t up to VW group levels of quality.
The range-topping Veloce line stands out with its large alloy wheels, leather and alcantara interior and red brake calipers, plus lowered suspension, larger exhaust outlets, sports seats and Veloce badges.
The entry-level car comes with a six-speaker audio set-up with DAB radio, Bluetooth, CD player, voice recognition and smartphone connectivity – all accessed via Alfa’s Uconnect 5 inch colour touchscreen system.
Interior space wasn't Alfa's highest priority when it was designing the Giulietta, and it shows. Alfa Romeos are built for style, not practicality.
Visibility out of the back is poor because of the tiny rear window and thick Golf-like C pillars and the limited rear view makes parking problematic, though this can be helped on higher spec models, which feature parking sensors. The stylised writing on the sporting dials can also be hard to read at a glance.
The pedals are positioned a little too close together and there's no space to rest your left foot, while the steering wheel is also too far away, resulting in a less than perfect driving position.
Also, the dashboard layout is muddled and can be difficult to use while on the move – plus the optional sat-nav unit is small and some times hard to read. Oddment space is at a premium too, as there's a tiny storage compartment in the central armrest and only an average-size glove compartment.
The Giulietta is a little longer than many of its classmates at 4,351mm which – coupled with the poor visibility – will add to the challenge of parking for less confident drivers.
Despite the Giulietta’s five-door layout there's a surprising lack of passenger space and legroom is tight. Rear passengers may also have an uncomfortable time thanks to the reduced headroom that’s a result of the coupe-like styling and swooping roofline. Kids will be OK, as there are Isofix mounting points to accommodate their chairs and access to the rear bench via the rear doors is good.
Matters don’t improve in the front for adults, unfortunately, because as well as the awkward driving position there’s a cramped feeling cabin.
You get 350 litres of boot space in the Giulietta which is not great – it’s more than the Ford Focus offers but smaller than the VW Golf’s load bay. There’s also a high load lip that makes putting heavy or bulky items in the luggage bay pretty difficult. Even if you fold down the standard-fit 60:40 split-folding back seats, the boot doesn’t expand that much and the space isn’t that practical. You do get a space-saver spare wheel on all trim levels though, which is better than a can of gunk.
Alfa Romeo recorded a below average performance in our Driver Power survey in 2015, ranking in 23rd position out of 32 manufacturers although that’s only one place behind VW. It seems as though the Italian brand’s reputation for questionable reliability is still alive and well, however, as Alfa finished fourth from bottom when readers were polled on reliability alone.
The Giulietta model itself was included in the 200 cars we surveyed in 2015, ranking a disappointing 138th for Reliability and 176th for Build Quality. While there are some high-quality materials used in the cabin, some of the fit and finish is a bit shoddy, with the odd rough and cheap panel. Still, there have been no major recalls or significant problems reported for the Giulietta as yet.
If there are question marks over reliability, there are none when it comes to safety, as the Giulietta's credentials are top notch. The car secured the maximum five-star rating and an impressive 97 per cent for adult occupants in the Euro NCAP crash safety tests, so it's as safe as the best cars in the sector. Child occupant safety was rated at 85 per cent, although pedestrian safety was down on the class best at 63 per cent. By way of comparison, the VW Golf scored 94 per cent, 89 per cent and 65 per cent, while the Mercedes A-Class scored 93 per cent, 81 per cent and 67 per cent in the respective categories.
The Giulietta comes with Alfa Romeo’s standard three-year, unlimited mileage warranty. That’s similar to the Mercedes A Class and BMW 1 Series, but better than the cover offered with cars like the VW Golf and SEAT Leon, which have a 60,000-mile warranty cap.
Major services are required at 36,000 miles or every two years, but the Alfa also needs interim inspections annually or at 18,000 miles.
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