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Head 2 Head: 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio versus BMW M3 Competition Pack

Now that the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is finally on sale in the United States, the Motor Trend team couldn’t let this slip. And so, Jason an Jonny decided to find out how the Alfa Romeo’s sedan fares in a head to head against its direct rivals.
2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 85 11 photos
Photo: screenshot from YouTube
2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 852017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio vs. Everything! - Head 2 Head Ep. 85
On the one hand, we have the usual suspects. There’s the Mercedes-AMG C63, a twin-turbo V8 super sedan that also happens to be slower than the competition on this track. The Motor Trend duo sums up the C63 as being more of a luxury car rather than a sportster. Then there’s the Cadillac ATS-V, which is worthy of an all-new word in the dictionary.

“Dymagic” is how Jason refers to the ATS-V thanks to how great the Alpha-platformed model holds his own when the going gets twisty. As for the BMW M3 with the Competition Package, both Jason and Jonny agree that this is the car the all-new Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio has to take on.

With Randy Pobst behind the wheel, the M3 Competition lags behind the Giulia Quadrifoglio by only 0.4 seconds. It isn’t a big difference, but on a 2.68-mile circuit such as the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, it sure matters. Other than its advantage in the power department, the V6-powered Alfa Romeo is also credited with putting the power down better than the M3.

The biggest beef the Motor Trend team has with the Alfa from a driving dynamics standpoint is the braking system, which is a brake-by-wire job that does not offer sufficient feedback through the pedal. To the Alfa’s defense, Jason and Jonny claim that the engine is smoother than BMW’s straight-six even though the Ferrari-inspired twin-turbo V6 doesn’t feature a balance shaft to suppress vibration created by the inherently unbalanced layout.

On an ending note, the “Giulia does just about everything as well as or better than just about every other car here." Having experienced the Giulia Quadrifoglio on a (damp) track for myself, with a good old manual that is, I can agree to the fact the Giulia Quadrifoglio is one seriously exciting car.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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