A QUADRIFOGLIO EMBRACE AT LONG LAST

When the Giulia Quadrifoglio was unveiled more than a decade ago, I was finishing my undergraduate industrial design degree and uncertain of what the world ahead would offer. The one thing I did know was that Alfa Romeo’s halo performance model would someday be on my bingo card.

It took years, but I finally commandeered the facelifted performance sedan from its stewards at Stellantis South Africa. After coordinating with Janus Janse van Rensburg, Head of Marketing & Sales at Alfa Romeo South Africa, we agreed that the box-fresh Etna Red model would be dropped off ahead of the Alfa Romeo Club of South Africa Concorso D’Eleganza in Johannesburg. My own labour of love, a 156 Twin Spark, was still undergoing some cosmetic refreshes, and I was unwilling to rush the finishing touches.

But the protagonist of this story is the cloverleaf-badged pinnacle of Alfa Romeo’s contemporary ingenuity. By 2025, I had somehow pivoted my career into the automotive industry, working as a full-time journalist for about five years. It began with motoring photography as a student hobby, and blossomed just before COVID, when I was contracted to Ferrari and BMW works motorsport team, Pablo Clark Racing. Shortly thereafter, my ad-hoc contributions to Alfattitude catalysed my writing career.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to sample some of the world’s best sports cars, alongside a handful of forgettable econoboxes. Being among the first outside of Rolls-Royce to drive the Spectre remains a highlight, as does a full season of Toyota-campaigned national racing in the full-fat GR Corolla. A foray in the V8-powered Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid, in and around Porsche’s own test track in Leipzig, was another feather in the cap.

This isn’t meant as a victory lap, but as context and proof that I’ve grown into a more experienced driver than the young man who first marvelled at the revolutionary new Alfa Romeo back in 2015. I was cautiously optimistic. Would this hero live up to the hype I’d built in my head? And would it have the substance to surpass its rivals by my own metrics?

I’ve grown up with Alfa Romeo and sampled both the Giulia and Stelvio in various trims over the years. My younger cousin also joined the Alfa Romeo family, at long last, with a pre-owned base-spec Giulia of his own that has also been frequently driven by me. Biscione bias aside, I knew the Giorgio platform underneath was a competent one and capable of sustaining an extended product life against its European and Japanese contemporaries.

The call came on Friday morning. The fleet team was at my gate and ready to deliver. The Giulia came to rest in the same protected parking bay normally reserved for my 156. The V6 simmered down, and Jimmy handed me the paperwork to sign. The sheet-metal cowlings around the exhaust began to crackle in the cool spring air. Jimmy grinned, and I knew why. Ivano was on standby, waiting for me to pick him up so we could generate some bedroom-poster-worthy content. The Akrapovič exhaust, paired with perpetually engaged Dynamic mode, announced my arrival before I could even call him.

Within that first drive, I knew this was everything I had expected all those years ago. With Ivano strapped in, I proceeded with the expected gusto. Each corner had him bracing. Even in Dynamic mode with traction “on,” a pleasant slip could kick the tail out and get the heart pumping a few beats faster, while the revs did the same until bouncing off the limiter. Ivano’s mutterings of “dio mio” and other flagrant Italian blasphemies were promptly drowned out by the divine intervention of the six-cylinder shifting into its next ZF cog.

We wore grins from ear to ear, but what’s more is that there was also a sense of occasion around every corner. Many glanced, some stopped to stare at this bright red machine, which I find is subtle yet sensual in the way it moves. It isn’t common on South African roads, but its singular presence more than made up for the sea of anonymous SUVs it shared the streets with.

And that is something Alfa Romeo has always managed to get right. The Junior Elettrica, despite going against the historic grain, drew many curious eyes at the well-attended Concorso. Its squat, square proportions feel more hatchback than compact crossover. Yet despite their opposing philosophies, the Junior and the Giulia share Alfa’s vivacious styling and DNA. The homologation unit, flanked by flags and banners at the Modderfontein Bird and Sculpture Park, was not where the Giulia would spend the day. Instead, it sat proudly among Alfa sedans of past and present. Surrounded by friends and fellow Alfisti, the common thread in conversation was just how well the car is ageing, particularly with its updated 3+3 headlight signature. Thousands of days have passed since its debut, yet time has been kind to its silhouette, and the inclusion of a mechanical differential has made it even more responsive and engaging at the limit.

After several hundred kilometres and an eye-watering near-20 L/100 km consumption, I felt satisfied but saddened as I watched its rear end disappear down the road.

As someone who has had the privilege of driving every contemporary BMW and Mercedes rival, some over thousand-mile, Mille Miglia-style events and others on racetracks, I can’t help but feel it’s a pity these cars haven’t sold in droves, at least in South Africa. Thinking back to that first day with Ivano in the passenger seat, one thought never left my mind… the Giulia Quadrifoglio really is one of the best-kept secrets in the motoring world, despite how loudly we praise it.

I reminded prospective buyers that, amidst an industry in flux, this may be not only the last chance to own such a visceral and driver-oriented machine, but also an investment. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s a part of me that despises cars condemned to collections, hidden away for profit rather than driven. But we live in an era where these may very well be the sought-after classics of tomorrow. Think of those early-2000s classified ads with F40s begging at prices a fraction of what they fetch today. Or closer to home, the locally revered GTV6 3.0, which in 2025 demands ten times the asking price of yesteryear, when sellers practically had to give them away.

That’s the beauty and curse of hindsight. Like Van Gogh, true value may only be realised after its course has run. I strongly suspect that the next few years, once the Giulia’s successor arrives and electrification takes hold, will be very kind to this current model.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to crack open my piggy bank and start hunting for a Giulia Quadrifoglio before they’re out of reach.

Photo Gallery by Ivano Mattiello and Alex Shahini of Slipstream Visuals.