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2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia Review | Still the driver's choice

Nearly every luxury sport sedan similar in size to the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia is a great driving car, but none can topple Alfa from its throne as the best. Its quintessential sport sedan combination of agile handling, superior driver communication and powerful engines is the best in the business. Unfortunately, the highs are high, and the lows are low when it comes to the Giulia.  The interior is better now than it was at the beginning, but it’s still less than the Germans in both luxury and technology. A frustrating and laggy touchscreen infotainment system is hardly an improvement over the non-touch interface of before. A palatial back seat has never been a sport sedan trademark, but the Giulia's competitors nevertheless out do it in that regard too (should you care). And of course, thereÂ’s the question of long-term reliability. We hope that Alfa Romeo has worked out the GiuliaÂ’s reported issues over the years, but reliability is worth considering with the carÂ’s troubled history. Many of these flaws might be worth looking past if you want the ultimate driverÂ’s sport sedan, especially if youÂ’re thinking about the dynamite Quadrifoglio and its brilliant Ferrari-derived engine. What's new for 2021? After the heavy 2020 updates, not much changed for 2021. The trim options are streamlined to just four now: Sprint (new base trim name), Ti, Ti Sport and Quadrifoglio. AlfaÂ’s dual-pane sunroof is made standard on Ti, and the limited-slip differential is now standard on Ti Sport. A number of new colors are available: Ocra GT Junior, Rosso GTA, Rosso Villa d'Este and Verde Montreal. Nothing changes for the Quadrifoglio. What's the GiuliaÂ’s interior and in-car technology like? AlfaÂ’s upgrades for 2020 focused on improving the GiuliaÂ’s cabin, and itÂ’s much better for it. Materials on the steering wheel, dash and center console are more in touch with luxury expectations, and the control interfaces are sturdy, quality parts. The overall result still doesn't match most competitors, but it's no longer objectionable, and the materials generally feel nice to the touch. The design itself is attractive and minimalist. It lacks the Swedish flair of a Volvo S60 or the drama of some of the offerings available from Lexus and Mercedes, but Alfa was sure to pack in just enough Italian flair (red leather helps) to keep things interesting.

Is this designer sitting in Alfa Romeo's new SUV?

Well, well, well, what have we here? A picture of Lorenzo Ramaciotti, that's what. It was posted by Ralph Gilles on Instagram. But what's more interesting is what Ramaciotti is sitting in. And it appears to be a new crossover from Alfa Romeo. For those unfamiliar, Lorenzo Ramaciotti is one of the foremost designers in the Italian automotive industry. He served as head of Pininfarina until 2005, and in 2007 was named chief designer for the Fiat group. That's put him in charge of styling more Ferraris, Maseratis, Alfas, and others than we could name. But at nearly 68 years old, he's now preparing to retire, handing the reins to the design of everything that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles makes to his American counterpart Ralph Gilles. Gilles paid tribute to Ramaciotti with this photo and statement posted on Instagram. It shows the veteran designer sitting in the back of what looks to be an SUV. The thing is, though, that it doesn't look like any SUV or crossover we've seen to date. Judging from what we can see of the dashboard design – more angular and modern than rounded and retro – and given who's sitting in the back, we're likely looking at either an Alfa Romeo or a Maserati. Both are working on launching their first crossovers, but the similarity of the dashboard and center-stack design to that of the new Giulia suggests this is probably an Alfa. Whatever it is, it appears to have a rather tall but narrow tailgate, with a flat load floor extended by a fold-down rear bench. If Ramaciotti has done half the job with this crossover as he did with hits like the Ferrari 360 Modena or the Alfa 4C, we're sure it will be a stylish affair inside and out. We'll have to hold on to see how it pans out, but judging from the apparent level of completion of the product pictured, it shouldn't be long now. I have got to dedicate my year and this era of my career to one of my true Heroes, design Legend (& very soft spoken) Lorenzo Ramaciotti. Many of you may not have heard of him but have likely loved the cars he has had his hands in. Mr. Ramaciotti has had one of the most illustrious careers an automobile designer can have. Having led one of Italy's most famous design houses, #Pininfarina for 17 years and contributed there for an incredibly prolific 33 years. He came out of retirement in 2007 to lead Fiat design. In 2009 I met him as my colleague, global boss and most importantly a true mentor.

Alfa Romeo Giulia gets top safety award from IIHS

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has awarded a Top Safety Pick+ rating, its highest award, to the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia midsize luxury sedan — but with a caveat. The Giulia must have been built after May of this year, when the car's front-end structure was improved and the door hinge pillar and door sill were reinforced, among other changes. Vehicles that earn the IIHS's Top Safety Pick+ must achieve good ratings in all five crash tests — small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints — an advanced or superior rating in front crash prevention and and acceptable or good rating for headlights. The Giulia's optional front crash prevention system earned a superior rating after it avoided a crash in the 12 mph track test and reduced its impact speed by an average 24 mph in the 25 mph test. The car's optional curve-adaptive headlights earned a good rating, while the base headlights rated poor. It joins 2017 versions of the Lexus ES 350, Audi A3 and A4, Volvo S60 and V60, and BMW 2 series and 3 series, as Top Safety Pick+ awardees for its segment. You can read our First Drive review of the Giulia here. Featured Gallery 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Lusso View 26 Photos Alfa Romeo Luxury Sedan crash test alfa romeo giulia