2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Q4 Ti Sport First Test Review: Yep, It's Even Better

Everyone knows how this works: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's shocking, however, how often automakers screw this up. Not Alfa Romeo. In updating the 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia, the Milanese didn't fix anything that didn't need fixing. But boy, did they fix the things that did.

Even a MotorTrend Car of the Year isn't necessarily flawless. It's just so good that any flaws it has are easy to forgive. The Giulia was our 2018 Car of the Year because it was phenomenal to drive, on top of nailing the rest of our key criteria. The Alfa also won a comparison test against its direct competitors in the compact luxury sedan segment, including the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C 300, and the Lexus IS 300.

The Alfa had its weak spots, though. The interior was dinged for an overuse of cheap-looking materials unbefitting a car of its price and class.

Alfa Romeo, to its eternal credit, listened to the customers and the critics. The only real changes to the 2020 Giulia were laser-focused on addressing those complaints. We have an in-depth review of the updated interior for you to peruse, but suffice to say, they fixed what needed fixing.

The infotainment system is updated with all-new and substantially improved software. The cheap-feeling rotary controller that went with it has been replaced with a piece that feels as hefty as the price tag commands, and now you can just touch the screen if you'd prefer. The team also carved out some space on the center console for more places to stash your stuff and added an optional wireless phone charger. The shifter is new, as well; it's now both easier to use and nicer to touch. The steering wheel has been upgraded and gets nicer leather.

Although we found the Giulia's suite of active safety features good enough to meet our criteria back in 2017, the industry has moved forward rapidly. Alfa doesn't want to fall behind, so now the Giulia offers more optional features, such as automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assistance, traffic sign detection, and drowsy driver alerts. Those are on top of the forward collision warning, lane departure warning, blind-spot warning, and parking sensors with cross-traffic alerts it already had.

What Alfa didn't try to fix was anything under the hood, which is smart. The Giulia drives brilliantly, so everything was best left well enough alone. Still, we decided to run this 2020 Giulia Q4 (Alfa's name for all-wheel drive) through our instrumented test gamut just to make sure there weren't any deleterious software "updates" introduced. Good news! There weren't.

Lined up at the dragstrip, this Giulia Q4 Ti Sport model hit 60 mph from a stop in 5.2 seconds then ran the quarter mile in 13.8 seconds at 99.3 mph. Going the other way, it stopped from 60 mph in 130 feet. Going other directions, it pulled 0.84 average lateral g on the skidpad and ran a 26.7-second figure-eight lap generating 0.66 average g.

I should note this test took place at a different test facility than we typically use, so there may be some inconsistencies due to different surfaces, weather conditions, and elevation. I mention this because 130 feet is abnormally long for a Giulia in a panic stop. Most of the others we've tested stopped in 120 to 123 feet (except for one that did it in 110 feet). Otherwise, the results are bang-on. We've tested one other AWD Giulia, a 2017, and three other rear-drive Giulias, and they needed between 5.1 and 5.7 seconds to hit 60 mph. The other AWD we tested needed 5.4 seconds, so this one's actually slightly quicker. Same with the quarter, where Giulia's trap between 13.6 and 14.2 seconds with the other AWD again slightly slower at 14.0 seconds.

Handling is equally consistent. Average lateral g comes in between 0.80 and 0.91, with the other AWD pulling 0.80. Figure-eight times were run from 25.6 seconds to 27.1, with the older AWD car doing a 27.1-second lap.

With nearly all the numbers falling within the historical range, it's no surprise the Giulia drives the same as it ever did: fantastically. The steering wheel is a little meatier now, but Alfa didn't overdo it like BMW tends to. It's as precise and delicate as ever, allowing you to put the car precisely where you want it, at any time, with minimal input. The chassis balance still favors the rear end, giving it that perfect rear-drive feel with a little rotation in corners but without giving up front-end grip. The suspension remains a perfect balance of compliance for ride comfort and control for serious handling. If you aren't having fun on every freeway ramp with this car, you aren't trying. And as with the best AWD cars, putting power to the front end doesn't ruin the experience.

Alfa hit the reset button hard in 2017 with the Giulia, and it damn near nailed the compact sport sedan segment ideal right out of the gate. The few minor sticking points where they didn't get it quite perfect have been adroitly addressed for 2020, giving you even fewer excuses for buying any other sport sedan.