Alfa Romeo has updated the Giulia and Stelvio Quadrifoglio models for 2020, including making them much greener than before…in the literal sense only, that is. They’re no more efficient, nor, sadly, any more powerful, still packing a 2.9-litre V6 twin turbo with 503bhp and 600NM – an engine that’s famously ‘half a Ferrari V12’, albeit it’s obviously not quite that simple.
A suite of new safety features that allow autonomous driving come as standard now, although the updates are mostly cosmetic and follow those given to the lower end of the Stelvio and Giulia ranges in 2019. In a press release announcing the updates Alfa Romeo has somehow managed to commit hundreds of words to the minor visual changes: including this corker:
“For MY2020 the Giulia and Stelvio Quadrifoglio have been updated to create an ergonomic, harmonious series of lines, instruments, volumes and spaces which envelope the driver.”
In other words, the dashboards of both have been tweaked a bit. It now uses better materials, has a bit more storage, more cupholders and generally looks a little sharper. The infotainment display has better software now too, so it too is more visually arresting but also more intuitive.
Outside, the car gets smoked rear lens covers for that Halfords look that all buyers of a £65-70k super saloon or SUV are looking for, and there are a bunch of new accessories designed by Mopar, many of them fashioned from carbon fibre. There are new paint and trim options, too – including the genuinely striking Montreal Green colour you see in the pictures.
In fact, paintwork is one area that’s had a quite distinctive overhaul. The colours are now grouped into four categories: Competizione, Metal, Solid and Classic. The first of those is heritage stuff – shades of red, basically – while Alfa hilariously describes Solid as “dedicated to those seeking stability,” a phenomenal euphemism for “boring”. It isn’t stated what the Solid colours are; Montreal Green, however, is one of the Classics, created in homage to the 1970 Alfa Romeo Montreal.
Back to the more prosaic stuff – the Solid stuff, if you like – the new Quadrifoglios come with a whole suite of safety features as standard, including Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Assist, Adaptive Cruise control, Traffic Sign Recognition and Driver Attention. Alfa calls these “enabling technologies” because they allow the car to offer so-called Level 2 autonomous driving. That, if you’re wondering, is the second of five-part scale that begins with cruise control at level one and ends with full no-human-required self-driving at level five. Level 2 autonomy covers automatic lane changing, self-steering and throttle control in stop-start traffic, stuff like that. It’s the highest level of autonomy currently permitted by UK law.
Because the drivetrains aren’t tweaked in any way you’re still getting the aforementioned Ferrari-derived engine matched to an eight-speed auto and driving the rear wheels in the Giulia, or all four in the Stelvio. Both cars come with adaptive suspension and driving modes, where RACE mode will permit the gearbox to shift ratios in less than two-tenths of a second. The Guilia hits 62mph from rest in 3.9 seconds, and the Stelvio in 3.8, presumably owing to improved traction because it is the heavier of the two…by some margin.
No word on prices yet but you can expect a rises of a grand or two above what today’s pre-facelift models cost: £65,000 for the Giulia and £70,000 for the Stelvio.
Keyword: Alfa Romeo shows very green new 500bhp+ Quadrifoglios