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Giulietta Cloverleaf vs Golf GTI
Alfa’s sizzling new Giulietta Cloverleaf is setting pulses racing. Can it beat the VW Golf GTI?
Photos: Pete Gibson September 2010
Storm clouds are gathering at Volkswagen. The Golf GTI has ruled the hot hatch roost since the MkV arrived in 2004, but its reign is being threatened by a sporty arrival from Alfa Romeo.
The new Giulietta wasn’t good enough to beat the MkVI VW in standard trim, but the Italians’ high-performance cars have a fine reputation – and the hot Cloverleaf promises to give the GTI a run for its money.
Its intentions are clear from the outset, as the flagship of the Giulietta line-up costs £24,495. That puts it in direct competition with our favourite hot hatch of them all. Alfa bosses claim the new turbocharged 231bhp engine and high spec justifies the comparison – and the car comes with the kind of looks you expect from the brand.
The less powerful Golf GTI doesn’t turn as many heads, but it’s still a class act – and has an unbeaten road test record. Can Alfa pull off one of the shocks of the year and unseat the mighty Golf GTI as hot hatch champ, or will the VW leave the Giulietta floundering in its wake?
For an alternative review of the latest Alfa Romeo Giulietta visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk
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24 Comments
Change the record!
VW's like Audi's are boring!
Stop twittering on about VW's build quality - it's the salesmen that tell you that - VAG cars are the most common in my workshop and its not just because there are a lot of them on the road. Their quality is terrible, we are replacing things that just shouldn't be breaking nowadays.
Go for it Alfa - how would a car test read if the journalist never knew what brand he was testing?
Change the record!
VW's like Audi's are boring!
Stop twittering on about VW's build quality - it's the salesmen that tell you that - VAG cars are the most common in my workshop and its not just because there are a lot of them on the road. Their quality is terrible, we are replacing things that just shouldn't be breaking nowadays.
Go for it Alfa - how would a car test read if the journalist never knew what brand he was testing?
Go Alfa
Would be interesting to compare performance in the same conditions. Also, the 2 makers are as near as makes no difference identically placed in the Driver Power surveys. I also vote for the Alfa.
Alfa Giulietta FTW
The Alfa's pricing is a bargain considering all the standard kit compared to the Golf.
If the Giulietta compares with the Golf as the Mito does with the Polo, the interior quality is of no concern.
I tried the DNA on a Mito the other day. It was brilliant how it changed the whole character of the handling!
jumbo
The all conquering GTi is the one you'd rather own??Absolutely NOT!! I'd rather drive a Rover than any Golf. I've tried a few VW's, build quality is pants, reliability is worse and the dealers are rip-off nightmares. Overpriced, rude, incompetent and con atists. As soon as I can afford to remedy this definately last VW mistake, I'll never buy another VW
speedfreak
Put a new GTI in your drive and it wont get a second look, however the Alfa..........Enough said!!
alfa for me
I love the alfa ,i agree with skyliner VWs are boring ,if the relied on selling there cars on looks they would have no hope ,build quality is there only seling point ,I owned an alfa 147 and loved it ,styling 10/10 ,ride quality 10/10
Neither for me!
The Golf always used to be a good car! The words to note are "Used to be"... Recent years have seen the VW quality drop through the floor. It has got so bad that they have to tag on to Mercedes by making a copycat CL500, The Passat Coupe! It is like Citroen did with the C5! Try to pretend it is quality by taken styling tips from the Germans... It just doesn't work!
The Alfa has always been fun to drive, but that is all they are! Badly made poor quality rustbuckets that will lose shed loads of their new price within three years is NOT good motoring! Couple that with Alfa's reputation for reliability (none!) and you have a recipe for disaster for anyone daft enough to but one..
"the interior quality is of no concern"
Taqyon, can you really type that and believe it??? Just goes to show why manufacturers are dumbing down the quality of thier cars, they don't need to be good as long as they look pretty!
Shame on you...
Red Alfa
Alfas? they are different in many ways and boring they are not!! I've had two 156s, and currently have a Brera SV JTDM and a MiTo. They turn heads in a positive way unlike the 10 a penny VWs. Come on Rumour lets face it all cars except possibly Lexus (yawn) have faults and crap service from dealers etc etc. I've covered nearly 250,000 miles in these four Alfas and guess what? No rust, reliable too, comfortable and would I consider another Alfa? Yes most definately, hopefully it'll be a Spider or the new Giulia when it arrives. The Brera is still a smile a mile and I've owned it nearly 4 years and run it for 55k. My brother's experience with BMW was a joke: new engine, then replacement car!! A Volvo that he had was a lemon, A Vectra that I had had to have a new steering rack with only 2k on the clock and then a new engine at 60k!! Please stop knocking Alfa, try one for a few 100k and then you may be able to pronounce a judgement! Go for it Alfa!!
try it for yourself
If like me you take your hard earned motoring pleasure seriously then you will look at both these cars and will know instantly which is the most desirable and which looks better inside and out without the mythical german quality hogwash.
And I am truly unbiased about Alfas.
What will the residuals be in three years/36,000 miles? If it was my hard-earned I would choose the Golf anyday. Boring? Possibly! Sensible? Definitely! I run a five year old MkV GTI (which I reckon looks better than the MKVI) and it's still worth 50% of the original price when new. That's 10% depreciation a year. Try that with an Alfa! Mind you if someone else was paying, it might be a close call.
Italian cars are just plain fun to drive. I hate hearing all these people that talk like if you buy an Alfa you will be sorry. Modern Alfas are pretty much built the same as other modern day cars.
But Alfas are unique, beautiful, and give you back so much in driving pleasure. I have been waiting a long time for the opportunity to buy a new one. I kept and drove my 75 for 22 years. I did not want to trade the feeling driving it gave me for anything else. After 22 years of daily use it was tired and it had to be retired. I have a very nice new car now and I like it but it will get traded in as soon as Alfa gets back to the U.S.
I agree !!!!
100% i had a 147 ,got rid of it because i had it for 3 years and wanted a change ,it never let me down ,,you just need to service them regluar and belt changes ,but that has be done in any car ,There is a bloke i see regular in my town ,he drives a black 159 and he has it since 1999 and its still going ,one bad point ,i agree with is the loose there value very quick ,this is why i would wait a couple of years before id bye ,just to take some of the pain out of it...
Should be 1st Alfa Giulietta 2nd Volkswagen Golf
Another predictable Autocar German car test win! Please, give Alfa a break! Don't offend our intelligence, the Alfa should win this! The Alfa has the superior engine (multiair), much better interior styling and ambience, chassis ride/handling is the pretty much the same as the Golf, which begs the question, how is the golf better than Alfa? The Golf GTI is bland in comparison to the Alfa, which is moving the game forward yet Autocar puts the so called 'class champion' 1st because of it's heritage going back to the MK1 GTI and because most of all, it can do no wrong, it's German!
Alfa owners Rose tinted glasses
Seem to be a few Alfa lovers on here with rose tinted glasses.
The Guiletta really is an ugly thing, what happened to the flowing sharp lines we love ? And that interior, plasticy 80's rubbish.
Hello ! the 231 bhp Alfa engine you all harp on about is slower and thirstier than the Golf's 207 bhp. How come that ?
Golf wins this without even having to turn up.
Golf is quicker despite being 25bhp down, better looking, more frugal, interior is from a class above, it won't let you down and when you come to resell in 3-5 yrs time you will have at least something to show for it.
Summary : Guilleta is slower, uglier by some margin, thirstier, will be more unreliable and lose you more money.
Volkswagen owners Rose tinted glasses
There also a few Volkswagen lovers (Bold Old Hector) on here too with rose tinted glasses.
The Volkswagen Golf ( Designed by Italian Walter De Silva) is hardly better looking than the Giulietta, it a good classic design, but not exciting like the Alfa, the Golf though much better than the predessor is still bulky.
Wins what!! An AutoExpress review!! A biased dodgy German publication! Don't make me laugh!
Summary: Golf GTI is slower, uglier by some margin, thirstier, will be more unreliable and lose you more money.
Bold Old Hector you talk absolute rubbish about Alfa's interior!! What's soo great about the Golf's then??? Apart from excellent build quality. The golf offers nothing new, no creativity, no imagination or flair. You can say what you like about the Alfa Giulietta, but Alfa have been more bold and have tried harder than Volkswagen!
Alfa design failure
Jtravolta77 have you bothered to look at the pics of the Alfa interior ?. It is awful for a new £24k car in 2010. You have to agree with me on that.
Alfa might well have tried harder but they have failed.
Time will tell which one sells the most.
I am sure you that next year you will be able to pick up a 1 year old for under £10k , if you really want something that ugly in your drive.
Volkswagen Design failure
No I disagree actually, Ive test driven one. You say 'awful' but many other car critics & magazines have praised the Giuletta's interior & dashboard! for ambience, flair, quality etc etc.....
You say 'failed' but that's your own personal view, not a view shared by everybody. Haven't you read Autocar magazine recently the Giulietta beat the Ford Focus and VW Golf in a group test!!
Obviously the Golf will sell the most, because it's German! of course! People generally don't look at the cars themselves but the badge and it's country of origin. In other words people are shallow, blinkered like yourself!
Yeah Im buying one at least I will stand out and be exclusive! A wonderful feeling!
No way !
So JTravolta you are the one who has placed the order.
I love the older Alfa's, they are works of art, but the Guiletta is a real stinker.
Well they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Your other half must be a real minger.
Well look at it's Rivals hardly Oil Paintings!
Well, let's for one moment look at the Giulietta's competitors in terms of looks: Vauxhall Astra hideous and bland beyond belief!, Ford Focus Rubbish! Common, no sopthistication, class or any form of good Design! Peugeot 308 bulky, gawky, plain ugly! Toyota Auris, Forgettable, hideous, no passion, no flair whatsoever! BMW 1 series 5dr hatch weird looks, some design merit but overall fails! Citreon C3 5dr hatch, some French boldness and flair, but ugly overall! Renault Megane, quite stylish but not a total triumph either! Seat Ibiza stylish, good design overall, Mercedes A-Class 5dr mpv, ugly, naff !! So there we have it, Hector! The best looking 5dr hatches in my book are the Audi A4 and Alfa Romeo Giulietta!
Sorry my mistake, I meant Audi A3 & Alfa Romeo Giulietta are in my opinion, the best looking 5dr hatches currently on sale today.
VW quality is overrated as are their dealers in UK
Years ago I had a corrado,bought from main dealer what a load of rubbish, noisy and poor quality,even fords are miles better cars these days , while the golf is a fair drivers car,overall VW p'x values are not that great in reality and longterm the quality and reliability is only average for what is a normal cars like a VW costs for repairs and servicing are very high and for me in every respect apart from driving a golf perhaps, Japanese cars are miles better in terms of ownership,reliabilty and yearly running costs and dealers have far better manners,my wife has had a 2004 Avensis for fours years now and its never missed a beat,costs are so low I don't know I have it in the fleet,servicing maybe once a year but toyota servicing averages around £200 pa to keep as new, even my porsche boxster s is pretty cheap against a vw.Look for a mint golf is you must a few years old,forget new.
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Full Car Reviews
1st Volkswagen Golf GTI
Will the Golf's build quality and polished dynamics be enough to fend off the powerful new Alfa?
2nd Alfa Romeo Giulietta Cloverleaf
Alfa's newcomer is full of promises, but can its stunning looks and characterful engine topple our class champ?- Advertisement -
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Facts and Figures
Verdict
Despite Alfa’s bold intentions with the Giulietta Cloverleaf, the Golf GTI’s hot hatch crown is safe. As we’ve come to expect, the newcomer’s engine is a real gem; the longer you spend with the car, though, the more the rest of its initial gloss begins to fade.
It’s fun for a short drive, but age-old complaints about the driving position and interior quality take the edge off your enjoyment. The all-conquering GTI is still the model you’d rather own.
For its part, the VW is an enormously talented car. The engine is less powerful on paper, but it never feels outpaced. The suspension deals with everything you can throw at it, and the interior is in another league to its rival. While it’s subtle and understated, the Golf is head and shoulders above the hot Giulietta.
1. Volkswagen Golf GTI
The GTI is the longest-running hot hatch for good reason. Volkswagen knows exactly what it takes to top the class. The legendary Golf has made the sector its own, so while other cars go faster, few offer such a broad spread of talents. Its cabin rates comparison with models from the sector above, and its image is second-to-none.
2. Alfa Giulietta Cloverleaf
Stylish Giulietta looks the part, but it lacks the staying power to take on the very best the class has to offer. Despite a searing engine, the bold pricing counts against the Alfa here. It’s also hard to overlook the flawed DNA system and compromised driving position.
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Golf GTI is boring
The Golf looks so mundane and boring. I would have the Alfa over it in a flash. It's too sensible.... Hot hatches are just as much about the style and image.
My grandad was a Golf GTI man - enough said.
By Danny200878 on 14 September, 2010, 10:01am