New Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Luna Rossa review: rare, rousing and ridiculous

Verdict

If you want the ultimate expression of the already brilliant Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, this isn’t it – see the GTAm of 2022 for that accolade. However, as an exceptionally rare and somewhat over-the-top example of the still-quite-wonderful base car, the Luna Rossa fits the bill. No saloon is more engaging to drive, and while the aesthetic changes don’t really add anything to the experience, we can’t help but love it anyway. 

In only the way that Alfa Romeo can, the Giulia Quadrifoglio Luna Rossa is a quite eccentric and extravagantly styled special edition of the excellent sporting saloon that references Alfa’s involvement in the America's Cup yacht race. 

However, if you’re thinking this exceptionally rare car (only 10 will ever be built) is the ultimate high-performance version of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio you might be disappointed. Instead, the Luna Rossa is effectively a stickers-and-stripes special at an ‘undisclosed price point’. Still, it clearly has plenty of appeal for the most passionate of Alfisti, since all units are already spoken for. 

The Quadrifoglio’s essential elements remain. This means it has a twin-turbo 2.9-litre V6 that produces 513bhp and 600Nm of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, and there’s a mechanical limited-slip differential on the rear axle to help out with traction and cornering. 

Used - available now

2021 Alfa Romeo

Giulia

15,446 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L

Cash £30,249

View Giulia

2024 Alfa Romeo

Giulia

14,992 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L

Cash £33,630

View Giulia

2021 Alfa Romeo

Giulia

42,000 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L

Cash £27,995

View Giulia

2026 Alfa Romeo

Giulia

10,621 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L

Cash £27,000

View Giulia

A few of the more optimised options from the standard Quadrifoglio are also fitted, including carbon-ceramic brakes, the rarely specified forged wheels and carbon-backed Sparco bucket seats. To this, Alfa has fitted some bespoke carbon exterior accessories including a new front splitter, bumper-mounted dive planes, fatter sills and that rear spoiler. 

Yes, Alfa Romeo says it’s the driving force of this car’s capability to produce 140kg of downforce at 186mph. And helpfully, the missing middle section does mean the view out through the rear window is also largely unaffected. But I think we’re allowed to say it looks pretty awful. 

This is all dressed in a matte-finish silver body contrasted with black contours on the bonnet and upper bootlid. In pictures this looks pretty naff, but there’s no vinyl wrap here, it’s all proper paintwork. The silver finish is so intensely deep it almost looks like liquid metal, and the contrasting black sections are applied with extreme precision. After a day behind the wheel, I don’t even hate the wheels that start at red in the centre and fade to black at their extremes. 

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The interior has a few more fun touches. Those carbon seats are wrapped in a new neoprene-like fabric material that has been moulded and perforated to look like life jackets, and across the dash front is an inlay made from an actual yacht’s sail used in the 38th America’s Cup. The rest of the cabin is standard Quadrifoglio, meaning a superb driving position, nicely placed steering wheel with lovely aluminium shift paddles and tech that’s now about 10 years out of date. 

Where the Luna Rossa’s impression starts to break down, however, is the lack of any real bespoke engineering. Unlike the more dramatically modified Giulia GTA of 2020, there’s no bespoke carbon fibre bodywork, unique wheels or revised suspension – these elements were all of a direct collaboration with the Sauber F1 team, of which Alfa Romeo was the title sponsor at the time. 

Do we wish the Luna Rossa had a little more of the GTA’s attitude in the driving department? Yes, but is this still a captivating and enthralling car to drive in isolation? Absolutely. Time might not have been kind to the Giulia’s sat-nav system or the fact it lacks wireless Apple CarPlay, but its driving experience is timeless, and all the more captivating as rivals continue to become bigger, heavier and more technically complex. 

There’s an immediacy to the Giulia’s response that is totally unique in 2026. You sit low in the cabin, the steering is razor sharp and while the ride is quite soft on first impression, switch the car up to Dynamic mode and the body control is absolute. Compared to something like a modern BMW M3 or Audi RS 5, which barge their way along roads like Antarctic ice-breakers, the Alfa Romeo glides across ridges in the road with a far lighter touch. 

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The carbon brakes are a little dead at the top of the pedal, but once you’re through that initial movement they’re easy to modulate and have immense stopping power. Drive out from a tight bend and the Alfa will leap away from the apex with as much performance as any German rival, as while its 513bhp is down on the contemporary M3 by a factor of 10bhp-or-so, it’s also 200kg lighter. At around 1,660kg, the Alfa is 695kg less than a contemporary Audi RS 5 – let that sink in for a moment as the RS 5 does just precisely that on a grassy verge. 

The result is a driving experience that really does offer something different from almost every other car on sale today. And because of the Giulia’s unique development story – and the fact a new generation will share almost nothing this car – it really is a car that captures a very specific moment in time. One when European car manufacturers had the revenue and therefore confidence to go off-script and create something truly special. 

On this metric, if the Luna Rossa was to have been beamed down to earth at the scary price they were no doubt sold for, the motoring world would have raised it upon a pedestal of driving nirvana. Thankfully, you can buy exactly the same experience for a much more reasonable £103,405, which will net you a Giulia Quad with ticks in the right option boxes – it just won’t have the crazy paint or that silly spoiler. Buy one while you still can, just don’t worry too much about the Luna Rossa bit.