First ride: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

Almost a year ago, Giulia rose from the sky. Touched the ground with her four gums and showed her angel wings. A splinter at the front, a spoiler at the back. View and touch by a select group of automotive prophets. The faithful were only allowed to be astonished in September. The 6 exhibition hall in Frankfurt became its cathedral in which they lined up. To stow, take a look at four upper arm-thick tailpipes and take a short seat.

One year of mental and especially media preparation before it was time. The angel is flying for the first time. And we must not only watch, but even determine the event itself. The sacred place: The test area of ​​the FCA Group (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) in northern Italy. Including an official circuit. And a horde of Giulia. Quadrifoglios!

Let's summarize it again, could it be that nobody has gotten it: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is the name of the new top model of the resurgent Italian brand. Although, actually, it is the top model of the entire Italian automotive industry. Because this car shows the world: you can still do it! Not just sports cars at Ferrari and Lamborghini build, not just sporty luxury cars at Maserati. But to bring to life a machine in which everyone has to become a car fan.

The sporty heart beats in the form of a 2,9 liter V6 engine. Two turbochargers ensure proper steam. 375 kW / 510 horsepower and a maximum torque of 600 Nm. Naked numbers. 3,9 seconds from 0 to 100 km / h (again: dreikommaneun!) And 307 km / h top speed (three hundred seven!) Are already providing for first emotions. But nothing against the first live contact. When the six-cylinder is started and you know immediately: This sound is your new prayer. Gas shock. A Donnerhall. No late-pumping plunder as the current BMW M3 / M4 forwards. But the cry of high-tech. Let me off the leash!

The driver is absorbed by the perfectly fitting Sparco sports bucket seats (surcharge: 3.490 Euro), the right hand flips the lever of the manual six-speed gearbox to the left in front, while the left foot gives way to the back pressure of the clutch pedal.

A person has around five million hairs on his body, Now each one arises. You actually sit in the Quadrifoglio and determine your own fate. Exit from the pit lane, full throttle on the track. The car clicks forward with a force that you think for a moment whether attachments are flying from the body. But no time to think, the first chicane is racing towards me. Or rather, the Giulia on the chicane. With just over 180 stuff. Brutal kick on the brake pedal and BÄM - the brain bangs from the inside against the forehead. The carbon-ceramic brake system from Brembo (cultivated surcharge: 7.300 Euro) manages to put an end to the incredible drive in no time. In only 32 meters, the Giulia Quadrifoglio of 100 should be brought to a standstill.

So deep we do not fall, with the 50 and a steering wheel lobster to the left, then one to the right, I let the chicane be themselves again and on it goes. In the curve of the following few kilometers surprised how easily controllable the strong Alfa despite the mechanical elemental force. From the first moment you have the reassuring feeling of always having full control of the Giulia. It does not slide out of your hand. A perfect weight distribution of each 50% on the front and rear axles ensure the same good breeding and order as a mechanical lock on the rear axle. Electronically regulated, it distributes the power between the rear wheels. With a yuppie stuff like four-wheel drive, a Giulia Quadrifoglio can not screw up the performance weight. 285 millimeter-wide 19-inch rollers on the rear axle ensure that the asphalt answers the bidding of the bi-turbo. The last rest is regulated by the electronics.

This includes the ESP. With the "Race" mode, which enriches the DNA regulation known from the earthly Giulias, one sends this on vacation. Then it is easy to drive the rear wheel driven critter across. If you can do it. Whether you dare or not, the car answers this question: Giulia seems to be talking to you, she prepares you in real time for what she wants to do with you - and lets her do it. Rarely has such a powerful car aroused so much confidence from the beginning.

Change to the automatic version. While the Giulia Quadrifoglio in most markets, including Germany, initially only available with manual transmission, you can order, for example, in England already the eight-speed automatic.

Dear readers, before anybody starts shouting about the converter "blasphemy", let me convert you. The automatic manages the incomprehensible: Another driving pleasure.

Brightly she sorts the translations and has the right gear already at hand, while the human still forms the idea of ​​switching. In addition, the constant Zwischengastöne when downshifting music.

In conclusion I am content with the passenger seat and let an Alfa Romeo works driver at the wheel. While he shows me that my "fast" is equalized by his "really fast" but that sort of thing, he confirms my preference for the Giulia Quadrifoglio automatic. "For drifting around the course," he says, "I take the handset to be really fast, the automatic".

And finally ...

Yes, the Giulia Quadrifoglio will lose her comparative test in the gazettes. Against M3, C63 and RS4. Because then the lack of space in the rear is complained, not the ultimate infotainment and other everyday problems.

However, the hearts of customers will conquer the car out of the tailpipes by storm: as a perfect everyday sports car. "Ferrari will never build a four-door car," Maranello said often enough. Now we know why: it's called Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.

Specifications Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio