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Alfa Romeo’s Giulia Quadrifoglio sedan is a dream to drive. Imagine Ferrari building a twin-turbo V6 sport sedan in a mad rush to take down the BMW M3: That’s the Giulia Quadrifoglio.
The Giulia Quadrifoglio puts out 505 horsepower, accelerates to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, and hits a top speed of 191 mph. On a track with plenty of curves, this sedan that can whip just about any car not defined as “super.” (It lapped the Nürburgring in a stupidly fast 7 minutes and 32 seconds.) Its appeal, however, goes far beyond performance. The Quadrifoglio looks stunning, it emits a sublime engine noise, and it exudes a character that leaves similar cars feeling relentless and surgical.
One snag with the Giulia Quadrifoglio is the price tag. Its base MSRP is $74,245, which is a lot to pay for an Alfa Romeo. Since you’re already in that price range, you might well plunk down for carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes, some exposed carbon fiber, and perhaps a Misano Blue paint job — and come out well above $80,000.
You could buy the base Giulia instead, of course. It’s also a looker that packs some pop with its 280 hp, and it starts at a more reasonable $38,545. But that car is an agonizing 1.7 seconds slower from 0-60 mph than the Quadrifoglio, and that accelerative gap just expands from there. It’s not as good in the turns. And perhaps most disappointing of all, it’s missing that distinctive four-leaf clover badge on its fenders.
Sp for an affordable alternative, try something that’s still awesome, but a bit less Italian.
The Kia Stinger GT also uses a twin-turbocharged V6, albeit a 3.3-liter unit produced by Kia instead of Ferrari. (We’ll ignore the 2.0-liter turbo-our version for the sake of this conversation.) That mill pushes out a formidable 365 hp and 376 pound-feet of torque. The Stinger GT accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in a respectable 4.7 seconds. Those are not quite Giulia Quad numbers, but they can put some Audis and non-M BMWs to shame. And it does all this at a base price of $39,300.
