Giulietta - Beautiful but Boring?

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Apparently it could do better.    http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/254392/alfa_giulietta_vs_hot_hatch_rivals.html

It's a sad day when we're less exciting than ze Germans.  Bring on a GTA version....

[ANG156]

Alfa can never win.

Poor reliability/ quality and we wish it more like the germans. Now that they are building them like the germans, we want them to be unreliable to increase the excitement factor of not knowing when its going to fail.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Hmm, unfortunately I was half-expecting responses like these.  Hey guys, it's okay, we can be critical of a new Alfa, and still be alfisti.

Poor reliability/ quality and we wish it more like the germans. Now that they are building them like the germans, we want them to be unreliable to increase the excitement factor of not knowing when its going to fail.

Respectfully ANG156, I think you missed the point of the article and/or my original post.  Alfas aren't exciting because of the unreliablility, they're exciting because they are fantastic to drive.  Really, they're exciting in spite of the supposed unreliability, and traditionally the view is that we put up with the unreliability because they're so good to drive.  Personally I don't think they're inherently unreliable, certainly not more so than any contemporaneous performance car.  But, a more focused car like an Alfa will normally be driven harder, and often aren't maintained to reflect that.

As far as I could see from the article I posted, the author certainly was not criticising the Alfa for being reliable, more that it just plainly wasn't as exciting to drive as the Golf.  I thought the following passage summed it up well...

Alfa has lost sight of the bigger picture: it's forgotten to inject the stuff that makes us love Italian cars unconditionally. So what we've ended up with is an Italian car that lacks the flair, vigour and passion of a German car. It's an Alfa, but not as we know it.

This bloke even dedicates a whole boring section under the heading of   "And what of the Giulietta?"

I think he does this because the whole article is focused on comparing the Alfa to it's rivals, it's not necessarily a "Alfa v VW v etc..." article, it's more of a "Here's the new Alfa, how does it compare...".  As he says in his first paragraph....Well, we wanted to find out what sort of hot hatch the new Alfa Giulietta Cloverleaf is, and getting it together with a couple of likely rivals seemed the best way to go about it.  To that end, I think the section "And what of the Giulietta" is perfectly justified.

I reckon this bloke doesn't know his ass from his elbow.

You're possibly right there.  Although John Simister, a highly experienced and well-regarded Journo said "this is still not a car to be pointed keenly into a bend on a trailing throttle and caught with a dab of power. It's too tied-down and inert for that, which is a shame for an Alfa Romeo", and "The QV should be a rival for that Golf GTI and Mégane 250 but it lacks their dynamic sparkle". http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/250711/alfa_romeo_giulietta_cloverleaf_review.html  And someone I've never heard of (Vicky Parrot), from Autocar mag (a very highly respected magazine) said "If you're looking for a focused hot-hatch then you'll be mildly disappointed.  If you're looking for a useful, rapid family hatch that feels a bit special and also has the power and poise to be entertaining as required then this could well be the answer to your car-buying prayers" and "Should I buy one?  Not if performance and handling are top priorities, but if you want a refined, fast and engaging five-door hatch then this should definitely be on your shortlist"  http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Alfa-Romeo-Giulietta-1750-TBi-Cloverleaf/250691/

And Vicki B-H also doesn't think it's quite there as a driver's car..

BTW, she's aging nicely IMHO.

To say a Giulietta QV is boring is one thing, but to actually write it down and print it is proof this bloke just a tosser.

Maybe I missed something, but this sentence makes no sense to me.  But, as a published writer myself, I often take heart in these words from screenwriter Sol Saks "You have to be brave to take out that white sheet of paper and put on it words that could be evidence of your stupidity".  (I'm just saying that calling him a tosser might be a bit extreme, just because he has a different opinion of a car to you; have you driven the other cars he mentions BTW?)

From what I've read, Alfa have produced a fine GT car, but it can't cut it with the more focused Hot Hatchbacks.  Like I said in the original post, bring on a GTA version.

BTW guys, nothing personal, just my observations.  And I'm drunk and bored on Xmas night, it was either pick a fight on the forum, or watch Michael Buble on the telly with my Mum and Auntie.  What would you rather do?