Alfa Romeo Giulia saloon - Interior & comfort
The Alfa Romeo Giulia has a luxurious and driver-focused interior that’s practical, too
While it’s likely that only Alfa Romeo fans will spot the new ‘3+3’ matrix LED headlights, plus the tweaked rear light clusters and other small styling changes ushered in by the 2023 facelift, the interior did come in for some significant changes, including a shift to digital instruments to keep on track with rivals.
The rear-wheel-drive nature of the Alfa Romeo Giulia is clearly designed to appeal to keen drivers and this is echoed inside. The 8.8-inch central display and heating controls are angled towards you and you don’t have to fumble around to find controls, leaving you free to concentrate on the driving experience.
Alfa Romeo Giulia dashboard
Climb inside the Giulia and you’re treated to a modern yet subtle interior. Alfa is keen to stress that it has kept the Giulia’s dashboard as simple and clear as possible. Screens are angled towards the driver, while the dashboard is as free from clutter and unnecessary buttons as possible.
Quality was given a serious boost for 2020, addressing an area where the Giulia was noticeably behind rivals. Soft-touch materials, improved fit and finish and a more attractive centre console all improved the ambience and gave the Giula an interior better aligned with its price tag. For 2023, the dated – but not entirely unattractive – analogue dials were ditched in favour of a 12.3-inch TFT display. This has three layouts: Evolved, Relax and Classic. The first makes use of the middle portion of the screen, while Relax minimises data to ‘focus on comfort’ and Heritage takes inspiration from the gauges of iconic Alfa models from the 1960s and 70s.
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The rotary control knob features gesture control and makes navigating around music, maps and various settings easy. An 8.8-inch infotainment screen became standard in late 2018, and it's recessed behind a large swathe of glass in the dashboard, adding a touch of class. The software has been updated and the screen can now be operated with touch as well as the controller, while also being compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Even following an upgrade that made it sharper for 2023, Alfa’s software feels dated next to similar systems in the latest BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class, so we expect most owners will make use of the smartphone interface almost exclusively.
Equipment
Until recently, the Alfa Romeo Giulia came in four main trims, called Super, Sprint, Lusso Ti and Veloce, but the current version has seen this slimmed down to Sprint, Veloce and Competizione. Standard equipment has improved over the car’s life, with driving assistance features taking a big step up. All models offer 'Level 2' autonomous driving – helping with steering, braking and accelerating within a lane.
The entry-level Sprint comes as standard with kit including 18-inch alloy wheels, ambient lighting, air-conditioning and cruise control. It also comes with an 8.8-inch touchscreen with sat nav (along with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), a TFT instrument screen and a reversing camera.
Veloce adds bigger 19-inch alloys, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, electric leather sports seats and some black styling touches. The Giulia Competizione comes with upgraded brakes with red painted brake calipers, a Harman Kardon stereo, extended leather trim, rear privacy glass and adaptive suspension.
The full-on performance-orientated Quadrifoglio model also gets its own dedicated trim level, and comes with 19-inch wheels, a full leather interior and a sports steering wheel. It’s a shame that leather seats only feature in more expensive models; Mercedes fits all versions of the C-Class with (synthetic) leather seats as standard.
Options
Options for the Giulia include a Driver Assistance Pack Plus (auto high-beam, traffic jam assist and blind-spot monitoring, among other things), and a Premium Interior and Sound Package, adding the leather dashboard and 14-speaker Harman Kardon stereo usually reserved for the Competizione trim.
You can also order equipment such as an electric sunroof, red brake calipers, privacy glass and sports leather seats individually if they’re not included on the trim level you choose.
