Alfa Romeo Giulia saloon - Reliability & safety

Alfa Romeos have in the past – justly or unjustly – had a reputation for being temperamental machines. The new Alfa Romeo Giulia represents a huge leap forward in terms of build quality, though, so it’s hoped dependability will follow suit.

Alfa Romeo Giulia reliability

In our 2020 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, Alfa Romeo had a great result, coming ninth out of 30 manufacturers – although it finished second in 2019. Owners heaped praise on Alfa's engines and gearboxes, and ranked the brand in first place for ride and handling. However, Alfa Romeo didn’t appear in our 2022 results.

The Giulia itself came third out of the top 100 cars on sale in the UK in 2019, despite reliability and build quality being scored above average in its weakest area. A worrying 28% of owners reported at least one fault within the first 12 months of ownership, mostly related to the electrics. The fact the Giulia was still rated so highly should mean most of these faults were not too serious. Similarly to the brand itself, the Giulia didn’t feature in our lists in 2022.

Safety

Euro NCAP released crash-test results for the Giulia in early summer of 2016 and the car achieved a five-star rating. This included a very impressive 98% score in the adult occupant protection category.

Alfa fits all models with forward collision warning (which will alert you if it senses a pedestrian or object in the road), as well as a lane-departure warning system and emergency autonomous braking. There's also mandatory safety equipment like electronic stability control and a tyre-pressure monitoring system, while a blind-spot monitoring system and rear cross-traffic alert are optional, as is a reversing camera.