Home is where the heart is, and heart is where the Giulia Veloce is.

I'm going to make a statement here that may offend some, but so be it.

Only a soulless non-player character (NPC) could get into an Alfa Romeo - any Alfa Romeo - and not have a smile on their face, because the smile actually emanates from the heart.

Such is the effect of Alfa Romeo's charismatic Italian cuore sportivo or sporting heart.

And so it is with the Giulia Veloce. From the moment one lays eyes on it to the drive itself, you'll know that you're in the presence of something truly special.

There's no other premium sedan in its price range that will put a similar smile in your heart and on your face. Nothing. Especially in the test car's bright Alfa White. Boy, does it turn heads.

Esterno

From the shield that hangs from the bumper's top to lower lip to the two 'wings' in a nod toward the days of Alfa Romeo Avio, this is a distinctly Alfa Romeo face.

Adding to the front-end dramatics is a refreshed look courtesy of the new 'trilobe' matrix LED headlights which replace the xenon units of the pre-facelift version, and is definitely a welcome change. Those 'trilobes' also house sequential turn signals, and are a pretty sight to behold at night.

Ensconced into the top of the shield is what is arguably the most ornate and expressive logo in the automotive world, with the Visconti family's coat of arms in the centre and "Alfa Romeo" script curving its way from nine o'clock to three.

Fun fact - back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, ne'er-do-wells used to nick metal Alfa Romeo badges off bonnets and bootlids, and have them turned into belt buckles, such is the draw of that logo.

Telephone-dial style rims are de rigueur for Alfa Romeo, and the Giulia Veloce smartly wears its 19-inch items with AR-mark staggered Pirelli P Zero tyres, with 225/40 R19 in front and 255/35 R19 at the back.

With 280hp on tap, it needs the wider rubber in the rear. Yep, you read that right. Which other rear-wheel drive premium sedan in its class and price range has 280hp or more? Nada.

Further hinting at its performance and peeking out from behind those telephone-dial rims are red four-piston Brembo callipers in the front and single-piston sliding callipers in the rear.

The Giulia Veloce is sleek and rounded from the front and side profiles.

Move to the back, and one finds a perky rump, bracketed by tinted LED taillight housings and underscored by a black diffuser that houses dual tailpipes.

Make no mistake, this Alfa means business. See the 'Q2' badge on the boot lid? More on that later.

Interno

Swing the boot lid open to reveal 480 litres of boot space.

Need more? The rear seatbacks fold down in a 40-20-40 split to accommodate longer items. See, practicality doesn't have to take a backseat (ha ha!) where a sporty sedan is concerned.

Alfa Romeo is one of a very small number of car brands which can pull off a red leather interior without coming across as vulgar, and this red leather plays perfectly with the Alfa White paintwork on the outside, and black and silver trims and black headlining on the inside.

If only two people are riding back here, an armrest folds out from the middle seat for more comfort.

Rear legroom is just about adequate for my longer-of-limbs and shorter-of-torso 1.82-metre tall frame with the driver's seat adjusted all the way back and up, so more average-sized folks shouldn't have an issue back here.

Two aircon vents keep rear occupants nice and cool, while a solitary USB Type-A port helps with mobile-device charging duties. It would have been nice to have two USB ports, but hey, Italians dance to the tune of their own music.

The front seats are decidedly sporty and bolstered appropriately.

This is useful when it comes to stringing a set of bends in the road together, for they are electrically adjustable with two memory positions for the driver, and offer myriad adjustments, even for the bolsters, to better conform to and hug pretty much any body shape.

This then allows the perfectly-sized steering wheel, adjustable for reach and rake, to fall naturally to hand.

The engine start/stop button is on the steering wheel itself, which is a nice touch.

The formerly-analogue instrument cluster is now replaced by a 12.3-inch full-TFT screen, which Alfa Romeo calls 'Cannocchiale' or 'telescope', probably because the instrument cluster surrounds resemble a public-viewing telescope situated at the top of very tall skyscrapers like the Empire State building.

Having grown fond of the analogue dials of the pre-facelift Giulia, I'd been unsure of the shift to a TFT screen. After having spent two days with the car, I'm happy to report that it has been implemented very well.

Three types of instrument faces, namely Evolved, Relax and Heritage, are available via a button on the wiper stalk. Heritage harks back to the Alfa Romeos of yore, but I found Evolved to be my favourite. Relaxed is minimalist and will appeal to some.

If you're looking for tech up the wazoo, look elsewhere. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are available in the 8.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which can also display performance gauges. In my estimation, this works perfectly for those who prefer technology to be in the background and unintrusive.

In a nice touch, Alfa Romeo has implemented directional instructions from Waze on the infotainment system to be shown on the instrument screen.

Physical climate controls (hooray!!!) proudly sit below the infotainment screen and offer dual-zone aircon, and a small cubby and two cupholders sit below that.

The Italian Tricolore features behind the gear lever to remind you that you're in something Italian and special. Beside that sits the electronic parking brake rocker switch.

Here's where I found a small fly in the ointment - there's no auto-hold brake functionality in the Giulia Veloce, which would have come in handy during a purely street-driven route. I'd to resort to activating the parking brake manually instead.

Three driving modes are available courtesy of the 'dna' dial. Dynamic or 'd' puts the engine and gearbox into their sportiest mode. Natural or 'n' is best for daily driving duties and offers a more relaxed response, while Advanced Efficiency or 'a' mutes everything even more for slippery situations.

Most of my drive was done in 'n', with a few choice situations calling for 'd.'

A rotary dial sits perfectly ahead of the centre armrest and can be used to control the infotainment screen. I found myself using this dial more often than the touchscreen during my drive because it works so well.

The wireless charger for mobile phones is also situated just below and ahead of the centre armrest, which is a convenient spot to simply drop one's phone into.

Guidare

The first thing one notices on the move is that the fixed-rate suspension is decidedly sporty in its setup, especially over the bumpiest of roads. However, it never gets uncomfortable and starts to make more sense as speed increases.

The second item of note is that the steering is extremely direct, to the tune of around two turns lock-to-lock. This is a point-and-squirt sedan for all intents and purposes, and one quickly acclimatizes to how quickly the Giulia Veloce's nose can be steered in the intended direction of travel.

Aiding this is what the 'Q2' badge on the boot lid hints at - a mechanical limited-slip differential or LSD in the rear.

Most cars come with open differentials for cost savings. The downside is that while on-throttle in a turn, the inner wheel can slip and spin uselessly, turning engine torque into tyre smoke. An LSD limits this slip, hence its name, and directs more torque to the outer wheel.

The result is the rear end of the car rotating to help with turn-in. You don't have to be going fast to feel it either, for the LSD makes its presence pleasantly known in slower tighter corners and u-turns.

Stick the gearbox into manual mode, and bang through the gears via the gorgeous steering column-mounted shift paddles and listen to the two-litre turbo engine wail the Alfa Romeo symphony at full throttle.

Then, as you approach a bend, go hard on the brakes, drop it down a couple of cogs and gradually tip in the throttle as you steer through the bend for the LSD to rotate the rear end.

The Giulia Veloce will dance through the corner with its Pirelli P Zeros angrily gripping the tarmac, and you'll come out the other side grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

If that doesn't ignite a roaring inferno of life force in your heart, I don't know what will.

Speaking of brakes, the Giulia Veloce has a brake-by-wire system where the pedal is connected to a sensor instead of directly to the brakes. In the Stelvio Veloce I reviewed in 2021, I remember that it was a bit tricky to brake smoothly with this system.

However, here in the Giulia, I'd completely forgotten that this is a brake-by-wire setup and didn't realize until the writing of this article. It feels natural here, and kudos to the engineers who made it so!

pure street (bottom left), mostly highway (bottom right)

Not only will it do the sporty driving bit with aplomb, but stick it into 'n' mode and it will also be a good daily driver. Alfa Romeo claims 7.7 litres/100km or 13.0km/litre WLTP consumption, and I was able to better this at a weighted and normalised average of 6.94 litres/100km or 14.4km/litre.

Drive smooth folks, not slow. As usual, your mileage may vary based on use-case and driving style.

Someone commented last week that the Giulia Veloce is not a true Alfa Romeo. I'd argue otherwise.

Look, we cannot expect Alfa Romeo to build rough and raucous, yet engaging cars like the GTV6, 75 or even the Giulia from the 60s or 70s any more because hardly anyone would buy them, and Alfa Romeo would go bankrupt.

Cars these days are expected to be more refined and with more safety features. With that in consideration and compared to the rest of the players on its field, the Giulia Veloce stands head and shoulders above the rest with oodles of Alfa Romeo-ness.

It is unique-looking. It turns heads. It turns into corners in a way that would make professional performance drivers delighted. And most of all, it is still an Alfa Romeo.

So, who is it for? Let's momentarily put aside automotive enthusiasts who know that one isn't a true enthusiast until one has owned an Alfa.

Are you tired of living like an NPC? Would you like to re-ignite the Fire of your Soul and feel from your heart once again?

Head down to the Alfa Romeo showroom, take a test drive and watch as the Flame of Life erupts from within your once-dormant but now-active cuore sportivo or sporting heart.

Why? Because the Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce is Cuore Sportivo.

Check out our Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce TikTok video here.

Photo Credits: Sean Loo (@auto.driven)

Technical Specifications

Engine: 1,995cc inline four-cylinder turbo
Power: 280hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,250rpm
Drive: rear wheels with mechanical limited-slip differential
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
0-100km/h: 5.2 seconds (claimed)
Kerb Weight: 1,520kg
Fuel Capacity: 58-litres
Energy Economy: 7.7-litres/100km or 13.0km/litre (claimed)
Price: S$279,888 with COE (accurate at the time of this article)
Contact: Alfa Romeo Singapore