2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio: Ferrari heart, furious face

Some cars you suspect want to maim you when you get behind the wheel; the new Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio telegraphs that intention right from the parking lot. Intensely aggressively styled, Alfa's new sports sedan dips a greedy paw into stablemate Ferrari's parts bin, and it's well worth it: the flagship Giulia Quadrifoglio musters a heady 505 HP.

That's courtesy of a bi-turbo V6, and conveniently makes the Quadrifoglio the fastest production Alfa Romeo that the company has every made. If you demand numbers, think 0-60 mph in just 3.8 seconds, 443 lb-ft of torque, and a 7:39 lap time on the infamous Nürburgring.

To do that, the engineers turned to a variety of electronic and mechanical aids. As well as the Alfa DNA Pro selector, there's torque vectoring, an active aero front splitter, and Chassis Domain Control (CDC), delivering 50/50 weight distribution.

Alfa Romeo even promises traction from all those horses, despite the Giulia being rear-wheel drive only.

On the outside, the looks certainly match up to the performance. Aside from the frankly evil looking fascia, with its sizable grille, bi-xenon headlamps, and LED daytime running lights, the Giulia Quadrifoglio has short overhangs and meaty rear fenders.

19-inch Dark Gray five-hole design wheels get big Brembo brakes to haul the sedan to a halt, and there's a diffuser at the rear along with a dual-mode exhaust system with quad tips.

Since not everyone can have a Giulia Quadrifoglio, there'll be a new 2.0-liter direct-injection aluminum turbo engine, good for 276 horsepower, due in the summer of 2016. It'll be offered with an all-wheel drive option, too.

Inside, there's plenty of leather, Alcantara, aluminum, and carbon-fiber. A 7-inch driver display is joined with a 3D Navigation system on the 8.8-inch widescreen display in the center stack. That's all controlled with a rotary control down by the driver's right hand.

NOW READ: 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Review

In all, it's a fitting addition to the Alfa Romeo range, with the company promising the sort of excitement it delivered from the 4C coupe, but with room for the family and a little more practicality courtesy of a decent sized trunk.

It won't come cheap, mind. The 2017 Giulia Quadrifoglio will land in showrooms late in the second quarter of 2016, priced from around $70,000.

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