Alfa Romeo Giulia vs Jaguar XF

What's the difference?

Alfa Romeo. A brand with more re-boots than success stories. Yet one which driving enthusiasts the world over can’t seem to shake the allure of.

Of course, these are not cars for just everyone. Most mainstream buyers are scared away by what I like to call the three Rs. Rust. Reliability. Resale.

Alfa’s tumultuous (and often overstated) past is one it has trouble putting behind it. Reputations are hard earned and easily lost, and besides, the majority of the voting public aspire to own something German, which they see a lot more of on the road.

It doesn’t help that Alfa also dragged its feet on committing to a five-year warranty in Australia (in early 2022), hardly a statement of confidence in its product.

You’re probably wondering by now why anyone would buy one, and why it’s the car which most enthusiasts wish they were brave enough to own.

Well the Giulia is the Alfa Romeo. The low-slung, sporty, sexy car which a few of us out there still use as a reference-point for how to make a sedan in 2023 good-looking, and how to make one drive like it has heart.

The brand can throw all the SUVs at us it wants, but for those who see Alfa Romeo for the brand it should be, this car is it.

Parting sorrow, perhaps, the version we’re looking at for this review may be one of the last - under its new Stellantis management, Alfa has said it will leave this fantastic, promising Giorgio platform behind it in a move to be more electrified.

Travel with me, dear reader, as we celebrate a car which is the culmination of Alfa’s past, at a moment before it steps into the future.

If a Jaguar owner fell through a wormhole from 2003, the company they bought their car from would be   almost unrecognisable. Back then, it was a bewildering mess making an odd assortment of cars, yet to emerge into the light after Ford's confused and debilitating period of ownership. 

Why 2003? Fifteen years is a nice round number and pre-dates the arrival of the brand-saving XF.

Today, Jaguar has three SUVs, and the gorgeous F-Type, the XE, its second-generation XF and the big XJ. It has three SUVs (the F-Pace, E-Pace and I-Pace) because without them Jaguar would be a niche manufacturer before long, because big sedans, formerly the brand's trademark, are continuing their gentle decline. Oddly enough, one of the market segments contracting even faster than sedans is wagons. 

So what better time to launch into a draining pool from the three-metre board than now? Jaguar has bravely taken that risk and brought us the puzzlingly named XF Sportbrake.