Scenario one: Punch it to the floor, no to little movement for the first second, another second later it starts to slowly pick up speed AND DANGEROUSLY I MIGHT add if I were trying to pull out in front of someone

I've experienced this exact situation several times. Both completely stock and modded (EC intake, tune, exhaust). The problem is that it occurs @ random times. The inconsistency of pedal input / throttle response / translation to power makes the drive less than satisfactory, especially in traffic. Have the T57 update done. And have owned several FI cars previously & 3 currently. Imo this is not an issue with the turbo but the fbw throttle programming/tuning.

Am hoping a planned Pedalpro purchase will alleviate the issue.

 

Count me in as experiencing this phenomenon. I floor (or practically floor) the pedal and there is literally a second of dead space followed by the lunging. It just seems like the pedal and the transmission are not really on speaking terms either.

I have owned my Giulia for about 3 months, have driven about 3000 miles. I still absolutely love this car, but I think it is about 97% ready for prime time. I look forward to Giulia 2.1 someday.

 

I'm going to try and summarize my experience here a bit better especially since it seems worse today. The car has about 740 miles on it, came to me with about 300 on Saturday (car was driven between dealers)

-Pulling out as it would appear to a passer by, would look as if I were on a very casual drive ...for the first 2 seconds.
-Then you would notice the car jerk suddenly and start to accelerate for a second or 2...
-Then the turbo kicks in and the car surprises you and I'm sure to the passer by they are noticing some herky jerky steering to accommodate for the recent warp drive enabled feeling.

There just is no casual egress with quickness in this car...it goes from almost nothing to far too much when you really want to get it out there quickly and push the pedal 3/4 to all the way down.

The only solace is that I can time for this delay and at 1/2 pedal the car is much more manageable.

I'm not sure how I missed this on my test drives. I likely was being a bit cautious on the test drive and not really getting on it too much unless I was already 'at speed' and was adding acceleration through bends etc to test handling and power pull at 60+ mph for example.

Not sure what to do. I already need to take the car in for the brakes clunking so I guess I will ask that they check this out for me too....sigh.

 

Let your new car warranty work for you. You paid for it when you bought your new car. I also want to point out that if you try to fix something, they can void your warranty "cause you touched it'.

I know how disappointing this can be, but just drive in and tell them what's going on. AR wants to please you, in their own odd way.

Your entitled to a free loaner car while yours is in for warranty work.

 

My sales team didn't think Mods were frowned upon and in fact they said they had the burden of proof on them to prove that mods caused issues to which you could then go back to the mod company and recoup losses Id imagine possibly. So I'm wondering if the less expensive throttle mapping (pedal lag) fixes that are out there have proven useful? What about the tunes that give about 80hp more, do they include a smoothing out of the initial acceleration?

I should add I have the Q4 with LSD..not sure if that makes a difference.

 

The car needs to be running right before you do any tuning, and I’m sure if you ask any of the tuners, they’ll tell you as much.

Get it checked out. From what you describe, it sounds odd to me; I notice some lag and recognize the surging from boost, but the intensity and impact on driveability is unfamiliar, so I think it’s worth checking out. Comparing it to another Giulia at the dealer is a good idea, and should make something clear either way.

It’s also true, in my experience, that the car breaks in and smooths out in time, but this sounds like it could be something else. Mine was delivered with very little mileage, I forget, but maybe around 10, so it was very green when I got it and drives better now, at 6k miles, than it did when new.

 

Hello everyone,

If you decide you'd like to get this looked at by the dealer, please let me know. I'd be glad to help however I can and get this escalated if needed,

Jasmine
Alfa Romeo Social Care Specialist

 

I have this issue too. You floor the pedal and it just takes loooong to react.
When I'm in traffic and just know I have to or want to move fast I just make sure the car is in Dynamic and the first gear selected in Manual Mode, this is the way the car reacts the quickest.
I´ve noticed something actually happens when you do this. I don't know if someone can explain what engages with the transmission but you will notice what I'm saying this way:
Stand still in Drive, car in Dynamic Mode. Still in Drive, downshift with the left paddle to select first gear (it appears D1 in the dashboard), afterwards move the gear lever to the left to manual mode. This is when the dashboard changes to M1 and you can feel something actually engaging in the car.
You would imagine that the car should be in first gear being in Drive / D1 / M1 but M1 is not the same.
So my guess is there's something different having the car in Manual Mode 1st gear vs 1st gear in drive or just drive.

Let me know if someone notices it too or if someone knows what happens.

Mario A

 

Responds quicker if you don't floor it. You can also buy a pedal booster (Madness GoPedal for example).

 

What version code do you have? I believe that the 85 and higher versions (MY2018 and later) indicate that you have the "driveability" fix which seems to address some of the initial acceleration lag.

Of course the car exhibits turbo lag, like any turbocharged car.

It might be worth noting that my wife's 2013 Subaru Cross trek (NA engine) sometimes does not respond promptly to throttle changes. Maybe this is a smog thing?

 

What I have experienced (and now compensate for) feels more like transmission hesitation than turbo lag.

 

I know exactly what you mean by compensating for it. When I have to go between traffic, I hit the gas 1 second before it’s clear- so the car moves at the desired moment.
It’s probably my least favorite part of this car. My old Escape had instant (weak, but literally instant) response to the pedal.

 

Id have the car looked at. Its throttle lag but thats alot.

This engine is a little torque monster. It makes peak torque of 295ftlb at 2250rpm which means the little quick spooling turbo is starting to spool off idle. Heck the car has a diesel like redline of 5800rpm. Its not a top end car but it has great torque.

The issue is throttle lag not turbo lag. It shouldn't be lagging 3 seconds though. Thats an issue. If its really more like a half second thats normal and can be remedied by throttle controllers like sprint boosters

Mike

 

Mine does the same, it's no exaggeration that it could be close to 1 second before the car jumps after slamming the pedal to the floor from 0 throttle. If you roll on the throttle it's fine, but it doesn't know what to do with 0%-100% throttle. I am completely up to date on everything as of a couple weeks ago.

 

Well, as the old joke goes — “doctor, it hurts when I do this, what’s your recommendation”. Doctor‘s reply “well, don’t do that”!

 

I have noticed this car is the same as my Audi was and the BMW is. Roll the throttle and no lag, slam the throttle down and lag. It's annoyed me a couple times when accelerating out of a situation is the correct thing to do.

I wonder if it is a "safety feature" in throttle by wire systems for when people panic and suddenly slam down the accelerator instead of the brake...

I am almost curious enough to ask a friend i know that works on those systems.

 

I've experimented with throttle inputs for the past 2 months or so. I discovered that stabbing the throttle hard to the floor will actually make you accelerate slower. It has nothing to do with turbo lag, but rather the nature of electronic throttles. Your pedal input is not linear to the actual throttle like a physical cable would be. There is a logical process that the computer has to calculate based on the current state of conditions. Your pedal inputs are translated to the engine through an electronic graph that the manufacture sets. It basically reads different data points, such as throttle percentage and velocity of pedal pressure, then commands the engine to react based on that data. However, if you tell the system to go from 0% to 100% in the matter of half a second, it is going to react very slowly due to the relative distance between the data points. It's all processed on a curve, so the car can't go straight from one point to another. It has to follow the curve and artificially fill all the gaps in between. If you squeeze the throttle slowly overtime rather than mashing it to the floor, it allows the computer to adjust quicker because you're giving it time to read the gradual inputs and react appropriately.

 

When I have to make a quick turn from full stop, I brake launch it. It’s the only way to get off the line fast, especially when turning. Throttle lag is probably the most annoying aspect of this car. And no, go pedal is not going to help in this scenario.

 

I don’t bother trying to accelerate in a round a bout anymore.. it feels like I’m whipping a dead horse.

 

I’m sure this programming lag issue is by the same genius that created start/stop. I will say that it’s nowhere as bad as the three Infiniti’s I had.

 

Ecu tune Eliminates the lag in a QV. Not sure about 2.0 but I would imagine it’s similar. Almost any turbo will have some lag but I would say my pedal is about 95% instant compared to 75% prior to tuning.

 

Nope, not on mine (EC E+D Tune). It's not turbo lag, it's severe input lag. You get 0% throttle if you mash the pedal and the wheel is turned more than x°. I believe it could also be related to doing that right after you came to a stop.

 

Yeah i have a pedal tuner from madness that allows me to mimic D mode (because im stuck in N for throttle mapping due to race mode mod) and even if i turn it up to aggressive settings (which are way too aggressive if you want any type of throttle modulation) its still the same odd issue from dead stop with wheel turned.

I wouldn't be surprised if the more aggressive pedal settings actually make this issue worse since giving full throttle input is the activating event and with flash tunes or pedal tuners that turn up throttle sensitivity you are getting more throttle opening with less pedal input.

That said yes in all other situations the more aggressive throttle settings make the car respond better to part throttle inputs