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Giulia in Snow

19K views 43 replies 17 participants last post by  sjmst 
#1 ·
Not yet for mine (although a few flakes flew here today). I'll post when the time comes. Will be interesting to see whether Alfa White is whiter than snow.
 
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#4 ·
Last winter?
 
#9 ·
What do you expect to be interesting, the ordering process or the driving experience?
 
#15 ·
I've posted it before, but there is something very amusing about a quadrifoglio on a frozen lake - You guys who lock up your car for winter miss out on more than salt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Y1josLoJU
Hey I'm all for THAT kind of driving...just NOT where I live...LMAO.....no desolate frozen lakes or anything around here...and my concern is really more with people's already questionable driving ability in dry clear weather:grin2: will not tempt fate especially when I am fortunate enough to have a winter ride....

and if you wanna see an Italian playing in the snow:grin2:
 
#12 ·
Snow ..... Giulia ..... are you kidding? :confused:

i have been driving in snow for many years on business and for skiing.
That's what my second car Honda Accord is for with her front wheel drive and special hybrid chains (part cable/part link) when needed.

Giulia will rest comfortably in my warm garage during snow and any heavy rain. Of course it hardly ever rains in Seattle. She has three coats of Meguier's synthetic sealant of her and the paint looks 100% brand new.

:D
 
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#13 ·
#17 ·
Ice racing in New Hampshire, and I guess some in MA in a good (bad) year.

If we are just talking about any old Italian, there's a Muira snow thing, and this, not a lake though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he0WvPDxjZc
Now THAT is painful to look at :crying: an F40 decked out for the arctic.....but hey its your millions $$$ whatever floats your boat
and if someone does this to a Muira they should have the keys taken away!!! LOL
 
#20 ·
Brutal? Where else have you lived? I'd say there are about twenty to thirty challenging days per winter here. Snow totals average four or five feet. Dumps of over two feet are rare. And snow removal, depending on where you are, ranges from decent to very good. I could probably get by without snows, but with the prospect of needing to replace the OEM "all seasons" at the end of the lease, why not get them?
 
#19 ·
Today was the first proper winter day in Calgary, Alberta and I had a chance to take the Giulia in mixed conditions. Did some deliberate testing to see how the car behaves in various conditions including; 6 inches of fresh untracked snow in the alley behind my house, compacted snow with a thin layer of newly falling snow of side streets and icy grooves on main roads.

Driving a stock Ti Q4 with the 19" performance package and every available option. Despite being a devout believer in top-end snow tires, I still have the stock Pirelli all-seasons on as a result of a lack of reasonable wheel options (dealership quoted CAD $5,000 for a new set of s19" 5 holes with good winters!). I have also still have the stock Hancook all-seasons on my short-box, supercrew 2016 AWD F150 and was out driving that today. The F150 will also get the winters on this weekend and I will do a comparison between the two at that time. I do 6+ multi-day back country ski trips a season and will have no problem driving the Giulia to the trail head in any weather for those trips).

As they both are, the Giulia outperformed the F150 in all aspects, which should be surprising given the relative weights. My observations for the Giulia on the side streets:

Threshold Braking: Decent (expect to be good with winters)
Full ABS Braking: car tracks straight but you really aren't slowing down any quicker than Modest Braking
Turning: Good (expect to be VERY good with winters)
Acceleration: Good (Expect to be VERY good with winters)

For turning, I did rapid changes of direction at around 18 mph and 30 mph (think F1 driver warming up tires, but not as dramatic). I was really happy with how well the Pirelli's would bite and the car communicated how much slip was happening. Really easy to control.

ABS braking was easy to keep the car in a straight line. Nothing drives me crazy like a full lock up that results in the car sliding towards the curb/ditch with the camber of the road.

Acceleration was interesting, from 18 mph in N mode I could peg the throtle which resulted in the car dropping to 1st and spinning all four tires up to redline before shifting gears. I really wasn't gaining any speed and didn't have any power cut from traction control. In fact, the whole time I was out I didn't see or feel the traction control once.

Other/previous cars owned to compare to are G37s (rear-wheel drive) and X5 4.8is. Giulia compares very favourably.
 
#21 ·
Thanks for the report. Did you feel limited by the absence of a TC/ESC off switch? Did you feel the 6" of snow against the car's belly? How did the wipers and defroster perform?

Don't give up on wheels. Short of moving to a warmer climate, there's no substitute for proper snow tyres.
 
#27 ·
"spinning all 4 tires to redline"

well, now I'm confused, as the mostly cautious inexperienced drivers in lapland/switzerland press videos seemed unable to accomplish anything remotely like that, and gushed about how "safe" the early onset of eTC was.

yes, Calgary snow is typically freeze dried, very light/fluffy, so I expect you are right on the scraping. Check your tires tracks, 6 inches probably became 6mm.

looking forward to your donut/drift reports after you get to a suitably (ir)responsible location.
 
#40 ·
"salt hurts me to the core"
no kidding - when I was much younger, we avoided eastern cars like the plague, now I'm living the nightmare.
salt aside, the only snow concern I'd have with the giulia Q is clearance, and the biggest issue there is where my driveway meets the road. if the folding rear seats come soon, and I could swap in Q4 springs, and the stelvio hitch option continues to only be a rumor - I just might end up with one of those lovely cars that big headed dicks refer to as beaters, instead of the stelvio Q we've both been waiting for.
local dealer says late spring/early summer after meeting with the rep., that probably means not the faintest idea.

lockem, most in CA don't bother with the mountains, winter or summer, and I remember you pointing out that "improvement'. I was quite content pulling into the chain up area. out here they start dumping it in advance, pretreating, and continue nonstop until the last flakes.

mc, it was a lovely morning for car washing, and I agree, it felt good.
 
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