Alfa Romeo Makes a 520 Horsepower Car, But Won’t Sell It to You
Dodge is so proud of its Charger sedan’s I6 engine, it named the car the “Six Pack.” The Scat Pack High Output trim of the full-size car claims 550 horsepower. But Dodge’s Stellantis cousins at Alfa Romeo couldn’t resist reminding Detroit who built a 500+ horsepower six-cylinder first: The automaker is re-releasing the 520 horsepower Quadrifoglio compact sedan. But only in the European market.
I’ve long argued that the Alfa Romeo Giulia is the best-looking sedan on the road. Better yet, the Quadrifoglio trim is a true BMW M3 competitor. It first used a twin-turbocharged V6, rumored to be heavily based on a Ferrari engine, to make 503 horsepower in 2015.
Sure, those aren’t Hellcat numbers. But in a compact 3,480-pound sedan, they don’t have to be. It can hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, but acceleration isn’t what it’s engineered for at all. The Quadrifoglio can school a Dodge in the twisties. It even beat the M3, AMG C63, and Cadillac ATS-V around the track in a MotorTrend competition. And best of all, Alfa Romeo offers it in Europe with a stick shift. You can see it reviewed in the video below:
Alfa Romeo offered several special editions, including the 2024 Super Sport, which dialed the engine up to 520 horsepower. Then it cut the Quadrifoglio trim from its lineup. Now, the lucky clover is back, on the Collezione edition. It features more carbon fiber to reduce weight—including in the driveshaft and aero—a mechanical limited-slip differential, and a new Akrapovič performance exhaust.
Mark your calendars, you’ll be able to legally import one of these final, stick-shift Giulia Quadrifoglios in 2051. Perhaps then someone will finally give it the race against a Dodge Charger Six-Pack it so deserves. But in the meantime, you could say the big Dodge won. Stellantis has ordered Alfa Romeo to build its next-generation Giulia on the full-size Dodge sedan’s chassis, even using the Charger’s I6 engine. That will sadly add 1,400 pounds to the Giulia. But it will be interesting to see what Alfa Romeo does with the formula.
