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2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Review & Buying Guide | Same dish, better noodles

When it comes to Italian cooking, the noodles matter less than the sauce. Despite the Alfa Romeo Guilia's robust flavor, especially the arrabiata 505-horsepower Quadrifoglio, there was no disputing the fact that the pasta upon which that delightful gravy was slathered came out a bit under-done. It was beautiful and wildly fun to drive, but it also seemed a bit incomplete due to a dated and relatively cheap-feeling cabin. There were also pervasive, widely reported reliability issues. To address the criticisms and improve the pasta, so to speak, the 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia sees a multitude of updates intended to make it more competitive against its mainly German competitors. These are best noticed in the upgraded switchgear and more modern infotainment features. The driver assistance tech gets a successful upgrade as well. Now, only time will tell regarding the reliability issues, but after some time spent with a 2020 Giulia, we can at least report that it's far closer to the sexy Italian sedan we should have gotten from day one.   What's new for 2020? You’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference from looking at it, but the 2020 Giulia received a lot of upgrades. Alfa upgraded the sedanÂ’s interior materials and added a ton of new technology, including an available Wi-Fi hotspot, over-the-air software updates, and both wireless and USB Type-C device charging capabilities. As an added bonus, the 8.8-inch infotainment screen is now standard and has been upgraded to a touch display, while the driver assistance tech has been upgraded with new systems supplied by Bosch. What's the GiuliaÂ’s interior and in-car technology like? AlfaÂ’s 2020 upgrades focused on improving the GiuliaÂ’s cabin, and itÂ’s much better for it. Materials on the steering wheel, dash and center console were all improved and the control interfaces made less flimsy and toy-like. The overall quality result still doesn't match most competitors, but it's no longer objectionable and the materials generally feel nice to the touch. The design itself stays basically the same, maintaining its attractive and minimalist look. It lacks the Swedish flair of a Volvo S60 or the drama of some of the offerings available from Lexus and Mercedes, but Alfa was sure to pack in just enough Italian flair to keep things interesting. There's even a little Italian tricolore emblem at the base of the shifter.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: The next five years

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you've no doubt read about all of the big future product news coming out of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles today. We had individual brand reports from Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati and even Ferrari, but in the interest of simplifying and summarizing, we're going to list out the hard facts once more. Of course, with all of this still off in the future, there's still the possibility that a few changes will be made. But as of what we know right now, here's what's coming, and what's going away.
Chrysler
2014: Refreshed 300/300C, debuting at Los Angeles Auto Show

FCA joining virtual CES with in-depth tours and Jeep Wrangler 4xe in AR

CES is sort of, technically happening, but it won’t be the CES weÂ’ve all become accustomed to over the years. Automakers will be doing their best to participate virtually, assuming they decide to join in the festivities at all. FCA is one that will have a little nugget of tech to share with us. A few main experiences will be made available to anybody with a computer. FCAÂ’s main draw is meant to be “highly detailed interactive product tours” where you can get to know a number of vehicles in a virtual world and hear from a “virtual brand ambassador” throughout the tour. You wonÂ’t be able to sit in and crawl through the cars like a normal auto show for the public, but FCA is promising a rather immersive experience online. The guided tour through the cars and technologies will be available in 12 FCA vehicles, two of those being the new Jeep Grand Wagoneer Concept and Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio. FCA plans to offer in-depth talks about how it tests vehicles, too. There are demonstrations planned for wind tunnels, the four-post shaker, an advanced drive simulator and general performance testing. Additionally, FCA plans on providing more insight into Uconnect 5 and vehicle electrification systems. WeÂ’re guessing the latter will offer up details on the Wrangler 4xe. The plug-in hybrid Wrangler will also be the star of FCAÂ’s AR play at CES. Everybody will be able to scan a QR code on FCAÂ’s site, then have access to a Wrangler 4xe on their phone. YouÂ’ll be able to “put it” in your driveway virtually, change the colors and get up close and personal with the interior.  All of this will launch on fcaces2021.com at 9 a.m. ET on January 11 (official first day of the virtual CES show), so surf on over there next week if you want to check it out. Related video: