This life isn’t a dress rehearsal. So buy that Alfa, own that V12 Lambo
What’s all this then?
Your fantasy garage, Italiano st yle. For weekends, take the Lamborghini Aventador – aka the last gasp of pure V12 Lambo before it all went hybrid. For weekdays, jump in the Giulia Quadrifoglio – aka Alfa’s f irst rear-driven saloon since the 1990s, its BMW M3-beater and one of the greatest four-door performance cars of the last decade.
Actual bargains?
Well… think value and strong residuals for the Aventador more than low purchase price. The Murcielago successor cost around £250k new back in 2011 and early cars still command £140k or so, both as coupes or convertibles.
But wait… for that you get a carbon monocoque, trick pushrod suspension and a f ire-breathing 6.5-litre V12 pushing out 691bhp minimum. Or 759bhp in the case of the track-focused SVJ pictured here.
As for the Alfa, it’s a bona f ide performance bargain given a new one sets you back £78k – 2017-reg examples with around 60k miles are now in the low-£30k bracket, but for mid-£40k you can cut both years and miles in half. That’s a lot of car for the cash, especially when reasons to buy include a 503bhp turbo V6, double-w ishbone f ront suspension and a body so beautiful it’s ba rely been touched almost eight years on.
What did CAR say at the time?
‘The Aventador doesn’t just move the game on from the Murcielago, it transports it to a new time zone,’ summed up Chris Chilton back in May 2011. ‘The new car is faster, handles better, is easier to drive and much better built. If there’s a downside, it’s that the big Lamborghinis have always enjoyed a bit of fear factor. The Aventador is so competent that some of that thrill has gone.’
When I got first dibs on a pre-production Giulia QF back in 2016, I said: ‘The chassis is supple enough to gel with undulations rather than fight against them, and the super-fast steering chatters away in your hands, so you can read the surface, allowing you to tease out grip from the front end in confidence. Impressively, the hyper steering doesn’t wrong-foot the rear end – turn in and the front tyres arc round the corner like a skater’s blades cutting into ice.’
Can a grown-up endorse your enthusiasm?
‘With production now ended and all future V12
