hello and welcome to episode six now of my julia veloce video diary series and today it's a big one
because the car has done 10 000 miles since i got it 10 000 miles they've flown by so what
i want to find out today is what's that 10 000 miles been like has it broken down anything i've
noticed since i've got it and also i want to talk about practicality because i kind
of glazed over it previously but it is quite important especially if you're buying this car
and you've got a family so i'll talk about that but first up ten thousand mile sit rep
so you're probably looking at me now and thinking i bet he's had that bonnet up
several times with this car but actually no this is the first time i've lifted the bonnet on
the julia veloce and i think that says a lot because despite alfred mayer's reputation
i've had no major issues with this car at all touch wood the only things that have gone wrong
are the tire pressure monitor that kept coming on for no apparent reason but that seems to have
fixed itself and also the sat nav not knowing where i was but that's also been fixed by
a nice quick simple software update even the cabin there's still no squeaks or rattles or any
annoying noises and that might sound like what you'd expect from a 40 000 pound car but
actually it's not i've had squeaks and rattles on far younger cars that cost 40 000 pounds but
the alfa romeo hasn't got any of those so all in all top mark south romeo well done
onto fuel economy and over the 10 000 miles it's done just over 32 miles per gallon which
if i'm being honest i'm a little bit disappointed about i think it could have been or it should be
in the mid 30s on a run you get high 30s again i think it should probably be low 40s that's
the amount that you get from a comparably fast bmw or audi so yeah could do a little bit more
but in terms of what i'm putting into this car the tires and the brakes they are still absolutely
fine they've got lots and lots of life left in them so that's good but yeah fuel economy could be
just a little bit stronger i reckon final question would i change anything about the spec on this car
now i've run it for the last six months and i've seen what it's like and the honest answer is i
don't want to be boring but no i wouldn't actually the veloce is still the one to get if you can't
stretch to the qv which as we've discussed before is brilliant but i love the paint on this the
mizano blue paint i think it looks fantastic you hardly see any other cars in mizano blue in fact
i think i've only seen one in the entire time i've had this car which is pretty impressive the veloce
spec i still think you don't really need the estrema because the estrema now comes with the
adaptive dampers as standard and as i said before you don't need them the passive dampers and the
ride and the handling on this are fantastic and also you get the limited slip rear differential
as standard now on velocity so as it is it's pretty much perfect and i wouldn't change it
so nothing nasty to report on the reliability front but what about practicality well i've just
had a weekend where i filled this cart with four adult passengers and stuffed the boot to the brim
so i wanted to go through a few observations starting with space in the rear seats and even
if you're over six foot unlike me then there's actually a surprising amount of room back here
given the swooping and low rear roof line you've got enough headroom got enough knee room as well
that's all good and generally it's not a bad place to spend time in the downsides that it is quite
dark in here with the black headlining and the black leather there's no usb ports or vents in the
center column here like there is on a lot of cars in this class and also this is something which
is a little bit annoying but isn't the end of the world if you get in before the driver has turned
the engine on and turn the ignition on then the seat will be further back because it's got the
easy access system so you really need to let the driver get in first otherwise they'll find it a
bit tight getting in a couple of other features though that are nice you've got this center
armrest with the cup holders here very nice a little cubby hole there in lieu of the aircon and
the usbs and there's also a place for your water bottle and a very handy net on the back of the
front seat so there could be a few more features but as for overall space it's not too bad at all
as for boot space you don't get an electronic tailgate but then you really don't need one at
all because you just press the button and lift it up like so and once you're in it's got 480
liters of boot space with the rear seats in place and that's about the same as the bmw 3
series and the audi a4 saloon and it's more than the mercedes-benz c-class so you might think it
could be smaller because of how sleek and sporty the car is but actually it's a very good sized
boot all you've got to bear in mind is the low height between the floor and the window line
but you get that on all saloons there's a nice cubby hole on the left hand side there
so you can put the first aid kit in or the vests for the motorways in france anything like that
and then also just bear in mind the release for the rear seats they're in the boot just under the
window they're not in the cabin but overall really good sized boot more than on par with its rivals
that's it for episode number six and happy 10 000 miles to the julia let me know in the
comments what you want me to cover next time and don't forget to hit subscribe
and turn your notifications on so you don't miss any future episodes finally make sure
you head over to the parker stock code at uk website where i've got my full written
report on the julia as well as the incredibly detailed in-depth review from the parker's team
you