Rent Alfa Romeo Giulia 2023 in Dubai

If you book your hire car around how it drives rather than how the badge reads, the Alfa Romeo Giulia 2023 belongs on your shortlist, and yes, we rent it in Dubai. We can have it at your door in one to two hours, so you can be on Sheikh Zayed Road by lunchtime instead of queueing at a rental counter. The version on our fleet is the Quadrifoglio, the 520 hp twin-turbo V6 model, and that changes the whole conversation. This is the driver's compact executive sedan, the one that steers and sounds like an event. The rest of this page is about who that suits, and who would be happier in something more sensible.

What you're actually renting

Forget the polite four-cylinder Giulia. This is the Quadrifoglio: a 2.9-litre bi-turbo V6 making 520 hp, rear-wheel drive, eight-speed automatic, 0 to 100 in 3.9 seconds. The steering is the lightest, quickest, most alert rack in the class, and the engine has a hard edge to its voice that a 3 Series or C-Class simply doesn't. That's the reason to pick it. You rent this car because you want to feel the road, not because you want the safe default.

It seats five, has a 480-litre boot, and looks understated enough that nobody clocks how fast it is until you've gone. That sleeper quality is part of the appeal.

Where it earns its keep on Dubai roads

The Giulia comes alive at the speeds Dubai lets you reach. On the open stretches of the E11, the throttle response and the way the front end bites into a fast sweeper feel genuinely special, and the V6 has more than enough to make an overtake a non-event. Above 100 it feels planted and eager, not stretched.

It's rear-wheel drive, though, so treat the throttle with respect on a wet morning or a sandy off-ramp. With 520 hp going to the back wheels, it'll step out if you're careless. In normal driving the systems keep everything tidy, but this isn't a numb front-driver, and that's the point.

For a short run to DXB or DWC it's an easy, quiet cruiser when you leave it in the calmer drive mode. The eight-speed auto is smooth at a crawl and only shows its teeth when you ask.

Space, cooling and the daily reality

Up front the Giulia is a lovely place to sit. The back is the honest weak spot. Headroom and knee room behind a tall driver are tighter than in a 3 Series or C-Class, so two adults are fine for an airport transfer but a third in the middle won't thank you on a longer drive. If you're regularly carrying four adults, this is where I'd point you at a German rival or a bigger sedan.

The 480-litre boot is the saving grace. Two large suitcases plus a couple of soft bags slot in without a fight, which covers most airport runs and a week's shopping. It's a usable family-sized boot bolted to a car that doesn't drive like a family sedan.

On heat, the Quadrifoglio's cabin is small and well sealed, so the AC pulls a parked car down from Dubai's high-40s quickly once you're moving, with strong front vents. Rear vents are limited, so back-seat passengers feel it slower on the worst July afternoons. Give it a couple of minutes with the doors shut before you expect comfort.

Running costs and the bits that pass to you

Be realistic about fuel. The combined figure is 10.1 L/100km, but nobody buys a 520 hp Alfa to drive gently, and in city traffic with the engine doing what it's built to do you'll see more. The 58-litre tank gives you a comfortable few hundred kilometres of mixed driving, so on a typical week you'll fill up once or twice rather than every other day. Petrol in Dubai is cheap enough that this rarely decides anything, but go in expecting a thirstier car than the economy version.

A few standing rules apply to any rental here. Salik tolls run on the car and come back to you, any RTA fines are yours, and seat belts are required in every seat. None of that is unusual, but with a car this quick, the speed cameras are worth a specific mention.

Parking is easier than the performance suggests. At 4639 mm long it's a compact executive sedan, so Marina towers, mall multi-storeys and tight U-turns are all manageable. The low nose can catch an aggressive ramp or a high speed bump, so take those gently, but you won't be sweating tight bays.

Who should rent it, and who shouldn't

Rent the Giulia Quadrifoglio if the drive is the holiday: if you want a car that steers, sounds and accelerates better than anything else at this size, and you're mostly carrying one or two people with luggage. For a confident driver who wants a few days of something special on Dubai's open roads, nothing in the German showroom matches its character for the money.

Skip it, and book a 3 Series or C-Class instead, if you need genuine rear-seat space for adults every day, you want the latest cabin tech and screens, or you'd rather a car that asks nothing of you. The Alfa rewards a driver who's paying attention. If that's not the trip you're planning, the safe option is the smarter rent.