Jan.17 (GMM) As a sedan, the 3rd generation Alfa Romeo Giulietta for the 2011 model year is a fantastic ride for a sedan that lives up to the Alfa Romeo

name. A front-wheel drive model, the dynamics of the new Giulietta are superb as well as the interior features and standard equipment offered. Fans of Alfa Romeo and followers of the Giulietta may be looking for a new facelift and redesign, but they’ll have to wait a few years longer, as the next overhaul isn’t due until the 2014 model year.

Specifications

• Pricing: Base price of just under $28,000
• Engine: Five engine choices including a 1.4-liter or turbo that puts out 120 or 170 horsepower as well as two diesel options.
• Transmission: The Giulietta features an all-new 6-speed three-shaft gearbox.

Exterior Features

The 2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta’s wheelbase is 8.6 feet sporting light lines and a sleek, distinctly European exterior styling. The well-known Alfa Romeo trident adorns the front above the distinctive triangular grille. Buyers will be able to choose between a comfort or sport chassis and each will have a few different trim levels and powertrain options. The LED headlight and taillight accents are stylishly and uniquely designed.

Interior Features

The new Giulietta offers plenty of space in its well-accented interior, with luxury features like leather seating, Bluetooth and hard-drive based navigation aplenty to make for a more enjoyable experience. Tilt and telescoping steering wheel and heated front seats for both driver and passenger are additional touches that it may be difficult to find on other sedans in the same class and price range without paying a hefty premium. The interior cabin is incredibly quiet, at highway speeds indicating the car’s precise and well-fitted design.

Performance

The new Alfa Romeo Giulietta offers a surprisingly comfortable ride, which, for those used to the harsher, but more precise handling of an Alfa Romeo may come as something of a surprise. A DNA dynamic mode makes for a sportier ride, but the 2012 Giulietta still feels like a comfortable family sedan.

Competition for the 2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Competition for the 2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta includes:

• Ford Focus
• Hyundai Elantra
• Honda Accord

The Ford Focus is less expensive and it shows through and through, though, however Ford’s innovative Sync system and the fuel economy are significant plusses for this American classic. Both the Hyundai Elantra and the Honda Accord offer superior quality and reputation for reliability all around.

Jan.17 (GMM) The new Mercedes CLS 63 AMG is a case in peak. It gets a modified engine and transmission, a new front axle, significantly modified suspension and steering structure as well a exclusive damping system.

Wide-ranging styling modifications interior and out is exactly the icing on a seriously re-engineered cake. And AMG engineers have put over one million test kilometers into both the engine and the finished car.

It gets the company’s new M157 5.5-litre bi-turbo V8 engine which swap AMG’s old 6.3-litre naturally-aspirated V8. The M157 is more dominant, torquier and an amazing 32 per cent more inexpensive than the outgoing engine. AMG has also developed its own ‘Speedshift MCT’ 7-speed transmission, which ditches a conventional - and laggy - torque converter for a much more direct-feeling ‘wet start-up clutch’ which runs in a oil bath.

And other most significant feature of the CLS 63 AMG’s development lies in the huge efforts that the company has put into the new electromechanical steering system. The 14:1 ratio is 22 percent quicker than the standard CLS, its said to be very rigidly mounted and its control unit takes information from a wide range of sensors (including lateral acceleration and under and oversteer characteristics) to calculate the forces it feeds back to the wheel rim. CLS 63’s steering response that strikes the driver as the car creeps away from standstill. At low speeds there’s a sense of uncanny, sharp-edged, precision humming through the wheel’s rim.
That surprising impression continues as you drive along. While not uncomfortable, the AMG’s chassis telegraphs an amazing amount of information about the road surface to the seat and wheel. There’s a strong feeling of an almost unbushed connection with the road, but this mix doesn’t seem to be especially nervous or wearing over distances.
But it was on the winding mountain roads on the US/Mexican border that the CLS 63 really revealed its talents as a scalpel-sharp tool. Firstly, it is quite ridiculously easy place the front inside wheel on the very ragged edge of the road, allowing more confidence in swift progress. The driver gets a super-accurate sense of the position of the front wheels and the amazingly rigid front end means the AMG is exceptionally keen on turn-in. It pulls itself into and around corners with a surprising degree of aggression, creating very high lateral forces very quickly, which can be hard on your passenger.

New Skoda's Fabia has launched its most modern special edition Fabia

Monte Carlo based on the Fabia SE and created to celebrate 100 years of the Monte Carlo Rally and 110 years of Skoda’s participation in motorsport, the special edition features piano-black body trim, black roof, door mirrors and radiator grille, smoked headlights and black 17-inch lightweight alloy wheels. Internal touches include either black or red and black sports seats and red-stitched leather steering wheel, handbrake and gearstick gaiter.

Five engine variants are available – three 1.2-litre units with various power outputs and two 1.6-litre TDI options.

Prices for the entry-level 1.2-litre version with 68bhp start from £12,755, rising to £14,030 for the most powerful 1.2-litre 104bhp TSI. Prices for the diesel versions start at £14,185 with the top of the range TDI CR 104bhp model costing from £15,000.

The new Fabia Monte Carlo is set to make its first public appearance at Rallye Monte Carlo, which runs from 19-22 January.