Looking to lease a five-passenger sedan? Something a step up from the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord? There’s plenty of good year-end deals out there. Maybe a 2020 Nissan Maxima? That’s $309 a month for 36 months and $3,859 down. Or a 2021 Toyota Avalon for $389 for 36 months, with $3,688 due at signing. Or a 2020 Lexus ES 350 for $329 for 36 months, with $2,899 down.
Or do you want to be a little adventurous? We’ll explain what that means in a moment.
The lease deal that caught my eye: A new Alfa-Romeo Giulia for $279 a month for 39 months, $2,278 due at signing with no security deposit.
A Giulia? For under $300 a month? And best of all, it’s a lease? Because Alfa, since its return to the U.S., has not exactly been racking up honors for its build quality. Luckily it isn’t ranked in the current Consumer Reports issue that features brand reliability, because, like eight other brands, there isn’t a sufficient number of cars out there to gather data on.
But no arguing that in CR‘s New Cars publication, the Giulia’s reliability ranking is one of those red balls with two down arrows that manufacturers hate to see. But hey, so is the Dodge Durango Hellcat’s. And you’d take one of those, right?
But the other side of the coin: Consumer Reports gives the Giulia two green up arrows for owner satisfaction, meaning owners like it, and apparently dealers are fixing the cars if they break, quickly and satisfactorily.
Which shouldn’t be hard. Every Alfa test vehicle I’ve driven the past three years has had at least one problem, in all but one case something minor and electrical, such as a light that won’t turn on, or turn off. People at Fiat Chrysler have told me things are better, and with an all-green owner satisfaction rating, I have to believe them.
So when I say adventurous, I mean that two ways: In the above-mentioned reliability sense, and in the conventional Italian Alfa-Romeo sense, which means the car is fun to drive. Even the base model I’m talking about here, with a 2.0-liter, 280-horse turbocharged four-cylinder and an eight-speed automatic transmission. The interior is nicely presented; even the rear seats are surprisingly roomy.
The base 2020 car, which costs $40,695 with shipping, is well-equipped, including with forward collision warning and automatic braking standard. Mileage is 24 mpg city, 33 highway.
And apparently, there are plenty. Alfa tells me in “my area,” there are 66 to choose from.
Car people who haven’t been paying too close attention to Alfa’s quality issues think of the car correctly as one that handles superbly, and this car does. Non-car-people think of the brand Alfa-Romeo in the same category as, say, Maserati and Aston-Martin, and will think of you as a high roller until someone tells them your car costs just a little more than a loaded Toyota Camry XSE.
So if you want to impress people, set the hook quickly. Mention the Formula One team. Just not the last time they won. I’m not endorsing the Alfa-Romeo Giulia (pronounced Julia; don’t embarrass yourself), but for $279 a month, it would be on my shortlist.