The Alfa Romeo Giulietta it’s much more than a replacement for the outgoing 147, but can it really compete with the class leading Volkswagen Golf.

My mother and father are currently looking to a buy a new car and you would think that having a son in the industry would help, unfortunately it adds to the confusion.

In this sector there is some real strength but we have filtered it down to 2 the new Alfa Romeo Gilulietta and Volkswagen Golf. The purchase price, retained value and economy are key, not just for my parents but for motorist in general.

The Options are -

ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA 1.6 JTDM-2 Lusso 5dr

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 1.6 TDi 105 BlueMotion Tech Match 5dr

The Giulietta has a list price of £19550.00, and you can expect discounts to be very low and the Golf has a list price of £20140.00, but there good discounts available some has high as 11 percent but neither car is cheap.

So with this sort of investment retained values have to be high, in the Whatcar magazine (February 2011 issue) the ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA 1.6 JTDM-2 Lusso 5dr has a retained value after three 36,000 miles of 40% and the VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 1.6 TDi 105 BlueMotion Tech Match 5dr is showing 46%, both do stand up well and the little more you pay for the Golf it looks as if you will get back.

Both manufactures quote good MPG figures with the ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA reporting 64.2mpg (as quoted in Whatcar June 2010) and the Golf Bluemotion 68.9mpg (as per the Volkswagen price list 04/01/11)

The overriding benefit of the Giulietta is its unique DNA switch, what is DNA (Dynamic, Normal and All Weather) it allows you to choose one of three settings that alter the throttle, steering and ESP sensitivity, driving around town you will leave it in Normal to achieve the best mpg but if you switch to Dynamic the car becomes an animal and you even get e little turbo meter.

Compare this to the Golf and as you would expect it does everything very well but in a bland well thought out way.

So which will they buy?????????

The big question raised by my parents was is the Alfa Romeo Giulietta going to be reliable, good question Alfa have spent a lot of time and money improving dealer service and customer feedback has improved over all, but the Golf is very strong in all areas.

I guess it comes down to personal choice at the end of the day.

Over to you Mum and Dad