Fast Fleet. Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Abhishek celebrates a second anniversary with his pride and joy, and gives Juliet a new, improved vocal range

Two years! It’s amazing how time flies. I remember it like it was yesterday, eagerly waiting for work to be over so that I could run over to the Gargash Motors showroom to pick up my first ever car. Leading up to that moment had been a gruelling three weeks of getting finances sorted with the bank but finally the day had come when I would be driving out of the showroom with a car having my name on its registration card. 

After that followed a month of excitement, showing off the car to friends and family (most of whom had never even heard of Alfa Romeo). Photoshoots, road trips, a series of upgrades, club meets – this stuff was all that I had on my mind. Two years and counting, having done a lot of road trips (with their fair share of damages), impromptu and planned photoshoots, a lot of mechanical and cosmetic upgrades and numerous club meets, I am glad that I went down the route of picking up a Giulietta as my first motor.

The first thing that most car owners think to upgrade on their car is the exhaust. With my heart set on it from day one, I finally ordered for myself the Ragazzon Flap exhaust. Basically a ‘catback’ exhaust with a rear silencer delete, and only a central silencer with a valve installed just ahead of it. With the flap closed, the sound becomes deeper with a loud bark only at the top of the rev range. Once you open the flap, exhaust gases go through a bypass valve, making it a straight pipe exhaust with proper pops and crackles, and a sound that would surely wake up neighbours if I were staying in a villa. 

I have also installed 16mm spacers up front and 20mm spacers in the rear, and finally I have fitted a completely new diffuser, after the last one had suffered damage at the hands of footpaths and towing hooks. This time around, all the installation work was done at AutoSauce Garage in Al Quoz. The guys there truly are geniuses when it comes to mechanical work especially, and special thanks are due to Aiden Harte, the crazy garage manager (crazy enough to daily drive a diesel Alfa Romeo Mito in Dubai!) who made sure that work done on the car was perfect without completely emptying my wallet.

Besides this, the car is also featured in a special edition of MyAlfaEU’s international 2019 calendar that includes 12 other unique Alfas in the UAE. This gorgeous shot was taken earlier during the year and will be covering the January page. Alfa drives have officially re-started, with the weather cooling down, and I am eagerly looking forward to driving a much improved (and much louder) Juliet.