Alfa Romeo Giulietta (Topic Ufficiale - 2009)

[max_pershin]

molto interessante questa intervista:)

Full interview (source 06.2010 Automotive testing technology international):

How long have you been involved in the industry, and how did you end up working with automobiles?

Cars have always been my passion. I started my career in 1987 with Michelin, and after that I joined Fiat in 1998. I’ve been in the industry for 22 years now.

What are the best and worst elements of your job?

The best thing is the satisfaction I get from the job. At the end of the day a car is a complete product. When you work on a car you can see the product and say ‘this is what I made’. Cars are a very emotional product. I work with dynamics and style, which are the most emotional parts. People, passionate about cars, are always talking about engines, style and dynamics. Dynamics is a car thing. The only bad thing is that sometimes, now I have responsibility, I go to more meetings and it is not so easy for me to comfortably stay in the field. But I manage it anyway.

What is your proudest career achievement to date?

I think creating the Alfa Romeo Giulietta is my proudest moment because at the beginning nobody in Alfa or anywhere saw that with EPS and the rear new suspension I could make a better car than the 147, which for many was the best small car ever. There are a lot of things I am happy about in my career, but for me this is the best.

What are your goals for the next five years?

I’m not interested in having the biggest career because I’m really passionate about my work. I already have a lot of responsibility for big meetings but I do them so I can work on what I like. I don’t want to increase my responsibility because it would be too far from what I want to do.

What could legislators do to make your working life easier?

One of the good things about this job is you have to find solutions. You have to think. So for me it’s a lot more interesting to do the tuning on the Giulietta than on an F1 car, where you have no money constraints, you have only one single performance to think of, and so on. I find the constraints interesting and the trade-offs you have to find. Legislators put in constraints, but that’s OK. We can manage it.

What are the trends in your field?

The main trends are fuel consumption, safety, and comfort, generally speaking. The main trend is to optimize these three aspects without a trade-off in vehicle dynamics. With the Giulietta we resisted having inferior vehicle dynamics to the 147 because of these three aspects. We have low fuel consumption, a high level of safety and comfort, and a very good level of vehicle dynamics. Legislation can induce you to have less driving pleasure, but as a car is an emotional thing I still think we need to give pleasure but take into consideration we need to fulfill the three aspects.

How confident would you feel about developing a car purely in the lab?

This is not a good idea. At the end of the day this is a car. In a lab, with measurement and simulation you can reach a very good level of prototypes, but you need to have a human being driving a car on the road to give the final tuning that gives a car a character. This is not possible in the lab.

What are your professional goals for the next five years?

We have strong ideas that will come on the market in the near future, both in passenger and industrial applications, to lower emissions.

What’s the ideal physical to lab test ratio?

Depending on the car, its more than 60:40, but it will reach 80:20 eventually. But it will never be 100:0.

How long will a new vehicle program take to complete in the year 2015?

Times have already come down significantly. In five years we developed a whole new platform for the Giulietta. But today, to do a normal development, based on an existing platform, only takes 17 or 18 months. This was not the case five years ago. It can’t get much shorter though, mainly because you need time to tool parts.

[Felis]

Euro NCAP - For safer cars | Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Filmatino esplicativo:

[J-Gian]

About SDC for Giulietta

Says Krief: On MiTo the step between normal and adaptive damping is very high, but on Giulietta, where the global [ride/handling] trade-off is already OK, the step is not so big. So we’re looking at alternatives too, like frequency-dependent, two-valve passive dampers with a bypass system. It’s possible to get very close to the performance of an adaptive system with frequency-dependent dampers, but at a lower cost.

Molto probabilmente sono gli ammortizzatori passivi che hanno in programma di utilizzare anche su Giulia e che stanno sviluppando assieme a Koni

Se volete farvi un'idea, qui trovate qualche informazione. Sostanzialmente si tratta di un ammortizzatore in grado di variare smorzamento a seconda delle frequenza che lo sollecita: smorzamento elevato alle basse frequenze (oscillazioni ampie, beccheggio, rollio) per ridurre e controllare efficacemente i moti di cassa più ampi a tutto vantaggio delle prestazioni e sicurezza, smorzamento ridotto alle alte frequenze (piccole asperità, ruvidità asfalto, ecc.) per raggiungere ottimi livelli di confort.

In pratica consentirebbero di ottenere quello che nell'automotive è sempre stato l'ammortizzatore ideale, ovvero uno smorzatore che agisca con forza costante al crescere della "velocità" di oscillazione, e non che aumenti come succede normalmente a causa delle leggi fisiche della fluidodinamica

A proposito, giorni fa ci stavamo chiedendo anche la marca degli ammortizzatori utilizzati su Giulietta, ebbene risultano essere ZF Sachs, per la precisione dei ZF Sachs Twin-Tube Dampes, che da quanto viene affermato qui, risultano essere utilizzati anche su MiTo.

Le molle invece sono della Mubea.

Tornando all'articolo citato da max_pershin abbiamo scoperto che su Giulietta si è ricorsi sostanzialmente a 2 setup a seconda del peso del motore:

• "heavy" - Per le motorizzazioni diesel e la QV
  
• "light" - Per i 1.4 benzina
  

Per ognuno di questi 2 setup esistono 2 tarature a discrezione del cliente:

• "Normal" - Offre un comfort prossimo a quello di Golf () se non migliore in alcune situazioni, garantendo comunque prestazioni dinamiche migliori
  
• "Sport" - Offre performance dinamiche superiori, ed un livello di comfort più che soddisfacente
  

La QV ovviamente ricorre ad un setup "heavy" un po' più spinto.

[max_pershin]

I cant understand what type of the steering fits at the Giulietta. With servo unit on a second pinion or with parallel-axis servo unit?

It looks very similar to the second type. But this steering system is complex and usually suits on high level luxury car, off-road or sport car.

And one interesting point. Kreif sais:

we’ve achieved 1,000°/sec of input with no delay.

But in ZF presentation we see only 360°/sec steering speed at standstill. Its higher level of speed

[max_pershin]

Or I want more from technical side of the Giulietta. And her steering is similar Golf and Astra with dual pinion design

[loric]

I cant understand what type of the steering fits at the Giulietta. With servo unit on a second pinion or with parallel-axis servo unit?

The Giulietta features a double-pinion steering system. I had a chance to test her a couple of weeks ago and I can say the steering servo is pretty good. Not as good as the 147's one, but very good nonetheless; it's possibly the best electric power steering system I've ever tried.

[mcth17]

Domandina per chi ha già ordinato la Giulietta:

avete novità sulle date di consegna ?

[sandrog]

Domandina per chi ha già ordinato la Giulietta:

avete novità sulle date di consegna ?

Per ora confermata data di consegna 24 esima settimana (14-18 giugno)

Ordinata 6 Marzo Bianco Ghiaccio 1.6 MJT Distinctive Premium Pack e Pelle nera a cannelloni.

[Raxiel]

Domandina per chi ha già ordinato la Giulietta:

avete novità sulle date di consegna ?

Leggendo un po in giro direi che in generale il resoconto è questo:

Chi l ha ordinata in Marzo arriveranno da settimana prossima fino alla 25 settimana, quindi la settimana del 21 Giugno. Quelle in Aprile inizieranno ad arrivare fine Giugno, inizio Luglio. Leggevo di qualcuno che aveva ordinato l auto il 26 Aprile e gli han detto che arriverà in concessionario il 2 Luglio

[J-Gian]

And her steering is similar Golf and Astra with dual pinion design

Yes, they use the same kind of steering assistance

I cant understand what type of the steering fits at the Giulietta. With servo unit on a second pinion

It's a servo unit on a second pinion, probably with a different installation from the 3 types of the ZF site

And one interesting point. Kreif sais:

But in ZF presentation we see only 360°/sec steering speed at standstill. Its higher level of speed

I think it is a result of internal test, probably a peak result...