So, it’s old news to most people at this stage that we eight Real People contestants received new Giuliettas during a very memorable evening at Alfa Romeo HQ. I have to admit, it was with a heavy heart that I handed the keys to Julie over. I didn’t realize how attached I’d become until I saw her being taken away.  However, settling into Julie2 soon made up for it. Not only did Alfa give us brand new cars in the colours of our choice (I went for Ghiaccio White – not surprisingly – my last post), but we got upgraded models, in Lusso specification. Fantastico!

The original Giuliettas we drove home in over four months ago, were entry level Turismo specs. While they weren’t low on equipment, they were lacking a couple of desirable features, BlueTooth and USB connectivity in particular. Not only does the Lusso specification address this, it offers even more bells and whistles to enhance your Giulietta ownership.

What I most like about the Lusso is the Blue&Me system. It’s a fully integrated BlueTooth system for your phone which can be controlled via steering wheel buttons,  the Sat-Nav unit or even voice control. The voice control takes a bit of getting used to, but once I figured out the tone of voice to use, it’s one of the handiest features I’ve come across in a car.

Say for example I’m driving from Limerick to Cork and need to call home, I press the voice control button on the steering wheel, say “Call Home” in a clear and slow manner and the system will repeat it to verify it’s correct. I then say “Yes” and it dials home. You don’t have to take your hands off the wheel at any stage and it is pretty intuitive after a few goes.

The other gem of this system is that it will control your media player if you have one attached. I have an old iPod with a dodgy earphone connector that doesn’t really get used anymore. So, I now have it connected via USB in the glovebox and have a full library of songs for driving. The Blue&Me system lets me browse Playlists, Artists or Settings simply by calling out three commands, once again without having to take my hands off the wheel.

I do a lot of mileage on a weekly basis, so this system has transformed my time in the car. When driving Julie1, I often had to pull in for phone calls, which wasn’t always possible on some of the dodgy roads I travel on. As I work for myself, I need to be contactable during the day, and when driving, this often wasn’t the case. Now, with Julie2, I can take and make calls on the road safely and comfortably. And as a music nut, having the ability to plug in my iPod is a really nice bonus.

What I’ve also found useful over the past 12 days, are the Cruise and Climate Control. Having already made two trips from Mitchelstown to Dublin and trips to Cork, Limerick and Wicklow, the Cruise has been a godsend on the motorway. No need to watch the speedometer to see if you’re creeping over the limit, just set it and sit out the boring part of the journey. The Climate Control is also a fine feature, I’ve found 18 degrees with the fan set at 1 to be the optimum setting! It keeps the interior at a nice steady temperature and is simple to use.

There are many more cool touches and features which distinguish the Lusso from the Turismo, which I’ll detail in future posts. Thanks for reading!