White Alfa Romeo Giulia Rental in Los Angeles

White is the colour that shows the Giulia's face properly. The scudetto — the shield-shaped grille offset into the nose — is the oldest badge shape in the car industry still in use, and against white paint it reads as the piece of design it is rather than disappearing into a dark bumper.

It is a good working colour too. White keeps the cabin cooler through a Los Angeles afternoon, it photographs cleanly against the glass and pale concrete of Century City, and on a compact saloon it makes the car look wider and lower than it is. This is the quiet choice in the fleet's Italian cars — the badge is unusual enough to be noticed by the people who notice, and the car itself is discreet enough for a client drive.

The Giulia is the car motoring writers use to embarrass German saloons. Alfa Romeo gave it the fastest steering rack in its class, rear-wheel drive, near-perfect weight distribution and a carbon-fibre propshaft, and the result is a mid-size four-door that changes direction like something half its size. On a canyon road it is genuinely, obviously better than the cars it is priced against, and that is not a small claim to make about a saloon.

It is also a proper everyday car. Four adults fit, the boot takes real luggage, and the eight-speed automatic is smooth enough that the sharpness only shows up when you ask for it. The cabin is simpler and more driver-focused than a German rival's — fewer screens, a deep binnacle, and the column-mounted aluminium paddles that are among the best-feeling controls in any car at this price.

Honest hook: the interior materials are not up to German standards and the infotainment is a generation behind. You are buying the chassis. It is worth it.