Just run me over with an Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm. It’s the closest I’m ever likely to get to owning one and I want it one so bad.

I wanted it when they announced it and now that early UK reviews are in, I want it even more. The reviews are all glowingly positive, even when the hosts are listing off faults and you know what? I totally get it.

Let’s start with a history lesson from Car Magazine. Allowed to track an original 1966 GTA Corsa, the spiritual forefather to the car being reviewed, it’s a reminder of just what the GTA was back in the day.

What the A literally stood for is alleggerita, Italian for “lightened.” Back in the ’60s, Alfa managed that with aluminum body panels, magnesium wheels, plastic side windows, and some other tricks like aluminum interior trim.

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That’s a history that Alfa has kept up with the new car, which swaps aluminum for carbon fiber, but in many of the same places. The “m” version also ditches the rear seats. All in, the automaker managed to cut about 100 kg (220 lbs) from the Giulia.

Along with its aero mods, its wider rear track width, and its historical “Autodelta” badge, it makes a compelling follow-up to the classic. And it’s a significant improvement on the Giulia Quadrifoglio too: around the Nardo test track, it’s five seconds faster.

That said, around the Anglesey Circuit, where EVO drove it, it posted a lap time of 1:16.3, which makes it about a second slower than the fastest sedan they’d ever put round the track.

And yet, that doesn’t seem to matter. Immediately, host Steve Sutcliffe is making excuses for it, saying it would be faster around a more aero-dependent track. He also calls it “the most desirable production saloon we’ve driven by some margin.”

It’s a car you want to defend.

PistonHeads agrees; host Sam Sheehan is almost unable to get his review out as he gulps and yelps driving the car on Welsh B-roads. Sheehan’s review does a good job of diving into exactly what makes the GTAm so good, though.

He explains how the car is pointy, but not harried. The front end is exactly as eager as you are to turn in, but no more, so you can simply flow through corners. And with big carbon-ceramic brakes, you can always jump on the anchors if a corner is a little tighter than you expected.

Its eagerness to rotate also means that you’re never plowing past a corner understeering frustratingly.

Ultimately, all the reviewers agree that the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm is one of the most exciting cars on the road today and it’s one that you’ll love even if it can sometimes seem outgunned by its competition.