Alfa Brera Prodrive 3.2 S Coupe

There's something about the rear of these that I really don't like.
The rest is utterly stunning.

It reminds me of something Porscheish... and not in a good way.
 
It's not Alfa unreliability that bothers me more the fact they seem so generic to drive. It seems to be all about the show - the interior looks stylish at first glance yet you get in and its built like a Peugeot 206, then you drive away and realise it feels just like..... I dunno, some 'car'.
 
I guess to be fair my only Alfa experience to date was sullied by the fact it had a diesel engine. It just felt like any other rep car, only with a more plasticy interior and a 'stylish' look.
 
Just the one - an Alfa 156 2.4d Lusso thingy.

The back story behind why I drove that is amusing, but for another thread on car salesmen I'll post tommorrow :p
 
Dogbreath said:
There are many excellent FWD cars, I simply don't understand this blind assumption that RWD=great cars. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of RWD cars that utterly sucked. I guess you are too young to remember the Alfa Sud and Sprint, but they were probably the closest thing to an Integra at the time.

The you have classics like the mini (the proper one), and numerous hot hatches starting with e.g. Fiat Strada, and moving on to the Pug 205 GTi, and latterly the Focus RS etc. Do you think none of these are 'drivers' cars because they have FWD?
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Because in my experience being RWD usually makes for a much better overall car, be it performance or luxury orientated, in the performance sector the steering it usually more positive and easier to feel what the front wheels are doing, plus you have the added advantage of extra control over which direction the car is pointing in.

Luxury wise, a RWD platform give a much smoother and refined ride.

Also note I said truly great drivers cars, i bet great to drive fwd cars are thinner on the ground than rwd equivalents.
 
Yep facelift was 2002, they were much better but when you're used to a german car they're going to feel pretty crap.
 
You should try a prefacelift :D

On mine, the dash rubbed against the windscreen and the air con controls would fall off in your hand, or sometimes if you just looked at them funny. The nice hidden rear door handles also used to come off in your hands occasionally too, but you could pop them back on.

No cupholder either
 
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[TW]Fox;15982396 said:
I guess to be fair my only Alfa experience to date was sullied by the fact it had a diesel engine. It just felt like any other rep car, only with a more plasticy interior and a 'stylish' look.
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Yeah I know, but I was also teasing you ;)
 
Sneaky Peaky said:
Lol - just found Clarksons review.. :D
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But Clarkson is about the worst driver you can possibly get. He's the least qualified person to make an assessment as to how a car handles. You do know that the scenes in Top Gear when he's supposedly flinging a car around a track isn't actually him, and that the BBC just cut between scenes of him and touring car driver.

As for the Brera S.....no, no, no. The Aultodelta Brera S is where its at.

347bhp
Supercharger
LSD
No bone jarring ride

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/09/besting-prodrive-autodelta-unveils-tuned-alfa-brera-s-and-159-j/
 
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peterattheboro said:
Supercar looks without the go.

SHOULD be a lot faster than it actually is imo.

Ok not supercar but you know what I mean.
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It's Vauxhall's fault the 159 and Brara are heavy, they're both Vectra based.

Firestar_3x said:
This was my point in disguise, the amount of truly great drivers cars based on a FWD platform can be counted on one hand, Lotus Elan & the Integra come to mind, i can't think of a single Alfa that would make the list.

All the proper petrol head Alfas are in the past (8C excluded).
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The last great Alfa Driver's car in my books is the 155 Q4. Why does it have to be RWD to be a drivers car?

[TW]Fox;15982481 said:
All that black stuff you see in that pic, that was like a Peugeot 206. It was rock hard and scratchy.
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The hard plastic doesn't ever squeak though, the Italians have a hard time keeping soft plastic dashboard parts from touching other soft plastic parts then squeaking over every bump in the road.

When you stop rubbing your palms all over it, the 156 is better looking than any BWM dashboard (with the correct inserts, ie. no carbon fibre effect). You can't say you didn't like the 2 big dials in their own pods and the 3 little dials pointing at the driver. Did the dials appear white in the day and black at night, they didn't all have that?
 
Hey, I loved my carbon fibre dash - I actually swapped the standard silver for it :D

Had the white in the day and black at night dials too... I miss my Alfa :(
 
The Prodrive BreraS made EVO "Car of the Year" finalist list. It didn't win, but still.

Clarkson's an entertainer, but he admits he can't drive very well (relatively). And lets not forget he slated the handling of the S2 Elise.
 
Clarkson's opinion on handling can be correct, but only when he's driving a RWD car. He's completely useless at FWD reviewing.

Vicky Butler-Henderson seems to know what she's doing, one of the only journos to notice that the standard 156GTA (no Q2) has virtually no torque steer.
 
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