So, inevitably my Alfa 159 has ended up back at the dealer to be fixed and I was provided a courtesy car in the form of a MiTo.
I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought I would share my thoughts anyway.
Firstly, from outside it is a great looking little car. I prefer the looks to the Fiat 500 and the MINI, and its head and shoulders above the Ka/Fiesta and Clio for looks in my opinion. Looks are always subjective though I suppose!
Unlocked the car and got in - I was immediately met with vast swathes of carbon fibre trim in a suprisingly "spacious" interior. The panels are made of tinfoil and the plastics (especially on the wheel) are made from sweet wrappers but somehow it is charming and doesn't (yet) rattle or anything like that - not bad for a 6 month old Alfa with 1500 miles on the clock...
The example I had didnt have any of the creature comforts like auto-dimming rear mirror, auto lights or wipers but it did have the Alfa/Microsoft Blue&Me system which is actually pretty good. The screen in the dashboard is actually quite a lot better than the one in my 159, not that mine isnt very clear it just seems to convey the information in a way I prefer and certainly better than you would find in many of the competing vehicles' dashboards.
The driving position is all arms and no legs, making it feel fairly terrible as a tallish guy (I'm 6ft) but I'd imagine it was tailored to feel right for girls, so I'll let them off for that.
Started the engine to the sound of a suprising low, grunty exhaust note - not at all what I was expecting and it actually sounds pretty excellent. The steering knocked me sideways at how light it was, absolutely 0 resistance at all even when not moving which filled me with sadness. All of that evaporated when I got it moving and something inside the column changed and all of a sudden it had more weight than my old E34 BMW! Thats more like how it should be.
On the road the 1.4TBi 155bhp engine BEGS to be revved, which resulted in me hooning it everywhere. Really a fantastic thing to rag about and doesn't really feel like a turbocharged car at all, very responsive and eager all over the rev range to the point where I am not quite sure where the turbo spools up.
This brings me to the Alfa Romeo DNA system in the car. This takes the form of a switch in the car that allows you to choose between Normal (the default every time you start the car), All Weather (which makes the VSC system more intrusive) and Dynamic. Dynamic sharpens the tuning of the engine, puts VSC into a less intrusive mode, activates the electronic differential and a few other bits and pieces. The result is pretty much a transformation of the car - the already rev-happy engine takes on a new even more eager to rev approach, the turn-in is much sharper (you can feel the electronic diff working away) and generally the car "comes alive" which is pretty tricky to convey in text but that's how it feels.
Amazingly despite how it was driven, it returned 28mpg!
Overall, its a shame that its so tinny but once you are driving it that all just evaporates and its just a smile from ear to ear until you park up and then its back to the tinnyness, but then at this end of the car market flimsy is what you come to expect, right?
Some quick phone-camera pictures:
Longest gearstick ever!
More pics: http://img718.imageshack.us/g/imag0210.jpg/
I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought I would share my thoughts anyway.
Firstly, from outside it is a great looking little car. I prefer the looks to the Fiat 500 and the MINI, and its head and shoulders above the Ka/Fiesta and Clio for looks in my opinion. Looks are always subjective though I suppose!
Unlocked the car and got in - I was immediately met with vast swathes of carbon fibre trim in a suprisingly "spacious" interior. The panels are made of tinfoil and the plastics (especially on the wheel) are made from sweet wrappers but somehow it is charming and doesn't (yet) rattle or anything like that - not bad for a 6 month old Alfa with 1500 miles on the clock...
The example I had didnt have any of the creature comforts like auto-dimming rear mirror, auto lights or wipers but it did have the Alfa/Microsoft Blue&Me system which is actually pretty good. The screen in the dashboard is actually quite a lot better than the one in my 159, not that mine isnt very clear it just seems to convey the information in a way I prefer and certainly better than you would find in many of the competing vehicles' dashboards.
The driving position is all arms and no legs, making it feel fairly terrible as a tallish guy (I'm 6ft) but I'd imagine it was tailored to feel right for girls, so I'll let them off for that.
Started the engine to the sound of a suprising low, grunty exhaust note - not at all what I was expecting and it actually sounds pretty excellent. The steering knocked me sideways at how light it was, absolutely 0 resistance at all even when not moving which filled me with sadness. All of that evaporated when I got it moving and something inside the column changed and all of a sudden it had more weight than my old E34 BMW! Thats more like how it should be.
On the road the 1.4TBi 155bhp engine BEGS to be revved, which resulted in me hooning it everywhere. Really a fantastic thing to rag about and doesn't really feel like a turbocharged car at all, very responsive and eager all over the rev range to the point where I am not quite sure where the turbo spools up.
This brings me to the Alfa Romeo DNA system in the car. This takes the form of a switch in the car that allows you to choose between Normal (the default every time you start the car), All Weather (which makes the VSC system more intrusive) and Dynamic. Dynamic sharpens the tuning of the engine, puts VSC into a less intrusive mode, activates the electronic differential and a few other bits and pieces. The result is pretty much a transformation of the car - the already rev-happy engine takes on a new even more eager to rev approach, the turn-in is much sharper (you can feel the electronic diff working away) and generally the car "comes alive" which is pretty tricky to convey in text but that's how it feels.
Amazingly despite how it was driven, it returned 28mpg!
Overall, its a shame that its so tinny but once you are driving it that all just evaporates and its just a smile from ear to ear until you park up and then its back to the tinnyness, but then at this end of the car market flimsy is what you come to expect, right?
Some quick phone-camera pictures:
Longest gearstick ever!
More pics: http://img718.imageshack.us/g/imag0210.jpg/
