Something Special
by Mike Grundon (18 Apr 02)

Understated aggression is probably the best way to adequately describe the new top-of-the-tree version of Alfa Romeo's 156. See the GTA slipping past on the street and you aren't going to look twice. It doesn't have an airscoop in the bonnet, valances in the flanks or a massive wing bolted onto the tail. What it has is an elegant, subtly tweaked style to it - big wheels, wider shoulders, slightly lower suspension and a more gaping air intake under the nose.

But under the skin, it's something very special.

The GTA has the most powerful engine currently on the road in an Alfa. It's derived from the three-litre V6 unit that can be found in the 166, the GTV and the Spider, but changes to its main components have boosted the capacity to 3179cc, its power to 250bhp and its torque to 221lb/ft. The bottom line is that it will do anything you ask it, and any time you ask it to.

I did the asking in Caithness and Sutherland where the roads vary between long, clear open straights, and weaving, single-track moorland roads - a perfect testing ground for everything Alfa claims of the beast.

Settling back into the black leather seats and taking a bead on the tarmac strip ahead of me, I slotted the stick into the first of the six gears, stepped down on the racy alloy accelerator and surged off down the road to the trumpeting of the double-barrelled exhaust and an enthusiastic whoop of appreciation.

Alfa says the GTA will reach 62mph in less time than it takes to read this sentence out loud -a mere 6.3 seconds. From a standing start it'll cover a kilometre in just over 25 seconds and then hurtle on to a top speed of 155 mph. You can feel the power being laid down through the front wheels but squirm is too strong a word for the sensation.

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