Alfa Romeo Brera review
by David Ross (9 November 2005)
Numbers. BMW favours them over names, as does Peugeot. But can you tell a 206 from a 407? Most can, but it can be a confusing and rather anonymous way to differentiate between models. Take Alfa Romeo. The Milanese marque goes way back with numbers such as to the legendary 2800 8C, and with typical Italian logic, the early cars were numbered for a reason. 2800 signified the engine's capacity while 8C meant there was an eight-cylinder engine up front.
If you subscribe to the school of thought that says using numbers rather than names ruins any chance of a car having a character of its own, Alfa Romeo disproved that long ago, but more recently, sticking with numbers has done the marque no favours - witness the anonymous 33 and the not always easy to recall 147.
But at Alfa Romeo, it's all change. One of the most significant alterations is the appointment of a burly German to the helm. He doesn't dispute Alfa has long designed superb-looking cars, but he has made it clear he will have no truck with the shoddy workmanship Alfa's offerings have suffered from for far too long.
Is he just talking the talk? I don't think so. Karl-Heinz Kalbfell is a clear-sighted German who knows what has to be done. Having made his name in senior positions with BMW and Rolls-Royce, he could well be Alfa's saviour. And so could the Brera, Alfa's stunning new flagship coupé. It looks exotic, but that's to be expected. Penned by Giorgio Giugiaro as a motor show concept, it looks little changed in production guise.
Photographs do the Brera scant justice. In the metal it looks achingly beautiful, but it also appears to bring Alfa's evocative past into modern times. Wide and aerodynamic, with the line rising from the low arrow-head nose to a humped-up but rounded tail, the car looks to cut cleanly through the air. And it looked absolutely right at Balocco, the test track facility between Turin and Milan that Alfa has used since its Grand Prix glory days.
There, along with a swirling mist, was more than a hint of the times when Alfa Romeo was the transport of choice for Europe's elite. On hand were a number of highly evocative Alfa coupés from the 1930s and 1950s and, alongside them, there was no question of the Brera looking out of place.
Inside, where the much improved build quality is at its most apparent, there's loads of space up front but, despite what Alfa's press people had claimed at the car's introduction the night before, its practicality does not stretch to four-seater everyday usability. To dial in adequate rear legroom, the driver has to sit almost atop the steering wheel. A pity as, adjusted properly, the driving position is excellent.
That apart, for two and the occasional pet or child sitting sideways, the Brera is one of the most desirable coupés to come along in some time, its "affordable" target price of around £25,000 with 2.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and front-wheel drive adding to the attraction.
On a highly confusing road route that hardly ever left urban confines, that car felt good to drive, secure and reasonably sporty but not really anything more than that.
So save your money for the V6 which Alfa could have called the 6C 3200 4WD. With 260bhp put down firmly on the tarmac through an all-wheel drive system Alfa has rarely if ever imported to the UK but used with great success in the World Touring Car Championship, Balocco's slippery surface held no fears. Rarely have I ever driven a car that felt so securely planted on the road.
The power - there's plenty of it - could be applied early in a corner without either end stepping out. If you want to demonstrate the difference between oversteer and understeer, this is not the car to do it in. If it appears to be running out of road in a corner, you add lock and the rear comes round obligingly. Eventually, the car will slide with all four wheels breaking traction, but it happens progressively.
The big wheels that dominate the car's side-on appearance help to keep the handling balanced but the chassis dynamics, never an Alfa weakness, are, on the Brera, superbly developed, as are the powerful brakes. There may not be a test track outside your door but this car has the ability to turn a dull commute into a memorable drive.
Alfa's first launch under new chief Kalbfell will be the 159, a replacement for the 156 and a rival to BMW's astonishingly successful 3-Series. But it's to the Brera that Alfa is looking to mirror what the Octavia did for Skoda, almost single-handedly lifting the marque to the exotic heights both once occupied.
"Brera? It doesn't mean anything but it does sound Italian," said Kalbfell. With a new accent on quality and dependability mixed in with Alfa's legendary driving enjoyment, the Brera may turn the corner for Alfa as well as it handled Balocco's bends. A new dawn for Alfa Romeo? Enthusiasts the world over will doubtless be hoping so.
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