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Alfa Romeo – the Italian for style

Wednesday, 03 September 2008

My family loved this Alfa Romeo. Not necessarily because of its stylish Italian looks, but mainly because it was a four-door car. So often in the past I have come home with classy-looking Alfa Romeos, but they have always been three-door models.
This time it was different and there were no complaints or moaning about getting out to allow back seat passengers in or out.
An American fashion writer once said that you can take fashion out of Italy, but you cannot take Italy out of fashion. The Italian love of style and elegance extends to every corner of daily life, especially their cars such as their very own Alfa Romeo.
This car, which was styled by the legendary Giugiaro, replaces the 156. I think the first person Mr Giugiaro had in mind when working on his design was the driver. The central controls on the dash are tilted at a slight angle so that they are easy to read for the driver. I thought it was a very clever idea.
The controls are well marked and easy to use and you get slave controls on the impressive steering wheel also. It's a leather wheel and it has a lovely grip to it.
There is plenty of space in the cabin and room enough for five adults. There are also plenty of places to hold drinks, phone etc. The boot is surprisingly very big.
Externally the car really looks class. The front headlamps comprise six mini lamps and of course the placing of the front number plate to the left of the grille is an Alfa Romeo trademark.
The only complaint the family had was that the seating was very low, but that's the way it is in a sporty vehicle. Sometimes you need to have low seating to achieve that sporty effect.
However, you need to be very careful. Many roads in the Dublin area are now littered with speed ramps and you need to have your wits about you or otherwise you will get that horrible scraping feeling underneath the car.
Where there were no speed ramps the motor handled very well and I move up and down the six-speed gearbox with a touch of pride.
All that class comes at an expensive price. Prices start at e32,750 for the 1.9 JTD 8 valve, while the 1.9 16 valve TI model I drove will cost you e40,450. The 159 comes in at Band D in the emissions table which means annual road tax of e430.
Up to now most Alfa Romeos I drove would have been aimed at single people. This was the first family-type Alfa I have tested and I must say that while it was a bit expensive, it also passed the test with flying colours.

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