Model:
Alfa Brera V6 Q4.
Price:
£30 000 (about R352 500). On sale early 2006.
Engine:
3195cc, V6, 24 valves, 195kW at 6200rpm, 320Nm at 4500rpm.
Transmission:
Six-speed gearbox, all-wheel drive.
Performance:
Top speed 240km/h, 0-100km/h 6.6sec, 11.5 litres/100km official average.
It's fun, driving a concept car. Usually they don't work properly but this one does. It gets lots of drop-jawed looks as I drive through northern Italian towns and villages and it's making me feel all that optimism about the future that a really handsome, clever, daring design should.
There's an especially good reason for optimism because the Alfa Brera isn't actually a concept car. It's a car you can really buy - or will be able to - by the middle of 2006 but it looks like a concept car, doesn't it? What with that glass roof and low, mean nose and a shape sculpted beyond all reasonable interpretations of car-design strictures?
Well, it was one, once. The Alfa Romeo Brera was a star of the 2002 Geneva show but it was created by Giorgetto Giugiaro's Ital Design, not Alfa's own styling centre. Giugiaro hadn't intended it to become a production car but everybody raved about it - and Alfa needed a replacement for the GTV and Spider.
So the Brera, named after a posh suburb in Alfa's home city Milan, became a proper project. Curiously, the production engineering was carried out by Ital Design's arch-rival Pininfarina, which builds the new coupé (and the forthcoming Spider convertible) in Turin.
The look stays faithful to the concept, losing the original gullwing doors the only concession to reality.
And what an influential look it has been. After that Geneva show, Alfa Romeo facelifted the 156 with a Brera-like nose. Recently, the company replaced the 156 with the 159 saloon, of which the front part - nose to fascia - is exactly the same as the Brera's apart from the bumper and lower valance (the Brera has a racier-looking air intake).
This, in short, is the new look of Alfa Romeo, with the Brera as the most extreme interpretation.
Look at it. There seem to be six headlights lurking in their recesses beneath the bonnet lip although the outer sections actually cover the indicators. At the back are eight more light units, four per side, set in a sea of red-tinted chrome and covered by slender, horizontal lenses. The tail's centrepiece, though, is the Alfa badge that doubles as a release for the tailgate.
One snag, for a high-image coupé, is that the new platform the Brera shares with the 159 is designed around front-wheel drive. Most rivals have rear-wheel drive, traditionally the layout of choice for such cars because it suggests a greater leaning towards driving pleasure. But much of this is in buyers' minds - few venture on to racetracks, after all - and a good front-wheel drive design can be a lot of fun to drive.
But what happens if you fit a really powerful engine? Will the front wheels cope? The Brera has such an engine in its range - a 3.2-litre direct-injection V6 with variable inlet and exhaust-cam timing and 195kW - but it's matched to an four-wheel drive system that sends more torque (57 percent) to the rear wheels than the front unless tyre grip dictates otherwise.
If that happens, a minimum of 28 or a maximum of 78 percent can be sent rearwards.
You know there's a soul
Other engines (front-wheel drive only) are a 2.2-litre, four-cylinder with 140kW, again with direct injection and variable valve timing, and (to arrive later) a muscular 2.4-litre, five-cylinder JTD turbodiesel with 150kW. Each has a six-speed manual gearbox.
The last concept car to make it to production with its character intact was the Audi TT. Sadly, the TT has never been as exciting to drive as to look at. Does the Brera keep its promise?
It does. One press of the V6 Q4's starter button, one blip of its accelerator, and you know there's a soul within. This new V6 engine has much the same rich, delicious burble as past Alfa V6s, but it now has the mid-speed pulling power (and the thirst) to match the high-revs energy.
I'm hearing its full repertoire as I zoom round a fine test route at the Alfa Romeo and Fiat test track at Balocco, between Turin and Milan. The all-wheel drive is working well, too; neither front nor rear wheels seem to be giving up on grip, reminding me of the Subaru Impreza WRX. I can feel the tail give a little flourish out of the corners.
Grip, poise, balance, pace, sound effects - this is the best-driving Alfa in ages, and even better than the 159 V6 Q4 because the meatier steering and greater agility mean a more responsive, more intimate, drive.
In the world of real roads
It's going to be expensive, though, at about £30 000 (about R352 000). Most Breras sold will be the 2.2-litre, likely to cost £25 000 (about R294 000) but lavishly equipped with leather upholstery and that glass roof. (There may be an entry-level model later, with a steel roof and cloth trim.)
And the 2.2 JTS is the Brera I'm driving in the world of real roads and traffic, heading up into the Alpine foothills.
Now that I'm not trying to extract the max, I can feel the smooth ride that comes from well-judged suspension settings and a rigid, rattle-free structure, and I can luxuriate in the leather and the front-seat space. Rear passengers get a raw deal, though - bowed heads and squashed knees - but this was never a family car though the rear seats can be folded to add to already generous boot space.
There's a good feeling of quality, with every door and dash surface padded, soft cloth in door pockets, real aluminium on the (rather overbearing) centre console, decent-looking pretend aluminium for the door releases and other embellishments. Passengers feel excluded, though; the dials are deeply recessed and properly visible only to the driver.
But then that's an Alfa trait.
Now, at a more leisurely pace, I sense a numbing rubberiness in the first part of the steering's movement. I also discover that the engine isn't as muscular as I thought. It has to be worked quite hard on hills; if pace is your priority and £25 000 your limit, you'd be better off with a Nissan 350Z.
Tail helps you through
However, the Brera is quieter and has a more comfortable ride. Don't look for fireworks, feel the subtleties; the Brera moves confidently and points with conviction into a fast corner, the grip continuing even if you steer more tightly.
At this point you can feel the tail helping you through, tautly, tidily. It's a crisp, agile car, fun to drive and never frightening.
The Brera, in fact, is all an Alfa Romeo coupé should be in 2006. A lot of us like the idea of owning an Alfa but fear the reality. Well, this one fulfils the promise.
THE RIVALS
Audi TT V6
- £28 710 (R337 000)
Stunning-looking at launch and still striking now but the TT is a surprisingly uninspiring drive. This 187kW V6 version is the best, though, and has a terrific DSG sequential transmission with smooth, instant shifts.
Chrysler Crossfire
- £25 995 (R304 000)
Another striking looker and shamelessly glitzy, the Crossfire is based on old-model Mercedes SLK V6 underpinnings and is built in Germany. Manual transmission is awful but there's much character here.
Nissan 350Z GT
- £28 000 (R329 000)
Mid-range 350Z has more equipment than £25 500 entry model but a fine 210kW V6 is in both. A good-looking, fine-handling, hard-edged driver's car but, like the Chrysler, has only two seats.