Friends have been asking me about my new ride, that I acquired since March 2009. It's the Alfa Romeo 147 Twin Spark 2.0 Selespeed. I've been dreaming of Alfa Romeo since my first encounter across the showroom in Ipoh, where my dad told me it is a sport car brand and it's very powerful. The dream pulls a long way and after 20 years, finally I own one.
Alfa Romeo is an Italian company founded in 1910 and currently owned by Fiat Group. Alfa Romeo 147 is a small size hatchback family car that is designed in 2000 and facelifted in 2004, while my ride is a 2003 model and fully imported from Italy.
The Alfa Romeo 147 2.0SS TS
The heart of the Alfa Romeo is the Straight-4 1970cc Twin Spark Engine. As its name suggested, it has 2-spark plugs for each cylinder and make up a total of 8 spark plugs for 4 cylinder 1970cc engine. It is designed to maximise the combustion with the help of an extra spark plugs and resulted a total power of 150HP @ 6500rpm and peak torque of 181Nm @ 3800rpm. Alfisti don't talk vtech or vvti crap here, it's an old available feature for all european cars, wondering why japanese make a big fuss about it (except the heart in integra or altezza, of course =P)
The main attraction point of Alfa Romeo is the Twin Spark Engine. It act exactly same as vtech and the cam profile switch will happen in 3,800rpm. The sudden change in roaring sound of the engine will make you push the car faster and faster without yourself realising it. By the time you aware, you are already hitting 160km/hr. It's addictive, I warned you.
The engine that powered the front wheels is mated to the Alfa Romeo's trademark 5-speed Selespeed gearbox designed by Magneti Marelli, that works like F1 car with paddle shift. It is a manual gearbox but powered by electronic controlled hydraulic cylinder for up and downshifting. It's not a very fine-tuned system like what's found in BMW or Mercedes but it's efficient enough for quick gear change in Auto Mode utilising a manual gearbox. The upshift and downshift proved a little jerky but will get use to it after a while.
It's a performance family car that allow 0-100km/hr within 9.3 seconds and have a top speed of 210km/hr (tested and proven). The handling is superb and nothing I have experienced before. Although I have not driven many cars before, but it has better handling than BMW 3 series that I test drive earlier. The Alfa is agile and very responsive especially during the cornering. Suspension system is tuned to road performance and it's a little on the hard side, which is necessary for hard cornering. Though my absorbers have already change to soft-hard adjustable type.
It's not a car that you can drive it over the bump without slowing down. It's very sensitive to road condition due to the suspension setting. But it's also a plus point as you will feel every inch of the road and it actually clamp itself to the road during hard cornering, giving you the confident to push it faster.
My Alfa is the highest specs that is sold and it come complete with sun-roof, dual climate auto control, cruise control, leather seat and etc. The interior is superb and everything is so well fitted. Features are aplenty and you will never believe it is a Year 2000 design. That's why I always said T-badge tends to rip people off with their price tag but provide with little or no features at all.
Complete 8-speakers Bose System and coupled with amplifier dedicated to the built-in Bose Subwoofer mounted at the rear. The HU is Blaukpunt, which is quite crap for my standard.
The 3-spoke steering with HU control, paddle shift that turn with the steering, and 1 of 6 airbags installed for the front seats. Notice the brake paddle also got Alfa logo embedded, sweet.
Overall View
It's not normal daily drive car that you will want to buy and it's definitely not for trouble-free-lover. The main problem is not with the maintenance cost, but you will actually need to love it to drive it. I believe everyone who own an Alfa will not say their ride is the most comfortable car, but they will love it more and more after revving it over 4,000rpm and seeing it's body curve line after a drive. It will never fail to put a smile to your face everytime you turn your head after parking it. That's why Alfisti call their ride as Bella, something curvy and sexy which you will want to spend the whole night with it, awake. I actually drove it sometimes during midnight just to hear it roars around the quiet neighbourhood, an experience that you will never forget.
For whoever that decided to buy one, congratulation. Because you will never buy a Japanese car anymore, unless wife wanted it =) It's a true transformation that you will start to look beyond the daily route in your life and finally dare to own something exciting. A piece of final advice is that, if you don't plan to buy it, don't test drive it! I'm serious! The double gear drop roaring sound is addictive!
Jeremy Clarkson from Top Speed once said, you are not a true petrol head until you've owned an Alfa Romeo.
Full Specifications:
Cylinders: Four In-Line, Transverse
Fuel Supply: Electronic Multiple Injection
Bore/Stroke: 83/91mm
Cubic Capacity: 1970cc
Compression Ratio: 10:1
Valve Gear: DOHC, 4-valves per cylinder, Electro-hydraulic Variable Valve Timing
Max Power: 150HP @ 6500rpm
Max Torque: 181Nm @ 3800rpm
Transmission: 5-speed Selespeed, 1st-3.55:1, 2nd-2.24:1, 3rd-1.52:1, 4th-1.16:1, 5th-0.91:1
Steering Type: Rack & Pinion, Power Assisted
Wheels: Mille Miglia Emotion SSL 17x8 Offset+35mm
Tyres: Continental Sports Contact 2 SSR 225x45 R17
Front Brake: 284mm Ventilated Disc
Rear Brake: 251mm Solid Disc
Brake System: Hydraulic, ABS with EBD, ESP
Front Suspension: Double wishbones, Coil Spring/Damper Units, Anti Roll Bar
Rear Suspension: Coil Spring/Damper Units, Anti Roll Bar
Others Information:
- Sunroof
- Traction Control
- 6-airbags @ front, window curtain, A-pillar
- Bose 8 Speakers + 1 Subwoofer System powered by dedicated amplifier
- Auto Dual Climate Control
- Leather Seat
Some more photos for your viewing pleasure.
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