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Alfa Romeo models, news & reviews
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Handling
4
Performance
Usability
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3.5
By Christopher Hubbard
First Drives
20 May 2008 19:19
With the new Brera S, Alfa Romeo is hoping to tempt proper enthusiast drivers back to the marque. The Brera is a car that has always tempted, but ultimately disappointed. So by turning to Prodrive, just as it did during the successful Tarquini era of touring car racing during the 1990s, Alfa has found a partner with pedigree to rework comprehensively the Brera’s stodgy chassis. Built specifically for the UK, can the Brera S really deliver? The Alfa Romeo Brera S? Doesn’t sound very traditional to me…
It’s not supposed to. The Brera S isn’t a ‘factory’ performance Alfa; it’s UK specific, developed by motorsport gurus Prodrive especially for British roads. Hence the S – for Speciale, in your best Italian accent – rather than a Cloverleaf or TI badge. Banbury-based Prodrive has an interesting record with this sort of thing. Genius with Subarus hasn’t always transferred well to other manufacturers; the Mazda RX-8 PZ was hard work, the Fiat Stilo Schumacher best forgotten…
During development of the Brera S, Prodrive’s engineers concentrated first on getting the spring rates right – something they reckon is seriously under-valued in many modern motors – then tuned the dampers to match. Tweaks to the geometry, ride height (the Brera S is 10mm lower than standard) – not to mention binning the Q4 four-wheel drive system on the V6 version – all help deliver a more focused package.Click 'Next' to read more on the Brera review
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Alfa Romeo Brera S 2.2 (2008) CAR review
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bertandnairobi says
RE: Alfa Romeo Brera S 2.2 (2008) CAR review
How about an Alfa Romeo GT, the other coupe in their line-up and one oddly forgotten already. I prefer it to the Brera. Compare also side profiles of the concept Brera with the nose-heavy production version. It´s still a characterful machine though I´d take the GT instead.
10 June 2011 15:56
georgeboyter says
I've just visited the Museo Nazionale d'Automobili in Turin and the Brera prototype styling exercise is on display in a room of its own. At one end there is video of Giugiaro talking about the design inspiration and development. At the other end of the room is a video of Morricone writing and conducting the recording session of the symphony he wrote in homage to the car and designer. Extraordinary. To the Italians its all so much more than it is to us Brits. We are so much poorer by comparison. I think that if you ever ownwd a Brera you'd never find anything to replace it.
I've just visited the Museo Nazionale d'Automobili in Turin and the Brera prototype styling exercise is on display in a room of its own. At one end there is video of Giugiaro talking about the design inspiration and development. At the other end of the room is a video of Morricone writing and conducting the recording session of the symphony he wrote in homage to the car and designer. Extraordinary. To the Italians its all so much more than it is to us Brits. We are so much poorer by comparison.
I think that if you ever ownwd a Brera you'd never find anything to replace it.
10 June 2011 15:42
estubbs says
RE: Alfa Romeo Brera S 2.2 CAR review
Good work CJ! Shame Alfa didn't see fit to launch the Brera with these enhancements. Not sure the styling has dated too well either - reminds me of a Scimitar GTE on steroids. BTW it's a Helmholtz resonator..
22 May 2008 18:15
JohnnyBimmer says
Easily the best looking 'hatch' on the planet but having got up close in a showroom I'm afraid the interior doesn't match up.. the plastics/components don't exude quality. I'm sure if it handled a bit better and the interior wasn't so quirky the Brera could get Alfa up the sales ladder
21 May 2008 19:20
shiftright says
I think the Brera is a victim of its own good looks and its spotlight stealing star parent, the Brera showcar. Everyone looks at it and wants it to be a screaming track happy supercar, when in reality, it's a well built, reasonably priced, comfortable and extremely stylish touring car with competent handling and more than acceptable performance. I've had the pleasure of driving a V6 Q4 for a week, and simply loved it. It has real character, and the last tenth of a second that magazines chase on the test track is mostly irrelevant in real world driving.
21 May 2008 18:05
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