The Brera S looks fabulous - but, writes Paddy Comyn, a few careful technical tweaks mean it drives well too
I REALLY WASN'T having the best start to my experience with the Alfa Romeo Brera S. Having agreed to fly over to the UK to bring the car back to Ireland for a few days, upon arriving in Heathrow, yours truly was without wallet. Lost without trace.
Arriving without a cent or card in London isn't good at the best of times - but worse when confronted by the hotel receptionist from hell who wants an imprint of my credit card to prevent my making off at 2am with the peanuts and can't seem to grasp the notion that, should my card, by no small miracle, arrive from Ireland by pigeon, I would be getting as far away from her as possible.
Anyway, there is a point to this. I got into the car at 5am the next morning to take it to Holyhead only to discover that my 3.2-litre Brera S in fact only had half a tank of petrol in it - and I in no small financial trouble.
What followed would turn out to be not so much a back road blast to the ferry, but an economy run that would make the most ardent clipboard-carrying economy sadist proud.
The story of the Brera S came about when Alfa Romeo in the UK decided that the Brera wasn't quite up to British roads and gave it to Prodrive - a world leader in motorsport - to improve the driving experience. There were just 500 made and a choice of two engines - the 2.2-litre petrol and my version, the 3.2-litre petrol. It looks fabulous, turning an already handsome car into something sexy and sinister.
Prodrive developed a unique suspension set-up and spent exhaustive hours tweaking the spring rates and ride height, followed by an extensive damper-tuning exercise to achieve the desired ride and handling balance, and improve the steering response.
Using Eiback coil springs and Bilstein dampers, there is reduced pitch and roll in the car and the Brera corners much flatter than before.
After limping my parched Alfa to Holyhead and sailing to Dublin where I was reunited with my wallet and some petrol, we could finally start to explore the Brera S's changes - and they are remarkable. This is a much better sorted car than before, and on the V6 model a redesigned rear silencer gives the car an amazing growl. The 19" alloy wheels not only look great but also serve to reduce the unsprung weight.
So why, you might ask, are we driving a UK-only model? Well, Alfa Romeo in Italy was so impressed with the changes made to the Brera S that it has decided to use these in the production line-up and the Brera Ti will come to Ireland at the end of this year with all of Prodrive's changes.
It may look slightly different to the S model you see here, but it will come with all the technical changes, which really are to the car's favour. Alfa Romeo Ireland could only give us an indication of pricing on the 2.2-litre, which is due to start at €52,000 - €2,250 more than the standard car, not a lot to ask for in return for what is a greatly improved car.
Expect the 3.2-litre, which we drove, to cost somewhere in the region of €63,000, with the Q4 four-wheel-drive version costing around €65,000.
Finally, an Alfa Romeo that feels as good as it looks.
Competition includes the excellent Audi A5, the BMW 3-Series coupé and the forthcoming Nissan 370Z, but probably the biggest threat to the Brera Ti will be the economic climate. Buyers of this sort of car in 2009 look set to be few and far between.
Depreciation is also an issue. This week, a year-old 3.2-litre Q4 Brera in a main Alfa dealer is €39,995 - a 35.6 per cent drop in value in one year. Compare that to an Audi A5 3.0-litre TDi, which has lost only 19 per cent in the same period.
BRERA TI 2.2-LITRE
Engine: 2.2-litre; 4-cylin- der; 185bhp; 230Nm torque
0-100km/h: 8.6 seconds
Top speed: 224km/h
Consumption: 9.2L/100km
CO2: 218g/km
Tax band: F (€1,000)
Price: from €52,000
BRERA TI 3.2-LITRE V6
Engine: 3.2-litre V6; 260bhp; 322Nm torque
0-100km/h: 7 seconds
Top speed: 250km/h
Consumption: 11L/100km
CO2: 260g/km
Tax band: G (€2,000)
Price: from €63,000 (estimate)