Alfa Romeo 147 1.6-liter Twin Spark Review

Martin Schwoerer
by Martin Schwoerer

I’m sitting in an Alfa 147, about to fire her up. I cast my mind back to the Alfasud: a beautiful, mellifluous, affordable vehicle that introduced a generation of drivers to the joys of performance motoring. I remember summer evenings in an open Spider, a peerless pre-Miata combination of boulevardier and Lotus-like lane pilot; a car whose zingy note merged happily with the sound of estival insects. I also conjure-up a trip to France in a sonorous, serious, quick-steering Giulia, where I felt like a character in a Truffaut movie. So, will the 147 be another driver’s Alfa that rasps, bites and feels alive?

The 147 is one of those cars that look much better in person than in pictures. It has the heritage Milan chrome grill, squinty eyes, swoopy curves and some clever gimmicks (e.g. concealed rear door handles). The car appears sturdy and well-made in detail. Yet seen next to a Saturnopel Astra, the Alfa is ferociously feminine and feline. Only the Italian’s soft rear-end fails to impress. Still, is there a car in the small-hatchback class that looks better? The Euro-Civic is more space-age. The Citroen C4 rocks die Bauhaus. But the Alfa’s svelte figure has the edge in both aesthetics and athleticism.

The 147’s interior is also more sculpted and shapely than its competition. As in Bimmers of yore, the Italian’s instruments are oriented toward the driver. The dashboard design is more playful than a 3-Series, without the MINI’s overarching silliness. The 147 also offer some notable tactile delights: the grab handles are pleasantly rubbery (in a Teutonically tactile kinda way), the doors clothed in Alcantara and the steering wheel feels friggin’ fantastic.

The 147’s cabin is not without its demerits. The A-beams are hard, sad-looking and overly thick (low Cd is in, visibility is out). The silver plastic on the middle console is cheap, with a too-prominent cupholder for a car with sporty pretensions. Still, with seats that grip and support in equal measure, plenty of headroom in the front and more than merely adequate legroom for two in the rear, the 147 provides a pleasurable, Italianate place in which to savor la dolce vita.

At idle, the Alfa’s quiet. At low revs, 1.6-liter Twin Spark emits nice growly bass note and a pleasant singing high note. The 120-horse engine’s not as charismatic or aggressive as boxers of olde, yet it’s still a musical bit of mechanical artistry. Above 4000 rpm, it all goes a bit pear-shaped; the engine note becomes rough and slightly intrusive. That said…

Open road. Open throttle. Not to coin a phrase, WOHOO! Five thousand, six thousand, seven thousand– this engine can't get enough revs. It’s gone from singing to screaming and I've gone from smiling to grinning. Though the hungry 147 is slow in absolute turns– zero to sixty take a shade over ten seconds– and you have the rev the shit out of it to get there, it’s multo divertimento. Dammit.

The 147’s chassis ain't no killjoy either. The Alfa not only corners neutrally but provides great throttle-steer fun. Back off in a curve and your radius tightens. Or step on the gas to correct beginning lift-off oversteer. The suspension set-up is compliant and absorbs bumps pretty well; even potholes in town don't feel particularly crashy. The steering is communicative and exact, albeit very direct. Overall, you get that feeling of fluency through the twisties that’s the mark of a sophisticated driver’s car.

So, it's a good looking, involving drive; a highly interesting car amongst vapidity. In fact, the Alfa Romeo 147 could be a strong competitor to the Audi A3, at Ford Focus prices. The operative word being “could.”

Like many machines, the 147 tells the keen observer a story. Here, it's about a company that ran out of money and decided to focus on its brand values, rather than take on its rivals’ well-rounded maturity. In other words, this Alfa reeks of underdevelopment. The gearshift action is imprecise, and the middle arm rest is in the way. The key fob buttons are illegible and the climate controls inscrutable. The turning circle is gigantic. Tire noise is ever-present and the basic ride jiggly.

Worse, the Alfa has mediocre crash-test ratings, which it probably only met through last-minute structural reinforcements, which feel as if they’ve added weight. Underway, the 147 is a lively and willing beast, but it achieves that performance through short gear ratios. The engine screams at high speeds and parties (i.e. swallows fuel) like it’s 1999. I averaged 24 MPG, but 14 MPG is do-able.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m in love with this car. But I hate it too. Let's hope its successor (the 149, which will arrive later this year and might make it stateside), retains the 147's irresistible personality and banishes its bugbears.

Martin Schwoerer
Martin Schwoerer

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  • Mirko Reinhardt Mirko Reinhardt on Mar 06, 2008

    @LarryP2 "In Australia, MSRP on these things is $37,000. THe AU dollar is worth $1.07 to the US Dollar. Do the math. In good old Britain, they go from 15,000 to 19000 Pounds. " So if you compare British prices, how is a Mazdaspeed 3 $23,000? Base price for a Mazdaspeed3 in GB is 19,000 Pounds. The 147 is a little bit... old. Other than that it's actually pretty nice. Especially the 150hp diesel with the Torsen LSD. It doesn't feel like a FWD car. The only thing that eliminated it from my shopping list was the insurance rating.

  • Carguy1964 Carguy1964 on Mar 22, 2008

    I am sorry from what I read here on this car...but really, we are talking about a gutless 120 hp twinspark engine here, attached to a obviously heavy car for 24k apx dollars...that gets shitty mpg...grant it , it may be fun to drive, but for that matter a 2006-2008 miataspeed would kick that POS all the way back to Italy..but then again you must be having alot fun durning those god awfull 10 seconds, time standing still seconds, just to get to 60 mph, to want to commute in that car... BTW...the Mits Evolution and the WRXTI would Kill it! Hell even the so called Rally inspired base Lancer could put a serious hurt on that car..

  • THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
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