- Doors and Seats
2 doors, 4 seats
- Engine
3.0i, 6 cyl.
- Engine Power
162kW, 270Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (95) 10.4L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
1999 Alfa Romeo GTV review: Quick drive
LATIN FIREBIRD FLAMES THE PASSION
Passion isn't just an emotion in Italy, it's a business as well. If that sounds like a cold-hearted, transmutation of love into money then it shouldn't, because it is the very Latin fire that is built into the best Italian cars that makes them so desirable.
Not coincidentally, it is a pretty good selling point as well.
Alfa has been doing it for years: building cars that have appealed to the heart, but not necessarily the head. Historically, bravura, performance and style go hand in hand with Alfa ownership, as did rust and enraging ergonomics.
The company withdrew from selling cars in Australia back in the early 1990s, and many feared it was the end of a stormy relationship between Alfa owner and fickle Italian temptress.
But Alfa Romeo is back, returning with two new models that promise far more fidelity, but just as much fun. The GTV and Spider are its two-pronged assault on a sports car market, which in this country has been waning and, quite frankly, in need of a good boost.
The figurehead of Alfa's new range is the GTV coupe, in V6 form. It's visually almost identical to the cheaper, 2.0-litre, twin-spark model and very similar to the convertible Spider as well. But with one very big difference. Under the bonnet lurks a potent, 3.0-litre, six-cylinder that offers the next best thing to the type of performance available from far more expensive Italian cars such as Ferrari and Maserati.
That might be drawing a long bow, but consider this. At $75,000 the GTV V6 offers the style of Pininfarina, the Italian design company that also pens the lines of all current Ferraris. It has a short, chunky shape with stand-out features that include tiny, twin headlights and a pronounced diagonal crease moulded into the body sides. It looks compact, maybe menacing, but definitely attractive.
The engine itself works brilliantly. In terms of power, it produces 162kW at 6400rpm, which is more than engines of a similar capacity. It is also very flexible, with 270Nm of torque developed at a high 5000rpm, but spread across the lower parts of the rev range as well.
All of which adds up to plenty of driving excitement and more than adequate acceleration. Given its head, the quad-cam V6 will drag the 1400-kilogram GTV to 100kmh in just under seven seconds, which frustratingly feels to be just when it is starting to deliver its best. Indeed, keeping under the legal limit is difficult at lower speeds as well, because the engine's flexibility means it will pull strongly in fourth gear at 50 to 60 kmh.
There's no automatic gearbox option available, which might limit the car's appeal to some buyers, but it shouldn't really. Unlike the old GTV, which had probably one of the most recalcitrant manual shifts of any sports car, the new one works perfectly.
The whole mechanical package is new, and features a transverse engine and front-wheel drive, so it's good to see that Alfa has managed to make a good thing out of the new lay-out.
The same goes for the way the GTV V6 tackles corners, because it does so like a true sports car. There are traces of front-drive characteristics such as torque steer, which induces a tug at the steering wheel when the driver accelerates and turns at the same time, and the extra weight of the V6 engine (compared with the standard four-cylinder) gives a little more front-end push in tighter corners.
Otherwise, it steers with precision, has great grip from its 205/50R16 tyres, and is equally at home on tighter switchbacks as it is on high-speed open roads. The ride quality hasn't been adversely affected by the achievement of sports handling, because, if anything, the settings are on the soft side, giving good absorption of poor road surfaces at the expense of little body movement. It is a comfortable ride, rather than a stiff one, perhaps indicating Alfa Romeo is willing to concede its customers are less willing to suffer for their high-performance purchase.
One thing owners won't find is room for much more than one passenger. Granted, there's a back seat, but it is for occasional use only, given that leg and head room are restricted.
From the outside, it looks as though the rear of the car has been chopped off abruptly, and opening the boot lid confirms that little concession has been given to luggage capacity. It's a narrow space, unable to accommodate a conventional suit case and only really useful for a soft bag.
The front-seat occupants are better looked after, with enough width in the cabin to keep driver and passenger apart. Funnily enough, the seats don't have heavy side bolsters and not much lateral support, which seems an oversight given the GTV's cornering ability. There's not much in the way of storage space for odds and sods like mobile phones; and the door pockets are especially small, and shaped so that one prod of the throttle sends their contents flying into the back-seat area.
The gauges set in the centre console for fuel level, engine temperature and oil pressure are a tribute to earlier GTVs, although their hard plastic, protruding surrounds seem a little tacky. The overall use of unremarkable plastic trim on the dashboard and door trims doesn't speak of the type of quality you would expect of a car competing with the Peugeot 406 Coupe and BMW 328i. But the big speedo and tachometer set in their own circular recesses are paragons of clarity, and easy to view at a glance.
Equipment levels are adequate, rather than erring on the side of gimickry, for while central locking, electric windows, a CD player, twin airbags and leather upholstery are all included in the price, there's no sign of height adjustment for the driver's seat, and no cruise control.
It would not, however, be fair to say that the Alfa GTV V6 is purely a triumph of style and performance over value and creature comforts. Its cabin isn't perfect and there's little in the way of carrying capacity for passengers, but there's little in the way of frustrating design flaws that marked Alfa's past. Just to have a no-nonsense gear shift to go with the glorious engine is proof of that.
Nothing looks like the GTV, very few cars go as hard as it does, and if you're the type of driver who doesn't give a fig for the ultimates of practicality, it is a car on the high end of the satisfaction scale.
ALL THE DETAILS
Price: $75,000
Insurance: $1157 premium, $400 excess (NRMA, wholly-owned, rating 1, driver 30-plus, medium-risk suburb)
Warranty: Three years/100,000km
Engine: 2.959-litre, DOHC, 24-valve, all-alloy V6. 162kW at 6400rpm and 270Nm at 5000rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Steering: rack and pinion, 2.2 turns lock-to-lock. Turning circle 10.8m
Brakes: Ventilated discs front and rear
Suspension: Front: Independent, MacPherson struts, coil springs and anti-roll bar. Rear: Independent trailing arms, lower and upper links, coil springs, dampers, anti-roll bar
How big? Length 4285mm, width 1780mm, height 1318mm, wheelbase 2540mm
How heavy? 1415kg
How thirsty? 12l/100km average, premium unleaded. Tank 70 litres
Rivals: Peugeot 406 Coupe, $75,750 / BMW 328i Coupe, $86,950 / Mazda RX7, $89,505
Cup holders: 0