Archive for Alfa Romeo

The MINI John Cooper Works will have a new rival come the Geneva show this March in the form of this hot little Italian number, the Alfa Romeo Mito. The Mito will receive a new top of the line variant called the Alfa Romeo Mito GTA and it will be powered by the 1.8 liter T-JET engine from the Fiat Bravo. Autocar claims the engine will be tuned to put out 240 horsepower, which looks likely as a nice and punchy 180 has been demonstrated by a smaller 1.4 liter engine used in the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth Essesse. Even the 1.4 liter in the Marangoni M430 Mito has 220hp. The Mito will get a Q2 differential at the front to reign all the torque in, since it is a front wheel drive vehicle. Power to weight ratio will also be helped by lightweight materials exclusive to the GTA like carbon fiber and aluminium.

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This is the Marangoni M430 Alfa Romeo Mi.To. First the bad, this car is just pure risotto, which is a completely random term that I’m going to use for an Italian ricer car. Overdone bodykit, glaring two-tone paint, random decals, scissor doors, huge 18 inch wheels with red tyres for red burn-out smoke – you name it, it’s got it! And what’s M430 supposed to mean anyway, a homage to the Ferrari F430?

But what’s hot is what’s under the hood. The standard 150hp output of the 1.4 liter turbocharged T-JET engine under the Alfa Romeo Mi.To’s engine hood has been boosted to a Golf GTI-beating 220 horsepower! This is a tiny 1.4 liter engine that actually makes more power than the 4.0 liter V6 in the new Ford Mustang.

We can actually buy a car that has this engine in Malaysia, the Fiat Bravo GT. This should really tickle the interest of Bravo GT owners, a potential 220hp plus a manual transmission would be really fun.

Look after the jump for a high-res gallery of the M430.

Click here to read the rest of Risotto ai automobile: Marangoni M430 Mi.To

I just caught the latest installment in the James Bond universe – the Quantum of Solace over the weekend. I’m abit disappointed that the sexy Aston Martin DBS did not get much screentime other than an initial heated car chase scene.

Instead, Bond goes on to drive a few SUVs from the Ford group of marques, though the makers did try to “balance” them out with a fuel efficient small car.

Let’s have a look at the cars of the Quantum Solace.

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The little Alfa Romeo 147 was one of the most fun cars I’ve test driven. There was just something about the way Alfa Romeo made its inline-4 engine sound so good, the way the Selespeed automated manual transmission managed the throttle blipping on downshifts and how it slammed the clutch when you want the quickest upshifts possible. But it is getting a little long in the tooth now, being first introduced in the year 2000 and facelifted in late 2004 for a sleeker look.

The first images of the 147’s successor has made its way onto the internet. This Italian baby is based on the same chassis as the new Fiat Bravo and Lancia Delta. The Alfa Romeo 149 features a nice blend of curves and aggressiveness, with a front end that reminds you of the MiTo and a lovely rear end that features an integrated diffuser design. The images above show conventional door handles for the rear doors, so it means the 149 loses the 147’s “hidden” handles.

You can expect the 149 to most likely share the Bravo and Delta’s engine options, which means a range that includes a few Fiat diesels ranging from 105 PS to 190 PS (twin-turbo Multijet) and the 1.4 liter T-JET turbocharged small engine producing up to 150 PS and 230Nm of torque. It will be curious to see if there will still be a GTA version and if yes, what it will be powered by.

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Guangzhou Automobile will be developing a new large sedan using the platform of the Alfa Romeo 166, fully licensed and paid for of course.

The 166 has just been discontinued in spring last year, and rumours are that its replacement could return to a rear wheel drive format.

The 166 was a front engined front wheel drive car with double wishbones at the front and a multi-link setup at the rear. The Guangzhou Automobile car to be based on its platform will be styled by Bertone.

Autodelta has unveiled a tuned up version of the Alfa Romeo 159 2.2 JTS sporting a Rotrex C30-74 supercharger that boosts the car’s power from a quick 185 horses to a rapid 245 horsepower, and torque up from 230Nm to 290Nm. The following are the technical enhancements that Autodelta has given the 159 2.2 JTS, turning it into what it calls the Autodelta 159 J4 2.2 C:

• Intercooled Rotrex C30-75 supercharger running at 0.65 bar boost
• New aluminium intake manifold to replace the plastic OEM manifold to handle the supercharger’s boost level, with improved reduced volume design.
• New ECU featuring improved variator control strategy for intake and exhaust valves improved to suit supercharger.
• NGK Iridium IX spark plugs
• Mechanical LSD to reign in all 245 horsepower going to the front wheels
• New fully adjustable (ride height and bound/rebound adjustment) suspension with retuned damper and spring rates
• Upgrade perforated brake discs on front and rear, and new brake pads with special compounds that allow higher operation temperature
• Quad tail pipe Autodelta exhaust system
• Lightweight 19 inch OZ Wheels Botticelli HLT alloys with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT tyres in 245/35 ZR19 size
• Overall car with additional equipment is 5kg lighter than stock 159 2.2 JTS

View more high resolution photos after the jump.

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The Cloverleaf badge is making a re-entry into the Alfa Romeo line-up with the Alfa GT Cloverleaf Series, but this time the badge means nothing more than a couple of unique aesthetic enhancements.

The Alfa GT Cloverleaf Series is available as a 1.8TS, 2.0 JTS, and in both 150hp and 170hp 1.9 JTDM turbodiesel form. The “Cloverleaf Series” name means the cars get 18 inch double spoke alloys, satin-effect front grille and door mirrors as well as brake calipers that are painted red. The Cloverleaf badge is put on the bootlid, but the 170hp turbodiesel model gets an additional badge in a white triangle above the front wheel arch. The 170hp turbodiesel model also gets Alfa’s Q2 LSD as well as a sport button that can select between two different accelerator pedal response patterns – one more sedate and another sharper and sportier.

Alfa Romeo has released a whole photo gallery of the new Bravo-based Alfa Romeo Mi.To. We’ve already seen most of the Mi.To’s angles in the previously released motion footage of it, but after the jump you will find some nicely done still images including some of the Mi.To posing with its larger sibling, the Alfa 8C Competizione.

The MiTo is 4,060mm long, 1,440mm high and 1,720mm wide. The baseline MiTo is revealed to have a 1.4 liter engine producing 78 horsepower at 6,00rpm and 125Nm of torque at 4,250rpm. A T-JET engine similiar to the one in the Bravo GT produces 155 horsepower and 206Nm of torque from 2,000rpm, with another 24Nm available via a Sports switch labelled Alfa DNA. The only turbodiesel variant for now is a 1.6 liter JTDM engine producing 120hp and a massive 280Nm of torque at 1,500rpm which goes on up to 320Nm at 1,750rpm.

These are the initial launch engines and Alfa Romeo promises more powerful engines later in the product timeline, which will feature technologies like the Multiair electronically controlled variable valve lift system and a twin clutch system that Alfa dubs the DDCT.

The compact car features a rather advanced feature usually found in cars higher up the segments. The feature is part of the Vehicle Dynamic Control system and is called Dynamic Steering Torque, or DST. DST applies slight torque to the steering to suggest the correct manoeuvre to the driver in situations like oversteer, or in situations where grip is different on the two sides of the axle.

Related Posts:
Initial details and specifications of the Alfa Romeo Mi.To

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Alfa Romeo UK has unveiled a special 500 unit run of the Alfa Romeo Brera called the Alfa Romeo Brera S. The Brera S gets a specially Prodrive-tuned suspension using Eibach coils, Bilstein shocks, and aluminium components. The suspension also lowers the car by 10mm. It also gets lightweight 19 inch wheels inspired from the alloys on the Alfa 8C Competizione, and hollow anti-roll bars.

The engines in the Brera S range put out the same power as the normal Brera, but the other improvements will make the driving experience very different. For one, the weight reduction in various components like the suspension system shaves off between 35kg to 100kg depending on model, with the 260hp 3.2 liter V6 model losing the most weight. The other would be better handling thanks to the Prodrive-developed suspension.

More photos of the Alfa Romeo Brera S after the jump.

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Alfa Romeo conducted a poll for the public to pick the new Alfa Romeo MiTo’s new logo, much like the earlier poll which allowed the public to pick a name for the car. The result is the logo you see above, though there’s really no certainty if this poll has any effect on what the actual logo will look like at all.

The previous name poll had resulted in Furiosa being the top pick, but the final MiTo name wasn’t even in the choice of names to pick at all!

I’d put my money on a logo that looks something more like number 3 or 4. Such a logo would also look better on the passenger-side dashboard of the car.