Road
Test: Alfa-Romeo 147
The Alfa that renewed
the tradition and invented it back again at the same time!
It
was an ordinary summer at around twilight. I just received my new car magazine.
As I was going through its pages, tempted to smell its new chromo paper, I saw
it! The new car from Alfa-Romeo! A little photograph accompanied by
short but exhaustive headline stating: Alfa Romeo has just launched the
replacement for the146 (Which replaced the alfa 33 which replaced the legendary
Alfa Sud – and here I must break through the parenthesis->) It brought me
back many years – to my youth, when the Alfa Sud where sold like crazy… well
maybe I am exaggerating, but relatively a lot of people bought it because it
was simply stunning!
A
well balanced frame like the best of the Rally cars, a conservative yet unique
design, a reliable engine, Yes, Reliable! An Alfa like engine tones (unlike noise
in “regular cars”) and most important a reasonable price! .
However for a young teenager in the age of 17 it was not reasonable at all! So
I worked hard and settled for a used Alfa Sud in a satisfying condition… well
relative to the $1000 it cost me. My criteria ware as follows:
- A
good engine.
- A
well functioning gear.
- A
good exterior
- A
working RPM Indicator.
And
indeed it had them all… but that was more or less it! – The doors wouldn’t
close properly, some of the windows wouldn’t go down, electricity problems, an
improvised army standard interior, a hand break that locks but stays there etc.
But I loved it! I felt like I was the luckiest man on the face of the earth!
Every morning I would go out to her, walk around it as if I saw a
Michael-Angelo (Italian or what?) sculpture for the first time. Making sure the
Alfa-Romeo symbol was not stolen! Enter the car and look at its sportive
steering wheel and the symbol that was proudly flashing from the center of it.
That same symbol that arose flashes of historic Alfa
Romeo cars running through my head, segments of legendary races and pictures of
engineers/ race drivers seating around the design board and design cars based
on their emotions and instincts rather then dictations from the company
accountants. I would turn the ignition switch On (when I wasn’t forced to push the
car down the hill in order to ignite it), which was placed on the left side of
the wheel (God forgive – not on the right side like usual cars) and listen to
the delightful Barton tones coming from under the engine cover. I would wait
patiently until the oil temperature lamp will indicate that the temperature is
O.K., shift to first gear and accelerate, while taking pleasure until reaching
6250 rpm in order to squeeze every drop of pleasure I could squeeze out of this
breath taking music, coming from under the hood mixed with the smell of burning
fuel. The filling was that of a conductor conducting a philharmonic band of
trombones and violins on wheels. I would attack corners while pushing the car
to a controlled slide, although those who drove it know that the word
controlled is not required. This car simply knows no other way! The driver
almost always gets that sense of control no matter what. It sends you that
sense of control since it simply transfers the sense of the road directly to
you. No translations! No censorship! The wheel is precise and direct, It was that pure joy from driving. Occasionally, my parents
offered me to drive their automatic German made car who cost twenty(!)
times as much as my own. They just couldn’t understand why I giggle on their
insulting offer. You couldn’t even start to compare between this smart
sophisticated and characterless car (Although I must say on their defense that
at list it was not Japanese – they still have some hope) to that sense arousing
wild beast parked beside it.
No,
I didn’t forget the article is about the Alfa 147, but it is hard for me to
express its greatness in my eyes with out describing the great sense of souring
when Alfa Romeo replaced the Sud with the Alfa 33. They made that typical
mistake of a company that develops special products for specific customers, and
suddenly decides to turn to the mainstream, in order to increase its market
share: It lost its uniqueness – like that famous biblical story of Samson who
lost his curls. Suddenly it stud out their uniqueless
and helpless among the mass production giants, so well polished in producing
cars to the mass. It didn’t stand a chance! Fiat acquiring Alfa-Romeo, which at
first made people hurry to mourn Alfa-Romeo, soon proved it self as the move that
saved it (for the meantime – things at fiat are not looking great today).
Fiat’s approach was very simple: It will produce cars for the mass, Ferrari –
Super cars, Lancia – Luxurious cars and Alfa-Romeo will major on what it does
best: sport cars and sportive cars for the medium-upper class with a wink and
even more to the unique tradition of the company. And indeed came
the Alfa 156 which does not shame the glory and halo of the Alfetta GTV6 (from
the good old days of course) or the Junior GTA. But and its
an important but with the finish and quality of a BMW.
Which brings us back to that article: I saw the 147 in the
car magazine. Its Alfa Villa De-Este 2500
based grill already presented a promise – they aimed to the right spot – an
Alfa-Romeo from the good old days!
Will
I get back my old Alfa-Romeo?! Well, one has to realize that during the last 15
years I have settled a bit, even got a little bourgeois over the years. I can
no longer settle for a dismantling car – even if its an Alfa-Romeo, I have enough
friends, and I no longer have to acquire them in the Alfa-Romeo garages. So you
can understand that buying a 20 year old Alfa-Sud, that has somehow managed to
survive three, four or more teenagers like me – does not, how should I say,
excite me like it used to. I can now afford a car – well of course not with out
a little mortgage along side with it. I do have to pay 50% to the limitless tax
vacuuming system – After all I am going to enjoy myself and so I have to
receive my punishment and pay for it – big time, only to remained me just in
case I forgot – that I am living in Israel. And if you ware presumptuous enough
to think you can buy a new car – their approach to that matter is – we will do
any thing in our power to make you forget about the whole thing. And if you did
go out and bought it after all – no worry – the traffic police will take car of
that by denying you from your license by giving you “speeding” tickets. But I
was determined! I decided to work against the establishment and buy a new car.
And
so that special day came – the journals announced almost unanimously of its
arrival to the holly land. I could not wait. A short conversation with Mor and Limor
(the saleswoman), I couldn’t complete saying Cuore Sportivo and I was already standing in front of it. I tried
as hard as could (unsuccessfully) to stop my child like smile from taking over
my face. There is no doubt – this is one of the top designs of the 20’th century! I would have prepared a spot for it in the “louvre” museum in
This
Alfa-Romeo is equipped with an audio system that makes you forget for a moment
that your hearing sense is there in order to listen to the engine.
Ignition…
What a disappointment! You can here the sound, and its
even an Alfa-Romeo sound, but its just to polite. Its
been refined. So they kindly explained that there are catalyzator
filters (This word has castrated connotations and not for vain), and there is
an isolation of the driver and passengers compartment – Who needs isolation???
We want to hear! Every thing else was so perfect that I tried hard to listen to
the engine and even managed to enjoy its sound.
So
we got on the road. Me, Limor (the
sales woman) and the Alfa-Romeo 147 of course. The acceleration was
smooth and fast, the gear shift was simply perfect – and I am going to use this
pair of words a lot. These 147 seats on the road just like Sharon Stone has set
on her lovers/victims in that famous film – with this magic combination of
pleasure and control that knows no satiation. The sense of the road and the
grip of it is even better then the one of the
Alfa-Sud, the car is balanced, the steering wheel is precise and sharp as a
Swiss blade (2.2 between locks), she goes around sharp corners as if it was
born and razed there. The driver gets a clear sense of confidence with a set of
computer-mechanic systems named with a combination three letters backing it up.
No matter how they do it – but they do it just right. The driving through the
corners is simply addicting – you just don’t want to stop. In high RPM the
engine even sounds great and all together it provides you with an experience I
have never sensed – even in cars that cost twice as much!
At
the end of a drive – recommended with an open sun roof, open windows and a
compatible classical music, played with a volume that will still enable you to
hear the sound of the engine, you will need a few good seconds to relax and get
your pulse in order before you leave the car.
No
doubt this is it! This is the real thing. Not only is she as good as the Alfa
Sud. It's actually better in any sense (well, maybe apart from the engine
sound). It combines all the qualities of driving along side with its superb
finish, and every thing was designed there using emotion! After all, it’s a
daily event that the Germans produce sportive luxurious, smart, quality cars
but they just luck those Samson curls that the Alfa-Romeo 147 has – they luck
the filling! And they say that the emotion is the highest level of thinking –
no computer can make you fill what the right Engineer, preferably Italian, can
pass on to you with a design based on emotions! And you won’t find that
anywhere else!
I
will conclude with a blessing the Alfa-Romeo Fouke’s love to say so much at the
end of the day:
“Cuore Sportivo” – and believe me when I
say – It's true!
By
the way, its needless to say I purchased it, and I am
enjoying every minute of it!
Yours
truly,
Your
comments to: eyal@freecommerce.co.il