20 Years of Alfa Romeo Brera Concept

[zagatoes30]

An interesting article on the Brera. I know there are a lot don't like what it became but conceptually and from a looks perspective there wasn't really a lot wrong with it. It all went downhill when the bean counters got involved.

20 Years of Alfa Romeo Brera Concept

 

[dem maser]

Loved the looks and nearly got one, many times, problem was always the engines
Not one that I liked or that was any good
Got a courtesy when they were new when my Maser went in for service, 2.2 and it was slow and horrible to drive very big and also the mpg was worse than my Maser!
Diesels were unreliable and the V6 wasn’t the busso

 

[Nayf]

Loved the looks and nearly got one, many times, problem was always the engines
Not one that I liked or that was any good
Got a courtesy when they were new when my Maser went in for service, 2.2 and it was slow and horrible to drive very big and also the mpg was worse than my Maser!
Diesels were unreliable and the V6 wasn’t the busso

The V6 can also throw up some Maserati-sized bills, which considering the engine a Holden unit with an Alfa head compared to the GT’s glorious V6, is just not worth it. The Busso had 250bhp. The Brera V6 had 265bhp yet weighed 300kg more than 147 GTA.
The four pot was underpowered which, in itself, isn’t a problem because in the finest Italian tradition, the rev counter is there to be used… but the four pot revved so slowly, and it weighed so much…
The turbocharged and supercharged prototypes developed by Fiat Drivetrain and Prodrive would be interesting, mind…
The Prodrive is great in isolation but even with my Biscione underpants on I can’t honestly recommend them.

 

[allandwf]

I love mine, had it about 10 years or so, used as the daily hack and on 160k, not bad for the V6. I'll just keep running it until no longer viable.

 

[dem maser]

The rare 1.8 TBi was probably alright but not many around

 

[conaero]

Had two, bought on looks, great interiors, stunning car. Alas it all went wrong in engineering. Another missed opportunity.

It was a step backwards from the very reliable and genius 916 Busso V6.

 

[Andyk]

What Matt said. Great looking but that is where it ended as they were far too heavy up front and the engines even the V6 were dire and that’s before you look at reliability. Great looking car that Alfa fecked up.

 

[zagatoes30]

Mate has a Prodrive 3.2 and it's not too bad although it is no Busso engine but it's actually much better than the originals which always felt heavy. More of a GT cruiser than a b road barnstormer but from some angles it is very pretty.