First and foremost I’d like to say thank you to AutoItalia for giving us the opportunity to take a test drive with Alfa Romeo’s 147 model. We have chosen a 1.6-liters gasoline model with 105 HP, which really satisfied our editors. Getting old, but gracefully, Afla Romeo’s best seller, the 147 is one of the best-looking hatchbacks out there. Launched back in October 2000, and although Alfa Romeo claims that it’s a rival for cars like Audi A3 and BMW 1-series, the comparision is wide of the mark.
Addressed especially to younger customers, the sensations are offered only to those who dare more, to those who want to cover 160 km in less than an hour. Once I seated inside the 147, I’ve noticed the italian style which is consistently respectable performances in terms of cabin comfort and presentation, equipment and fit and finish. And for style, it is indisputably the king. Some aspects, however, such as the tight rear seat, boot and mediocre storage, highlight the basic package’s growing age.
Some hatchback rivals ride a little better or corner with a tad more precision but the Alfa offers an impressively capable and well-rounded mix of both disciplines. Nice six-speed manual gearchange, too. Refinement is also on the ball. To be honest, the car behaves like a normal sedan, and by that I mean it’s well behaved, doesn’t move in jerks and can be a pretty stress-free drive or so it seems for instance.
One thing we noticed pretty quickly is how careful you have to be when opening and closing the doors. They are large and heavy compared to other hatchbacks and the mechanism will dent your car or someone else’s if you are not careful. Also as we expected, the fuel consumption is high. And the temptation to drive it hard doesn’t help. We recorded a fuel consumption figure of 12.48L/100kms over 154 kms.
Summary:
* heavy doors
* good acceleration
* not much room in the back but comfortable
* folds down to large capacity in the back
* drinks petrol
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