Alfa Romeo Brera

This car combines all that is great about Alfa Romeo. It is designed and built with passion. And like a good Italian Mistress it has its quirks but it you will still fall for her.

The Alfa Romeo Brera is a fabulous-looking car, but some of the old caveats apply; the interior packaging is shocking for tall people and nobody can sit in the back seats. The front seats sit ridiculously high so there's no place for six-footers in here - though the glass roof can add a couple of centimetres. The rear seats are just impressions of what a seat might look like if you never needed to use it, and the boot is OK, just a bit inaccessible. Can nibble and tramline on the better-looking big wheels. Very cool for people who don't care much about the driving experience. Alfa's socks; consider them pulled up. Nice aluminium dash, with an interior based on the 159. The Brera feels solid. Time will tell. Definitively not the best in class, the Brera is a strange one. Fast steering tends to highlight body roll as the car snaps into corners, and there's a lack of fluidity when you start to push on. All models understeer like they're trying to escape from the scary turn, especially the Q4 4x4 variant. More suited to cruising. Is it Practicality… Eh? Pardon me? No. The Brera is a looking-at car, not a load-lugger.