Alfa Romeo has a reputation for building stylish cars with plenty of sporting character As you’d expect from a prestige hatch, the Alfa Romeo 147 comes well kitted with climate-control air-con, remote entry,electric windows, electric mirrors, cruise control, and single CD player. Visually, the GTA model’s sports body kit sets it apart from the more mundane 147. Inside it gains high-backed sports seats, unique three-spoke steering wheel, leather gearlever, drilled aluminium pedals and a stylish instrument panel with more gauges and a black background.
The sharp styling extends inside, with its all black interior and fake brushed metal highlights.Access to the rear seats is good, with an easy, flip-forward seat. Legroom is adequate, provided the front seats are pushed right back. Taller rear seat passengers will get sore necks banging their heads against the low sloping roofline.
All 147 models come fully loaded with passive safety features, including front, side and window airbags, side curtains, anti-lock brakes & traction control.The 147 GTA gains VDC — Vehicle Dynamic Control — as standard. This system can brake individual wheels to reduce understeer or oversteer. The GTA’s antilock brakes are enhanced with electronic brakeforce distribution to send its stopping power to the wheels with the most grip. Interactive traction control, or ASR, is also standard on GTA.
The 2.0-litre engine pumps out a respectable 110kW at 6300rpm and 181Nm of torque at 3800rpm. Alfa claims it will shoot from standstill to 100km/h in around nine seconds, with fuel economy on average hovering around 10litres/100km.
All 2.0-litre models come standard with a 5 speed manual gearbox sending drive to the front wheels. A semi-automatic Selespeed gearbox is optional; it can act like a clutchless five-speed manual or as a fully automatic gearbox depending on the driver’s mood. An extra benefit of the Selespeed gearbox is the steering wheel-mounted paddles, which can also be used to change gears
The Alfa Romeo 147′s major rival is the Audi A3 and BMW Compact. Mercedes-Benz’s C-class sports hatch is also a rival, along with Peugeot 307, Volkswagen Golf and perhaps Opel Astra.
