Category: Affordable Sports 
Price Range: £23,995 to £30,395
Smart, aggressive looks, stylish cabin, smooth gearchange.
Ride is jittery, below par performance, plenty of safety equipment.
Why go for a Brera S when there are other more capable rivals out there?
Alfa has taken steps to make its new cars reliable and durable, and to offer an improved dealer experience, but we won't know how deep-rooted the new thinking is until the cars have been around for a few years. However, recent reliability surveys haven't been that kind and Alfa has been skulking around at the bottom of league tables.
First impressions of the Alfa Brera S are good, however: everything fits together neatly, the paintwork is glassy and the whole car feels tough and solid. Inside the brushed carbon-fibre finish on the centre console and dashboard look better than the standard models and should stand the test of time.
The tactile experience is good, too: all the padded interior surfaces work well, even down to the inside of the door pockets where your hand grasps them, but the plasticky fake aluminium door handle doesn't seem very sturdy. It doesn't look like it will survive heavy use.
The bespoke seats are well finished with an alloy plaque on the base of the headrest. The carpet fit under the glovebox is ugly, though, and we did detect a fair bit of creaking and groaning from some of the interior panels in the rear.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Alfa Romeo Brera
wrote on 13 10 2006
wrote on 17 09 2006
wrote on 10 07 2006