Category: Affordable Sports 
Price Range: £23,495 to £29,250
Dramatic concept car styling, great-sounding engines, crisp handling with good ride, stylish cabin, panoramic glass roof
Limited space in the back, steering lacks true road feel, transmission can be clunky
Giugiaro's 2002 concept-car-made-real is a rapid, properly sporting coupe with a full complement of Alfa virtues.
You're unlikely to buy a Brera because you want an economy car, which is just as well because the 2.2 JTS (it stands for Jet Thrust Stoichiometric, a direct-injection system biased towards power rather than lean-burn, ie non-stoichiometric, economy) manages a mediocre 30.1mpg. The V6 fares worse at a thirsty 24.6mpg, not helped by its hefty 1630kg weight, so your only hope of frugal Brera motoring is to drive the 2.4 JTD. Carbon dioxide outputs, and thus tax bandings, are correspondingly high.
Servicing on current Alfas is required every year or every 12,000 miles, whichever comes first.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Alfa Romeo Brera
wrote on 13 10 2006
wrote on 17 09 2006
wrote on 10 07 2006