Thursday, August 12, 2010

Puzzling MiTo Sport review. Aren't they all?

OK, it's a distinctive, even strange shape - rounded, almost cute yet somehow a bit weird, a bit unexpected in some angles. Almost pugnacious at times. Now I don't like it much but it has grown on me, a bit. And I see both the good and the bad in what is a differentiating shape. What I don't see is a Daewoo Lanos. Carsguide's Neil Dowling somehow sees a Lanos in there. Hmmm.

Neil also is one of the few reviewers to complain about the MiTo's seating position. Now I prefer the old-style Alfa position - up close to the steering wheel for leverage, knees wide apart for bracing under cornering. So I like the pedals a bit closer to accommodate the bent-legs-bracing. In fact at times I couldn't get close enough in older Alfas as the pedals were a bit far off, but they increasingly have 'mellowed' and become more relaxed like everyone else in terms of seat position. But not for Neil Dowling, no, it's still all wrong. Oh well. Everyone's different.

Alfa Romeo Mito Sport: review | carsguide.com.au
The problem is that Alfa has taken the best bits of the gorgeous 8C and stuck them on a rather nose-heavy, short-tailed love-me or hate-me three-door hatchback that has overtones of the Daewoo Lanos. They call it the Mito. It carries with it the 8C's teardrop headlights, roundel tail lights, ‘exclamation mark’ grille and the pretty, spidery alloy wheels… which, attached to the 8C, define the car as something special.
Alfa Romeo Mito Sport: review | carsguide.com.au
That seating position places the steering wheel quite high and the height adjustment is over a small arc. There is no telescopic adjustment- which can force you to get close to the steering wheel because the floor pedals are so far away - but the driver's seat will go up and down. The rear window is tiny and the relatively long nose invisibly curves off into the distance, so familiarisation is also needed to preserve the panel work when parking.


Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Noisy, dirty but clearly an Alfa Romeo 147 GTA 3.7

I really don't think I could live with myself if I owned this car. (Says the guy with the old, noisy, dirty Alfa in the garage.) But it's clearly a car that had to be made.