A "warm" MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde?

Exactly how mad are we? Whilst I always seemed to hanker after more grunt, in reality my 2.0l 90kW, 180Nm '82 GTV is plenty fast enough (pretty close to 9secs 0-100kmh if you want to ruin the transmission). But these days cars are a tad heavier and apparently need to be even "hotter" than what we considered a pretty potent club race rocket back in the 1980s. I have to wonder if it's actually needed or even usable in city traffic. Or even on a circuit. But I'm an old grump.

Here's a description that underlines what I mean:

"While labelled a "hot hatch", it's more likely to fall into the "warm
hatch" brigade with a 1.4-litre MultiAir turbo engine, which develops
maximum power of 125kW at 5500rpm and peak torque of 250Nm at 2500rpm. The Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde can sprint from 0-100kmh in 7.5 seconds."

Sounds plenty "hot" enough to me. OK, it's relative to the market - but seriously, isn't there more to a a car than just overkill acceleration?

Read the review here: 

Alfa Romeo applies heat to MiTo Quadrifoglio Verde | Mackay Daily Mercury

Alfa Romeo bursts into flames in St Ives | thetelegraph.com.au

Could happen to any liquid-fueled car. My guess would be a a fuel line came adrift or leaked really badly, causing the car to stall and spraying fuel over something hot... now supposedly the drop in fuel pressure should cause the system to shut down before a full-scale fire erupts but maybe it kept going just long enough to get the fire started. Or it was a badly located fuel line, perhaps relocated due to some mods (that's a guess). And maybe, just maybe, jamming a V6 inside a 147 is just asking for trouble (that's a comment born out of jealousy). Still, it's rare to see, thankfully.



And yes, I carry a fire extinguisher in my 116 GTV.   



Alfa Romeo bursts into flames in St Ives | thetelegraph.com.au



“I thought it was funny as there was no reason for it to stall, I
tried to start it again but nothing happened,” Mr Grauaug said.

Then
Mr Grauaug said he started to smell something and almost simultaneously
noticed that a passer-by was indicating that his car was on fire.

“So I got out of the car and literally bolted,” he said.

Still ticking over...

Both me and the GTV, I mean. Sadly I'm not actually driving it much but it does get a "run" at least once a week - in the garage. So I know it "works" at least ;-)