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Alfa Romeo will preview its new small car, the Alfa 147, at the 68th Turin International Motor Show before it goes on sale in Europe at the end of the year and in Australia in the middle of 2001.
The 4.16 metre long, 1.70 metre wide hatchback Alfa 147 is a good-looking, spirited car that offers performance, safety, equipment and comfort comparable to that of much higher category models.
The car is designed for people who are looking for a compact, sporty car with attractive styling, a strong personality and category-topping road manners. In other words, a great little Alfa able to assure the level of driving entertainment and driving satisfaction that has brought such success to the latest generation of Alfa Romeo models.
The Alfa 147 is a natural successor to recent Alfa Romeos and its styling develops motifs familiar from these cars. These new traits are accompanied by other more traditional features such as a V-shaped bonnet that tails off beneath the headlights as on the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Villa d'Este of 1949. Another familiar feature is the three-part design formed from the two separate air intakes and vertical badge.
The Alfa Romeo 147 will be fitted with three Twin Spark 16 valve engines: a 77 kW 1.6 unit; an 88 kW high power 1.6 unit and a 110 kW 2.0 unit. The latter will be available with either a manual gearbox or a Selespeed gearbox with robotised gear shift and clutch control. These units are joined by a common rail diesel engine with variable geometry turbine, the 81 kW 1.9 JTD, which will go on sale in Europe in spring 2001 together with the 2.0 manual gearbox unit and five door versions.
All four power units share a single characteristic, i.e. the ability to ensure outstanding performance including a high top speed and great pulling power in all situations.
Australian market engines will be announced when the car is launched here.
The mechanical units are designed to suit the car's engines and decidedly sporty personality. The floor pan is based on the Alfa 156 floor pan (this means the car is not a development of the Alfa 145 but a completely new car in its own right). The new car's torsional rigidity is the same as that of its older sister, as is the suspension system: double wishbone at the front and MacPherson at the rear.
The Alfa 147 also offers maximum active and passive safety. Its powerful, easily-modulated braking system comes with ABS and it also offers sophisticated electronic devices including electronic brake force distribution (EBD) that distributes braking force over front and rear wheels, a device to limit wheel spin during acceleration (ASR), a device to regulate braking torque when changing down through the gears (MSR) and a device to control dynamic stability on bends (VDC).
To protect passengers in the case of impact, the car comes with all the systems currently available on Fiat Auto cars, including six airbags as standard: two at the front, two at the side and two window airbags.
The Alfa 147 comes with a comprehensive array of equipment. Features include an automatic dual zone climate control system that allows the driver and front passenger to adjust air temperature separately. The system also comes with sensors to enable the system to react to solar radiation and when air pollution rises above a set level, it automatically goes on to recirculate to keep the pollution at bay. A two-layer air cleaner is also fitted.
The control panel features a multifunction display that provides a great array of information: time, date, outdoor temperature, check control, speed limit warning, fault warning lights and trip computer.
The sound system fitted as standard comes with eight speakers. A sophisticated Bose system is also available with six-channel amplifier and active subwoofer. The Alfa 147 can also be equipped with a comprehensive communications centre that includes a phone, navigation system, voice controls and a TFT colour screen.
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