Author: Antony Ingram
Images: Italdesign and Alfa Romeo
You have to feel for Giorgetto Giugiaro and his team at Italdesign in the early to mid 2000s. After creating the remarkable Brera concept in 2002, long, low, wide, rear-wheel drive and powered by a Maserati V8, an executive must have come up to them and informed them that, “good news – we want to put the Brera into production!” And then followed it up with the words, “…based on the platform we’re using for the 159 saloon”.
Audi was pretty sensible here with its original TT. Quite early on, designers J Mays and Freeman Thomas must have known that any such project would be based on fairly humble underpinnings, so the production car didn’t just famously look like its concept, but it’s still pretty close to even the earliest sketches.
Italdesign though created an amazing concept, rakish and wedgy with an unusual fastback silhouette and a slim, glassy cockpit and distinctly rear-drive proportions to house its 395bhp Maserati powerplant. Perhaps they already knew it would be toned down a lot for production, but the press and public didn’t, so the 2005 production car was a bit of a shock.
Let’s be clear, the Brera isn’t a bad looking car. From some angles it’s quite fetching, and the curious proportions are a talking point on their own – what was once a bit of a come-down from what we’d seen in 2002 is today a unique shape that undoubtedly still stands out on a crowded street (not least because, as a coupe, it’s already part of a rare breed in modern traffic).
There was little wrong with the visual bits it shared with the 159 either. That front end is still one of Alfa’s better efforts in the last few decades and was more or less a spitting image of the concept. The six lamp look seemed to be a subtle nod to the old Alfa SZ (albeit a lot better resolved), and it’s one Alfa returned to with the most recent facelift of the Giulia and Stevlio, with daytime running lights evoking the shape. It’s arguably most successful on the 159 and Brera though.
The direct rear view is also intriguing. The rear window has the cut of a V-neck t-shirt and it’s flanked by the typically slim Alfa rear lights. And the side profile definitely has some concept car about it, unflattering though the long overhang wrought by its front-drive proportions might be. Certain three-quarter views make the Brera look rather dumpy, but it’s resolved somewhat the larger the wheels – this is one car where the ‘stance’ crowd has got it spot on, because dropped low over the biggest wheels you can squeeze under the arches, you’re instantly transported back to a motor show stand.
You’d rightly say that such setups somewhat compromise ride and handling, and you’d be right, but then the Brera was never particularly praised for its driving characteristics either. Some UK-market tweaks by Prodrive for a special edition helped it out, but it was largely hampered by its absolutely whopping weight. Alfa claimed 1630kg for the V6, all-wheel drive car, already around 200kg more than an Audi TT 3.2 V6, but when Autocar road tested the Alfa in July 2006, it came in at 1765kg, which the magazine pointed out was more than entry-level versions of the Audi A8 and Jaguar XJ, five-metre-long luxury saloons.
So why then are we suggesting the Brera, which was a bit awkward to look at, not particularly quick, nothing special to drive, and has been largely forgotten about by non-Alfisti, as a future classic?
Well, the Alfa badge plays a big part. It might be a bit of a cliché (or a lot of one) but an old Alfa is automatically more interesting than most of its peers. The original buyer had to have been wired a little differently to choose a Brera over a TT or 350Z or 3 Series Coupe or similar, and opting for a Brera today means making a similarly deliberate choice. Not to massage the egos of the “you’re not a true petrolhead until you’ve owned an Alfa” crowd, but by buying a Brera you’re making the roads a more interesting place.
It also has rarity on its side, as unsurprisingly, there weren’t too many of those kind of buyers to begin with, in the UK at least, so a Brera is sure to draw a crowd at future car shows. And while its on-road manners may be nothing special, that V6 (not a ‘Busso’ unit, in case you were wondering) feels more intriguing now than it did in the mid-2000s, with a creamy character you won’t find in a modern turbo four-pot.
Careful buying can get you something much better, too. The aforementioned Brera S by Prodrive, a £1 million project commissioned by Alfa Romeo GB, managed to shed 100kg from the V6’s official weight figure, partly by ditching the all-wheel drive system (a 2.2 four-pot Brera S was also available, and remained front-wheel drive).
Prodrive firmed up the handling with Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers, gave it a set of Brembo brakes, and 19-inch teledial wheels (2kg lighter per corner) that really perked up the styling too. It’s the driver’s car of the bunch, but also serves as a potential shopping list for parts if you want to replicate some of its handling finesse on other Breras.
Maybe that’s it – the Brera is a car with untapped potential. Alfa Romeo itself didn’t quite get there when the car was new, but as a uniquely styled and now very affordable used buy, there’s a lot more scope for experimentation. Maybe you go down the Prodrive route and bring out the Brera’s latent handling talents, or maybe you pursue looks alone with a dramatic, concept-like ‘stanced’ car.
Of course, if you’ve got a few million in the back pocket, why not spurn that tired restomod you were thinking of getting, and have someone recreate the original Brera show car with proper Maserati V8 power?
The engine, a derivative of the GM high feature V6 could be the Camero 315 HP or the Cadillac dual turbo 459 HP. Same block, just add-ons. A lightweight Q car?