Alfa Romeo is a car brand that is very rare to encounter in Vietnam, the reason being that the number of cars can be counted on one hand, and many cars are rarely owned by their owners to be put on the road. In our recent article, we introduced to readers the unique Alfa Romeo 4C Launch Edition in Vietnam owned by Minh “xí muội”, and today, we also have a one-of-a-kind car in our country, the Alfa Romeo Brera.
The interesting thing is that this unique 3-door hatchback is settled in Ho Chi Minh City and is housed in the same garage as the Alfa Romeo 4C Launch Edition, which shows the uniqueness in Minh “xí muội”‘s car playing style, a person who has founded some supercar or JDM car journeys.
How was the Alfa Romeo Brera born?
In 2005, Alfa Romeo released 2 variants, the Brera and the Spider (Type 939), which are considered mid-size sports cars using the GM/Fiat Premium platform, produced by Pininfarina and sold by Alfa Romeo as a 2+2 coupe and a roadster respectively.
The name Brera is reminiscent of the Brera district in Milan, which is known as an area of arts and sometimes referred to as Milanese Montmartre. A total of 21,786 Brera cars were produced in 5 years, almost twice as many as the convertible version, indicating that the Alfa Romeo Brera was quite popular.
Alfa Romeo Brera Concept
And this is the mass-produced Alfa Romeo Brera
The Brera was originally unveiled as a concept car at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign Giugiaro. This concept model was equipped with a Maserati V8 engine with a power of about 395 horsepower. Later, the Brera received positive feedback and Alfa Romeo announced plans for production in 2005. In 2004, Giorgetto Giugiaro was awarded the Compasso d’Oro industrial design award for his Brera Concept model.
The commercial version of the Alfa Romeo Brera was introduced at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. It changed the exterior appearance of the original much smaller, becoming a mid-size coupe on the GM/Fiat Premium platform (shared with the Alfa Romeo 159) and designed to replace the old GTV.
What is attractive about the Alfa Romeo Brera in Vietnam?
As mentioned above, there is only one imported Alfa Romeo Brera in Vietnam, and currently, this car is appearing in the car garage of Minh “xí muội”.
The exterior of the car is painted in mouse gray color with eye-catching red accents on the wheel spokes. The interior of the Alfa Romeo Brera sports car in Vietnam is brownish-blue.
In terms of design, the Alfa Romeo Brera features soft lines, a unique 3-door hatchback body shape, so the front of the car is quite high, providing spacious seating for the rear seats.
The highlights of the car include a headlight system with 6 bulbs evenly distributed on both sides, with a triangular radiator grille in the middle. On both sides, there are additional air vents with fog lights. The rear lights of the car sweep long, and the Alfa Romeo Brera uses dual exhaust pipes, with its name placed just below the logo.
Finally, the 7-spoke wheel set is gunmetal gray with red accent borders. According to research, this wheel set has been replaced, closer to the original, compared to the one with multi-spoke wheels used on the car.
Powertrain
In Europe, the Brera initially had two petrol engines, a 2.2-liter JTS with 182 horsepower and a 3.2-liter V6 with 256 horsepower, and a 2.4-liter JTD diesel engine with 197 horsepower. The diesel and 2.2 gasoline engine cars are both front-wheel drive, while the V6 engine comes with the Torsen all-wheel drive system similar to the Q4 of the 159.
At the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, Alfa Romeo introduced an updated version of the Brera with significantly increased power, specifically on the V6 variant, with a displacement of 3.2 liters available in front-wheel drive, allowing a top speed of 250 km/h, all versions of the model use the e-Q2 electronic limited-slip differential.
A year later, also at the Geneva Motor Show, a completely new turbocharged petrol engine with the 1750 TBi (Turbo Benzina iniezione) label was added to the product line. This 1,742 cc engine features direct injection and variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust camshafts, while generating 197 horsepower and 320 Nm of torque. The car uses a 6-speed manual transmission.
Photos: Hai Pham