Alfa Romeo’s Brera – not the first car to come to mind when you flick through the big book of Alfa’s greatest cars, that’s true.
In fact, according to Alfa Romeo’s selection in its ‘hall of legends’, the list stops short of the 90s, with the latest car being the 1985 ‘75’ sedan.
While it’s also true that many of their most iconic sports cars came before the 90s, like the GTA and the Spider, there were some great cars to come, with the Busso V6 being the highlight of many of these later cars.
Unfortunately, Alfa Romeo managed to gain a reputation for unreliability – although by the time the Brera arrived in 2005 that image was starting to wear off.
The Alfa Romeo Brera Was A Great Mid-Sized Sports Car
Constructed by Pininfarina, the Brera was built on the same underpinnings as the 159 sedan/wagon – a stylish car and perhaps just as attractive as the Brera.
It came as either the Brera which was a fixed-roof coupe, or the Spider - a convertible.
The car had either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive and a choice of manual or automatic transmissions, plus a wide range of different engines to choose from.
Unlike previous cars which used the famous Busso V6, this new coupe and spider version used a new 3.2 V6 derived from a GM unit and modified, with direct injection and variable valve timing.
It made 260 hp and 237 lb-ft, adequate power in a car that wasn’t exactly light, weighing up to 3,500 lbs, but this was a grand tourer rather than an out-and-out sports car.
Alternative engines were smaller petrol units, diesels, and the turbocharged petrol 1750 TBi, a 1.75-liter motor which made 200 hp but also 236 lb-ft of torque – the same torque as the V6, for almost half the engine capacity.
Not only that, but it made that torque from 1400 rpm, against 4500 rpm for the V6 – so although it was down 60 hp, it was lighter, made the same torque much faster and so the TBi was capable of 0-60 mph in 7.7 seconds versus 7.1 for the 3.2-liter V6.
The 4-cylinder turbocharged engine was so good it was installed in the mid-engined 4C sports car, as well as the previously mentioned 159 sedan.
The Alfa Romeo Brera Can Be Bought For Less Than You Think
As a used car purchase today, you could do a lot worse than getting a Brera – it wasn’t sold in the US though, so it would need to be imported and registered.
It succeeded the GTV and GT (although it was sold alongside the GT) and contemporary rivals included the Audi TT, Porsche Boxster, and Volkswagen Scirocco.
One thing the Scirocco didn’t have, was all-wheel-drive; the Brera could be specced with the limited-slip-differential drivetrain on the V6 version, and so these are the most sought-after cars.
Over on the UK AutoTrader website, there are many cars under $10,000 with diesel power or smaller petrol engines, but we found a V6 model for £9,000 ($12,000).
On the same site, there is another V6 this time with the Q4 all-wheel drive for just over $13,000, this time with a low 50,000 miles compared to 90,000 miles for the previous V6.
It might not sound very sporty, but the 2.4-liter turbo diesel offered respectable performance – it could accelerate to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds, just behind the V6, and offered much more torque: up to more than 300 lb-ft.
Around $7,000 gets a diesel engined-Brera with around 90,000 miles, which isn’t too much for a reliable unit like the 2.4 JTDM engine.
So, Brera's haven’t climbed in value much since 2010, and whereas they don’t have the appeal of a Porsche or something from a German manufacturer, they have that Italian style like no other, enough power for a mountain blast, an elegant cabin and all that at less than the price of a cheap city car.