UK-based Automotive Traveler reader and aspiring automotive journalist Leigh Nethercot gives us an inside look at what it's like to own Alfa Romeo's recently introduced MiTo subcompact, which might be the first mainstream Alfa Romeo to reach our side of the pond since the 164 in 1995.
 There are only two weeks to go before the government-imposed deadline for Chrysler and Fiat to come up with a definitive alliance agreement as a condition for further funding by the US Treasury. We remain hopeful that all of Chrysler's stakeholders--its unions, bondholders, and suppliers--will make the concessions necessary to keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy court and possible liquidation. With the prospect of exciting Fiat and Alfa Romeo products reaching US showrooms soon, we've turned to Automotive Traveler reader Leigh Nethercot, a property manager living in the UK Midlands for an in-depth driving impression of his wife Mandy's 2009 Alfa Romeo MiTo Veloce. The Nethercots took delivery in March, already have more than 2,000 miles on the odometer, and are giving US enthusiasts a real-world look at living with Alfa Romeo's highly competitive subcompact coupe. Many auto insiders speculate that the MiTo will be among the first Fiat Group products to reach US dealerships, possibly as early as next spring, as it was designed from the start to meet US safety standards. Automotive Traveler is pleased to be bringing our readers Leigh's comprehensive review in what we hope will be the first of many other exclusive reviews in the months to come.
 It's never an easy task to shop for a new car. With kids now older, 16 and 19 in our case, it's no longer necessary to keep a "big" Toyota RAV4 in the garage. While the RAV4 was a great workhorse for four years, my wife Mandy wanted something smaller, sportier, and more economical. Because we were satisfied with the RAV4 we first looked at the Toyota Auris (similar to the Matrix sold in the US), the Renault Clio and Megane, the Mini Cooper, and the VW New Beetle. But, quite frankly, none really pushed the right buttons. We had seen some early shots of the Alfa Romeo MiTo in March 2008 and we both were impressed. With the British Motor Show coming up in July 2008, we planned to attend to check it out in the flesh. We weren't disappointd; it was stunning, especially in the exclusive 8C red. Taking out our checkbook to place our deposit, we placed our order on the spot. Final prices, colors, and options were yet to be determined, and with the UK launch set for early 2009, we knew we'd be waiting for a bit.
Over the intervening months we decided on the 155-horsepower Turbo "Veloce" edition in Etna Black metallic paint. Options we ticked off included tinted windows, reversing sensors, alloy sports pedals, and the 18-inch 5-hole alloy wheels.
 Finally, just a month and a half ago, our delivery date arrived, March 3rd to be exact. Delivery was arranged through the UK's oldest and biggest Alfa Romeo Dealership, Mangoletsi in Knutsford, Cheshire. In the dealer's delivery center, the car was presented covered in a red Alfa Romeo cover and was ceremoniously revealed. What an outstanding first impression! And being one of the first UK deliveries of a newly launched car made it feel very exclusive and special.
Formalities--including a brief but informative run through the controls and features--completed, we took a cautious drive home in the dark in as-expected torrential rain with Mandy behind the wheel. After all, it's Mandy's car; I own a 2008 3.2 liter V6 Alfa Romeo Brera.
 As the first Alfa Romeo in the small family car category, the MiTo is a bold step by Alfa Romeo. In the current financial climate, it has to work, as every element will be scrutinized. The exterior is very Italian, taking its styling cues from the 8C supercar. With its prominent front grill--instantly recognizable to any Alfa fan--the sweeping bonnet lines and rear styling really turns heads, with the designers accomplishing the difficult task of translating much of the visual appeal of the 8C to a far differently proportioned 4-seater. Overall, the build quality, fit, and finish are very good, certainly equal to or exceeding expected class standards. Unlike many small subcompacts, the MiTo has adequate boot space, certainly enough for a weekend's worth of luggage for short holiday, or a decent shop at Walmart.
 We specified the cloth interior, which is accented with a stitched Alfa Romeo logo. The seats are comfortable, offering supportive bolsters with masses of adjustment in all ways including lumbar support. The controls are well laid out with the carbon-effect dash adding to the styling with speedo, rev counter, water temp, and fuel level easily visible. The multi-function trip computer in the centre of the dials keeps the driver apprised of performance and economy. In spite of its modest overall dimensions, the MiTo is a comfortable 4-seater with unexpected rear passenger legroom. As a hauler for a family of four, its interior is spacious and comfortable and not claustrophobic with plenty of storage both in the front and rear with cup holders and center arm rest.
Some areas of the interior appear to be built on a budget; in particular, we noticed the trim covering the lower part of the doors, the plastic panels under the dash, the thin carpet in the boot, and lack of carpet on the back of the rear seats. While not unexpected in a car with a base price of under £11,000, it is more obvious as the styling of the exterior promises so much more. Being pragmatic about it, you really can't complain.
 Getting behind the wheel and driving the Mito is a real experience that begins with the 6-speed manual gearbox married to the responsive 155hp turbocharged 4-cylinder engine displacing 1.4 liters. When measured against its competitors, never does the MiTo feel underpowered. You're encouraged to be on the go all the time, but the MiTo has a feature called DNA, a switch down by the side of the gear stick which adjusts the driving style. In the "Normal (N) mode" it's sedate and easy to drive in the city with smooth low-power delivery combined with an easy steering feel. With the N-setting, which is optimized for economy, we have returned up to 40 miles per gallon even when pushing on, increasing the revs by keeping it in a lower gear.
 The "Dynamic (D) mode" is something else. First, after an instant remap of the engine's ECM, it stiffens up the steering by utilizing the electronic Q2 differential. The fun really starts as the center multifunction display also changes to show a graphic of the turbo boost gauge, the pickup and acceleration is epic for such a small car; put your foot on the pedal and the MiTo leaps like a missile, moving quickly through each gear as you head north of insanely fast, non-legal speeds. Steering precision intensifies, with real feedback when pushed hard. Understeer, always an issue with a powerful front-driver, is present but minimized as the Q2 diff appears to warn you with a little live kick. Brakes are more than adequate to deal with the switch to Dynamic Mode, with 305mm bright red Brembo calipers a great upgrade, providing outstanding stopping power. On the negative side, in the D mode economy goes out the window, with the MiTo returning around 27 miles per gallon in mixed city and highway driving.
 The third mode is the "All Weather (A) mode" and is designed for winter-style weather. By the time our MiTo was delivered, the worst of the winter weather had passed, so it hasn't yet been used in anger, but based on our experience with the D & N modes we're sure it will do exactly what it's meant to--provide increased levels of control and security as conditions deteriorate.
Short trips around the city do highlight some visibility issues, especially to the rear with the limited size of the rear screen. Front and side view are adequate, the large wing mirrors taking care of most of the usual blind spots; thank goodness we opted for the reversing sensors! The bonnet sweeps away so much that you can't see it at all. On the more-open roads on longer journeys the visibility issues are less apparent.
 The standard Blaupunkt sound system is surprisingly good, with multiple radio bands, a built-in equalizer, a single CD player, and the excellent Alfa Romeo/Microsoft Blue&Me system (similar to SYNC available on US-built Ford vehicles). It offers the ability to play MP3 and WMA audio tracks from a USB stick inserted into the slot near the handbrake. Like similar systems, it provides hours of music which is easily selected by artist, album, or even by genre. Another great feature of the Blue&Me system is the telephone integration, allowing you to pair up Bluetooth-enabled mobiles so you can use your phone with your contacts directly via the steering wheel-mounted controls. Alternatively, and this is quite slick, you can use the voice-activated commands. Depending on mobile phone type, it will even read out SMS messages for you. Once the set-up process is completed, the system recognizes your phone the minute you get in and start the car.
 We have covered about 2000 miles so far and the car is breaking in quite nicely. It's a real pleasure to drive the MiTo in any mode and on any road, although bumpy roads, as others have noted, provide a bit more feedback than expected. This is one of the compromises one must endure for the sporty suspension that make driving the car such fun, either on the Motorway or on twisty B-roads.
The car exhibits exceptional poise in almost every situation, even in windy conditions. Our only complaint? A bit more wind noise than expected seeping in around the A-pillars. When clean, the Etna Black color is stunning, with metallic flecks of red, green and orange giving it an expensive look and appeal, but we noted with the flat rear surfaces it does collect the dirt quite a bit.
 To sum up, the new MiTo is a well-proportioned small family car that oozes the style and passion you'd expect from an Alfa Romeo. Before purchasing the MiTo, we took the time to compare it against its most obvious competitors, even cars priced well above it, and determined that it filled our needs best. As a city car, it meets our expectations for economy in everyday use, but flick the DNA switch and it's a car transformed, a real driver's car for those spirited blasts in the countryside that leave you wanting to just go and have a drive for no real reason other than the joy of driving.
Is it a real Alfa Romeo? Yes, without a doubt, and the grin after every drive proves it!
For more of Leigh's images of his MiTo and a link to the UK MiTo brochure, visit the Automotive Traveler image gallery.
While the graphics aren't state-of-the-gamer's-art, the online game My MiTo Rally launched by Alfa Romeo UK to support the launch of the new MiTo 16V Lusso, is highly addictive and well worth a spin. The game has 10 different stages on 10 participating websites. Those gamers who manage to come first in all of the races have the chance to win an iPod Touch or Nintendo Wii each week. But the real thrill is while you're competing and indulging your need for speed you might win a new Alfa Romeo MiTo worth £11,936 (UK residents only, sorry stateside gamers), the prize for the fastest gamer over the competition's nine week run.
Because of exchange rates between the euro and dollar, as well as the way that cars are priced and taxed in the UK, it's not as easy as translating the £11,000 ($16,495) base price of Mandy and Leigh's MiTo Veloce to a possible US selling price. What we can be certain of is that the MiTo will be positioned at the premium end of the subcompact class that already includes cars like the New Mini as well as Ford's upcoming Fiesta, expected to reach showrooms about a year from now. We would not be surprised to see a starting price between $15,000 and $17,000 for a well-equipped entry-level version with the normally aspirated 120-horsepower engine.
(It should be noted that the European-built MiTo, and any other imported Fiat Group products, will face the same exchange rate issues faced by GM in importing the Euroepan-built Astra for Saturn. It was difficult for GM to competitively price the Astra in the segment no matter how well it stacked up against its competition.)
While the range offered in the UK is extensive, including three models--Turismo (base), Lusso, and Veloce--a myriad of trim choices for items like the headlights, tail lights, and mirror surrounds, as well as five different engine offerings, if/when the MiTo appears on this side of the Atlantic, we expect the choices, initially at least, to be far more limited; two models at most with three engines offered. The engines available at launch would most likely include the mid-range 120-horsepower 1.4-liter normally aspirated four with the 155-horsepower 1.4-liter turbo (as in Leigh's car) to be the option. In the UK two diesels are offered, a 90-horsepower displacing 1.3-liters, and a 1.6-liter version producing a healthy 120-horsepower with a stump-pulling 320-Nm of torque. If we get a diesel at launch, expect it to be the more powerful version.
--Rich Truesdell
A Postscript from Rich
The MiTo review was an experiment of sorts, to see if Automotive Traveler could secure, edit, and format user-generated content that would meet the same professional standards provided by our regular contributors, most of whom are professional journalists in both the travel and automotive categories. I hope that you will agree that Leigh met that brief, and in reality, exceeded any reasonable expectations, giving our readers a unique look at an exciting, and dare I say significant, new car that we will be driving here in North America very soon.
What you don't know, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention, was how enthusiastic Leigh was to participate in this project. Starting less than three days ago, armed with the briefest of outlines posted in the UK Alfa Romeo owner's forum, his initial submission was spot-on, professional in every way, including outstanding text plus a basic set of photographs of his wife's MiTo. But that was just the start as this project moved closer to publication. It was continually tweaked in the rapid trans-Atlantic editing process and Leigh went out earlier this evening at dusk within hours of publication and got one additional set of photographs--the two car-to-car tracking shots and the instrument panel shot--which eliminated the need to use any images from the Alfa Romeo MiTo press kit. And the shots, like the rest of his submission, were professional grade, showcasing the ability of the Internet to facilitate such projects in real-time.
It's my opinion that Leigh, if he wants to, could be a full-time automotive journalist. It's obvious that he has already mastered the basic skills--with the written word as well as with a camera--to be successful. But he has two more intangible ingredients, a passion for Alfa Romeos combined with an enthusiasm for the craft of photojournalism, that virtually insure his success. It's not easy to pull together a complete package like this under such pressing deadlines. I know how difficult it is; I do it each and every day...and I still love doing it.
I'm proud to have helped Leigh along this road, being a mentor of sorts, knowing that he has set the bar very high for future reader-supplied contributions. In my opinion, I feel that this feature stands up exceedingly well, even measured against those of us who do this every day. Leigh, you have much to be proud of.
I want to take this opportunity to welcome Leigh to the Automotive Traveler team. Everyone involved with Automotive Traveler looks forward to your next contribution.
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and a different exhaust system.