2002 Alfa Romeo 147 review from United Arab Emirates

Nothing. The car has been perfect so far. Despite the heat over here in the middle east, the car has never overheated and has performed without flaw.

A/C struggles a bit when temperatures rise above 45C.

Great handling. The engine sounds beautiful, could listen to it all day despite the fantastic Bose sound system.

It's a red 5 door with the optional 17 inch wheels and it looks like nothing else on the road. There are very few of them over here and I get lots of BMW and Mercedes drivers slow down to take a second look. (Sometimes they have to speed up to get a second look!)

The car is somewhat related to those cars as well:

The electrics are all Bosch. The same as those found in the Audi TT. Even the stability control system is the Bosch ESP system used by Audi. So is the trip computer.

Alfa have thought of so many great features for the car that it is hard to list them all.

The switch gear is first rate and feels excellent. Even the dash is covered with a material called "buffalo hide" which is designed to reduce glare when the sun shines in the window, there are no reflections to distract you from the task at hand: driving!

Having just driven a 4x4, I'm really enjoying driving this small sports luxury car around.

The Selespeed takes some getting used to, but once mastered it's extremely rewarding. I find it strange that the system is praised in a Ferrari, but the motoring press complains about it in the Alfa. It's good fun and since I added a Sebring rear silencer the sound it makes when it blips itself down a gear is awesome.

The electronic throttle that does the 'blipping' is the same system employed in the Porsche Boxter since the 2000 model and it works very well.

The engine simply sounds great! The induction roar under throttle is hard to beat. There is nothing like the sound of an Italian performance engine, although it could use another 20 BHP or so to compete with the VW Golf GTi.

The steering wheel and instruments scream performance, are well laid out, feel great and the blood red glow of everything at night gives the impression of being in a cockpit of an F16.

The Momo leather seats are very supportive and the driving position is first rate.

All the troublesome bits are now German, so that should sort out reliability problems. All the fun bits are Italian, need I say more?