2002 Alfa Romeo 147 Lusso 5 Door Manual review from UK and Ireland

Headlight washer jets blocked, dealership has agreed to fix this for free at next (and first) service.

This car is brilliant, it looks sensational in Gabbiano Blue with blue leather, we also had the 17 inch sports alloys, and this combination is timeless, really fantastic.

So far it has proved faultless, we have covered many long trips in the car and it has had some hard use, with a family being the main users, along with a dog. This type of use really shows up a cars quality and the Alfa is miles ahead of the Freelander we used to have, that was a hateful car, which just proves how well Alfa have come on in the past few years.

The 2.0 litre engine in out car is very powerful, it needs some revs to really fly, but it sounds fantastic so letting it spin fast is really a pleasure not a chore, coupled to the manual box its also very smooth in traffic, and a great car to learn to drive in too, as our son found out.

There are only 2 downsides to this car, both are not important to us, we realise that an Alfa is never goin to be that economical, we average just 22.3mpg, and also the car is quite noisy on the motorway due to its wide tires, owners of narrower tired cars may find its quieter.

Basically this car is fantastic, we will be upgrading to a 147 GTA in the future, our car has been faultless, its well equipped, gorgeous, fast, not too expensive and really turns heads, if anyone is thinking about buying it, do, this is a true sports family hatch, everything about it is great, and, after all, its italian, which is always a good thing!