Alfa Romeo is hoping for big things with its new Mito compact which was on show at the London Motor Show recently.
This new “baby” Alfa is the first small car that the Italian manufacturer has made for some years and its billed as being a quality small car, more aimed at cars such as the Mini, rather than the Fiesta or Corsa.
Of interest, if you are wondering where the name Mito comes from, well Mi and To, are the postcodes for Milan and Turin. Milan is Alfa’s hometown, whilst this pretty little car will be built in Turin, but it seems the Italian translation of Mito is “myth” so I guess you pay’s your money and takes your choice as to what you believe.
The Mito will have what Alfa Romeo call the DNA system, which is going to let the driver choose different driving modes for the car. The “D” means dynamic, which I understand is the sporty mode, whilst the “N” means normal and is aimed at town driving and the “A” means all-weather, so I guess that means when it isn’t sunny!
There are going to be five different engine choices, two of which are diesel and three are diesel. Alfa say the cars will use their newly developed “Multiair” system which claim to reduce emissions and fuel consumption by around 15%, whilst increasing power by around 10% so it will be interesting to see how it performs when we test it.
There are rumors that a hot 230bhp version of the car will be available next year?
Alfa say they expect the Mito to help them get more of the fleet market, as it’s going to attract user-choosers and they confidently say that the brand is already being viewed by fleet managers as “dependable”
Like most people who love cars, in their hearts everyone likes Alfa, it’s just when the head gets involved that the decision goes the other way. Perhaps that’s a little unfair, as Alfa Romeo have worked hard to build reliability into their products and because of that, the new Mito will be watched closely and if it delivers, it will almost certainly give the rest of the range the leg-up it deserves.
Incidentally, styling wise, it’s a moody little car and carries many of the design keys from the Alfa 8C Competizione, which cant be all bad, although Top Gear recently really didn’t like the cars design at all, so it shows how out of those 3 chaps really are.
Check our Road Test section as we will get a report on-line as soon as we have tested the car.
