10 reasons we love… Alfa Romeo

Fair to say, Alfa Romeo’s cars haven’t always had the most solid reputation when it comes to reliability, quality or durability. And its wider fortunes have, over the years, had more ups and downs than your average rollercoaster. But whether it’s that unmistakably Italian identity, its track record of building gorgeous cars or just the red-blooded spirit coursing through its veins there’s a romance about the brand we can’t help falling for again and again, owners voting it Most Loved Brand in the 2024 Auto Trader New Car Awards. Here are 10 reasons why.

Where to start! Some guy called Enzo Ferrari started his career racing Alfa Romeos and learned his craft running its race team before going on to set up his own car company. And the story of the cloverleaf badge combines triumph, tragedy and superstition into one iconic logo – check out Rory’s video for the full story on that one.

Everything sounds cooler in Italian. Fact. And no car brand has done it better than Alfa Romeo over the years. Alfasud, Giulietta Sprint Veloce, Giulia Gran Turismo Alleggerita, Sprint Speciale, Junior Elettrica … the list goes on and rolls off the tongue smoother than a waiter in an Italian restaurant reading out the specials board. Even the trim levels sound ace, self-explanatory ‘Sprint’ harking back to a classic model name while even simple abbreviated ones like Ti – or Turismo Internazionale in full – have a ring about them nothing else can match.

On the face of it the Tonale is much like any other mid-size hybridised crossover. Indeed, objectively it’s not even the best of its type, the regular mild-hybrid less than impressive on our first encounter. But living with the more powerful plug-in hybrid as we have for the last few months proves even a ‘boring’ Alfa Romeo is a thousand times more interesting than anything else in its class.

Prancing horse inspired by a WW1 fighter pilot? That’s cute, Ferrari. And, Lamborghini, your raging bull thing neatly tells everyone what they need to know about the brand. Abarth, your scorpion looks pretty smart and we love Maserati’s trident. But Alfa Romeo has a dragon. With a crown on, this and the flag beside it symbols of the brand’s hometown of Milan. Plus, there’s the whole cloverleaf thing (see point 1) on the side. A clear win, on every count.

Alfa Romeo’s history isn’t without its cock-ups and catastrophes, the most recent being launching a car called the Milano … without running it past the city authorities, who demanded it be changed on the day it was being launched. Cue a hasty rebrand to Junior, which is actually a cooler name given its associations with historic Alfas called the same.

Much as we love BMW M, Mercedes-AMG and Audi Sport they do seem to feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to hot saloon cars. So, there was some ‘nice try’ smirking at the arrival of the Giulia Quadrifoglio, not helped by some early and very public reliability wobbles. Last laugh Alfa, though. Where the M3 has gone fat and four-wheel drive, AMG has ditched V8s and Audi is focusing on electric the Quadrifoglio is still there in all its Ferrari-engined, tyre-smoking fury. And better to drive than anything the Germans have made for years.

Naming confusions aside (see point 5) the Junior has successfully taken shared bits from within the wider Stellantis group of which Alfa Romeo is a part and made them … sexier. True, it’s a small crossover like everything else these days. But it drives like a red-blooded Alfa Romeo, and proves this spirit can translate into the electric age.

SUVs are a challenge for petrolhead brands like Alfa Romeo, given the format of tall, heavy cars doesn’t always translate in style or dynamics. But it’s what people want, and manufacturers need to sell them. For all its talents the Porsche Cayenne has taken repeated beatings with the ugly stick and, impressive as it is, a Ferrari Purosangue can best be summed up as a necessary evil. See also Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX and many others. It may be getting on but the Alfa Romeo Stelvio proves it can be done, combining as it does sexy looks with SUV practicality and handling that defies all expectation to perhaps remain the only crossover a petrolhead can buy without having to make any excuses.

Alfa Romeos may not appear on screen all that often but when they do they have a habit of stealing the scene, Dustin Hoffman in his Spider summing up a spirit of 60s rebellion in The Graduate while Edward Fox’s choice of a Giulietta Spider in the original Day of the Jackal has recently been reimagined with Eddie Redmayne in the new mini-series of the same name. Even when they’re the butt of the jokes like the police cars in The Italian Job they look cool.

The original Tipo 33 Stradale was, perhaps, the most beautiful supercar never made, the project never making it past the prototype stage. Alfa Romeo isn’t making the same mistake twice, though, the new 33 Stradale fresh from validating its 200mph-plus top speed in testing and arguably way more interesting and beautiful than anything Ferrari has made for years. The 33 owners taking delivery soon are lucky people in the extreme.