Alfa Romeo GT 1.9 JTDm 16v Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Alfa Romeo GT 1.9 JTDm 16v
Prices: £22,500-£25,000 - the road
Insurance Group: 15
Emissions: 165g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 9.8s Max Speed 130 mph
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 45.6mpg
Safety: Twin front, side & curtain airbags, ABS
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4489/1763/1365mm

SLEEK BUT SENSIBLE

Our Rating: 7.9 / 10

Since the launch of the Brera coupe, the pretty GT has been somewhat overlooked. Andy Enright tries the 1.9 JTDm diesel version

Has any coupe in recent years had a more unfair crack of the whip than Alfa’s GT? I doubt it. It seems this car was a hot ticket for about ten minutes before the buzz moved onto something else. What’s more, the launch of the Brera coupe has further diverted the spotlight from one of the most attractively-styled cars on sale today. Looking to rectify the balance somewhat, we took delivery of a 1.9-litre JTD diesel model to reassess this car’s attributes.

To this eye at least, the GT is a better proportioned vehicle than the Brera. Walk round the GT and you’ll be hard pushed to find one bad angle whereas the Brera looks sensational from some angles but strangely lumpen from others. This GT also enjoys a fair price advantage over the Brera (around £6,000), although this diesel model is not directly comparable due to the fact that the newer car sports a 2.4-litre diesel whereas this makes do with 1.9-litres of JTDm engine. Hefty dealer discounting has made this car even better value, so that you should be able to secure one for comfortably less than you’d pay for something like a Golf GTI. But then you will have to make do with ‘just’ 150 or 170bhp, although the powerplant is certainly modern enough.

Model-wise, there’s a choice of standard, Cloverleaf or Lusso models in 150bhp form, while those wanting the 170bhp version can opt for the Cloverleaf version. The desirable Q2 variant, which offers extra high performance grip thanks to its Torsen limited-slip differential, is available in 150 or 170bhp guises. Prices start at around £22,000.

The Fiat Group, of which Alfa Romeo is a key constituent, was first to market with a direct injection diesel way back in 1986 and in 2005 was awarded the Economist Innovation Award for ground-breaking work in developing common-rail diesel technology. Alfa Romeo brought the first JTD common rail engine to the UK in 1997, plumbed into the front of an Alfa 156. The latest development is a sixteen-valve Multijet version of that engine which offers more power and reduced noise levels yet still posts competitive fuel economy and emissions figures. It’s basically the same as the 140bhp unit offered in the pre-facelift 147 from summer 2003 but a revised injection strategy has boosted the output while reducing noise and vibration.

The Multijet system takes the idea of pilot injection – squirting a small amount of fuel into the cylinder to ‘prime’ the combustion chamber for the main ignition process – and refines it still further. In this instance, the main injection is divided into a series of smaller injections, allowing smoother, more gradual combustion that utilises fuel more efficiently. The electronic control units therefore have to be astonishingly precise. Whereas before the time lag between injections was a relatively yawning 1,500 microseconds, the response time has been slashed by a factor of 10. A variable geometry turbocharger and a high pressure direct injection system make the 150bhp or 170bhp outputs possible but the key is the 305Nm torque figure. This means that this diesel model feels gutsier than the old 3.2-litre V6 petrol GT flagship.

You’ll believe that too when you drive the car. Fire it up and the engine settles into an unobtrusive background thrum that never threatens to rattle the expensively moulded dashboard. Yes, you can tell it sups from the black pump, but it’s hardly what you’d describe as coarse. On the move, the engine remains pleasantly muted without the whistles and bellows of many powerful turbodiesel cars. Between 1,750 and 3,250rpm, there’s a huge shove in the back, the elastic power delivery catapulting the Alfa down the road in a deliciously addictive manner. Even in sixth gear, even the 150bhp GT JTDm will dispatch the 50-75mph increment in just 7.9 seconds. From rest, it’ll accelerate to 60mph in 9.6 seconds and run onto a top speed of 130mph. Average fuel economy is pegged at 45.6mpg and emissions amount to a mere 165g/km.

Closer inspection of the GT chassis reveals that it’s something of a mix and match between the old 156 saloon and the 147 hatch. The tape measure shows that the car rides on the 2,596mm long 156 wheelbase but underneath the pretty styling, the firewall, the pedal box, the steering column and the entire climate control system are