“Alfa Romeo” is a phrase that conjures up visions of stunning looks, sporty handling and general all-over Italian flair. And with the 147, Alfa Romeo has done it again.

The Alfa Romeo 147 is a beautiful vehicle to look at, and has been very cleverly designed so that both the three-door and five-door versions of this hatchback look almost the same. To say that the lines and curves on the Alfa Romeo 147 are easy on the eye is an understatement: it is a beautiful piece of design.

Inside, the Alfa Romeo 147 is also beautifully finished and enjoyable. The most basic version of the Alfa Romeo 147, the Twin Spark 3dr, comes with body hugging seats that are upholstered in a very tasteful sport cloth. In the Twin Spark and Selespeed 5dr models you can enjoy the option of some stunning leather seats to match a leather bound steering wheel and gear knob. No doubt about it, you will be looking pretty hot! With 8 speakers and a radio/CD as standard, along with steering wheel mounted audio controls and tinted windows it comes well equipped.

Under the beautifully shaped bonnet of the Alfa Romeo 147 there is no shortage of responsive power. All petrol models have the superbly flexible 2.0 litre engine that boasts 110 kW of grunt and 181 Nm of torque. The Twin Spark three and five door models use a five speed manual gearbox. The Selespeed three and five door models have the teptronic type five speed gearbox. The alternative to these petrol versions is the very torquey Alfa Romeo 147 JTD M-Jet 1.9 turbo diesel motor. What you will find in the diesel motor is copious amounts of smooth pulling power, a six speed manual gearbox for harnessing the 305 Nm of torque and a 0-100 km/h time of well under nine seconds. Running with the Alfa Romeo 147 diesel version, under normal driving conditions, may offer the occupants a more relaxing and yet deceptively quick alternative – not to mention the longer time between fuel stops.

From a safety perspective, it is pleasing to note that all Alfa Romeo 147 versions are well equipped. The seatbelts come with pretensioners, the rear seats are three-pointers (no dicey lap belts here). Driver and passenger front and side airbags, and side window airbags come as standard, as does the FPS fire prevention system. All have ABS/EBD brake systems, Traction Control, and a very effective VDC Dynamic Vehicle Control. To take the other meaning of “safety”, both ends of the Alfa Romeo 147 spectrum come with alarm, remote central locking and Alfa code immobilisation as standard features just in case anyone lets the beauty of this hatchback lead them into too much temptation.

Boasting a very streamlined Italian design that sits on 215/45 tyres (that display some awesome looking 17 inch mags), you certainly know you are driving a special piece of European flair. All in all, the Alfa Romeo 147 is a very good-looking hatchback that is stylish, comfortable, safe and quick.

Current model series include:

• Alfa Romeo 147 3 Door
• Alfa Romeo 147 5 Door
• Alfa Romeo 147 GTA
• Alfa Romeo 147 JTD 5 Door
• Alfa Romeo 147 Ti 3 Door

For any more information on the Alfa Romeo 147, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Alfa dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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