13 Alfa Romeos Every Gearhead Should Drive
Alfa Romeo has built some of the most stylish driver’s cars money can buy during its 114-year history.
Unfortunately, like most other Italian carmakers, they’ve also struggled with reliability issues.
While it’s fair to say the company has struggled to drum up enough enthusiasm for its modern cars, its portfolio includes several models every gearhead should drive at least once.
Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
Only 18 units of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale were built, and it’s one of the most breathtakingly gorgeous cars to ever emerge from the Turin-based manufacturer. Its curvaceous body, low front, large headlights, and butterfly doors meant it would never be able to sneak in anywhere unnoticed, and that’s also why it’s one of our favorite Italian cars.
It wasn’t all show and no go, either! The 33 Stradale weighed in at a mere 1,543 lbs, and with a 225-hp 2.0-liter V8 engine, it offered racecar-like performance on the road. It would scramble from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.5 seconds and had a top speed of 160 mph. Experts say they can sell for anywhere between $3 million and $10 million, or maybe more.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
Alfa Romeo introduced the 105 Series Giulia Sprint in 1963, but the performance-oriented GTA model didn’t arrive until 1965. It looked like the Giulia Sprint GT but was constructed with aluminum body panels as the ‘A’ stood for “Alleggerita,” Italian for “lightened.”
The Giulia Sprint GTA had a 1.6-liter engine with a new twin-plug/twin-spark head and Weber 45DCOE carburetors. Alfa Romeo went to great lengths to lighten and tune it for racing, and most customers had them further modified and tuned before delivery.
Alfa Romeo SZ
These days, “il mostro” is used when talking about Ducati’s Monster naked bike, but once upon a time, it was used to describe the Alfa Romeo SZ. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that they’re referring to its styling, which you’ll either love or hate.
It was designed by Alfa Romeo and Fiat and built by Zagato. In fact, the SZ is one of the first cars designed using the digital CAD/CAM process. Back in the 1980s, computer graphics weren’t anywhere near as good as today, which may explain its straight lines, flat surfaces, and sharp edges. Under the hood, there’s a 3.0-liter V6, giving the SZ a 7-second 0 to 60 mph sprint and the handling was better than any other Alfa of its era.
Alfa Romeo Spider
The Spider is arguably the most famous and popular Alfa Romeo model in the States. It was built from 1966 to 1994, and movie buffs will tell you it’s the car Dustin Hoffman drove in The Graduate.
That movie made the first-gen Spider almost as famous as Hoffman, but strangely, it was never a sales success. It still looked great, though, and it’s forever an automotive icon. Early models were powered by a 1.6-liter engine, but later, a 1.3, a 1.8, and a 2.0-liter engine were available.
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
In 2007, Alfa Romeo built the 8C Competizione to celebrate the company’s racing heritage. Its name is somewhat confusing, as Alfa Romeo built an 8C in the 1930s, but the 2007 8C Competizione is built to commemorate the 6C 2500 Competizione model Juan Manuel Fangio raced in the Mille Miglia and later won the Targa Florio.
In the modern 8C, the “8” refers to the 4.7-liter Ferrari V8 engine that’s hiding under its sleek hood. Producing 450 hp, the 8C Competizione has a top speed of 190 mph. Only 1,000 cars were built, 500 coupes, and 500 spiders.
Alfa Romeo Montreal
Alfa Romeo introduced the first Montreal production model in 1970. Its front end is certainly the most eye-catching part, with a quad-headlight setup that’s partially covered by retractable grilles.
Hidden beneath its stylish body, there’s a 2.6-liter V8 engine derived from the one used in the 33 Stradale. Producing 197 hp, the Montreal 2+2 coupe could sprint to 60 mph in just over seven seconds and had a top speed of 137 mph.
Alfa Romeo 164
Long before SUVs became the family vehicle of choice, large sedans ruled the roost. Back in 1978, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat, and Saab teamed up to co-develop a new front-wheel-drive platform.
This platform would serve as the base for the Saab 9000, Fiat Croma, Lancia Thema, and the excellent Alfa Romeo 164. While the Lancia received the Integrale’s turbocharged 2.0-liter, the Alfa could be ordered with the legendary Busso V6. Later Quadrifoglio Verde models had a 24-valve version of the V6 engine, and even an all-wheel-drive Q4 model was offered to lessen the torque steer.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Nowadays, the Giulia Quadrifoglio is by far the coolest Alfa available. This is a full-on sports sedan built to compete against legends such as the BMW M3, AMG C-Class, and Audi’s RS4.
Powered by a Ferrari-derived 2.9-liter V6 twin-turbo engine, the Giulia Quadrifoglio punches out a whopping 505 ponies, which are sent to the rear wheels via an 8-speed automatic transmission. It was fast enough to set a new lap record for sedans at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
In 2001, Alfa Romeo launched the 156 GTA in sedan and Sportwagon form. It was based on the regular 156 but with a wider body and more aggressive styling. Alfa Romeo named the GTA after the 1960s model, with the letters meaning Gran Turismo Alleggerita, or something along the lines of lightweight Grand Tourer in English.
Under the hood, the 156 GTA had a 3.2-liter Busso V6 producing 247 hp — which was sent to the front wheels. It scrambled to 60 mph in just 6.3 seconds and had a top speed limited to 155 mph.
Alfa Romeo 155 Q4
Alfa Romeo introduced the 155 in 1992 as a replacement for the 75. It was the first car developed since Alfa was taken over by Fiat and built on a Fiat platform. The front-wheel-drive 155 was stylish but not particularly well-received.
However, there was one model that’s worth gearhead’s attention — the 155 Q4. It had the same turbocharged 2.0-liter engine as the Lancia Delta Integrale, and its 190 hp went to all four wheels.
Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo Evoluzione
The Alfa Romeo 75 was the last model developed fully by Alfa before Fiat took the reins. It was a cool, RWD sedan, and the public loved it — by the time production ended in 1992, 386,767 Alfa 75s had been built. While there were some cool versions of it, none were as awesome as the Turbo Evoluzione!
Only 500 Turbo Evoluzione cars were built in 1987, as it was a homologation special, built to meet Group A requirements. It had several modifications compared to the regular turbo model. Power-wise, it delivered 150 hp, just like the standard model, but it was much better suited for performance upgrades, making it easy to extract a whole stable, or scuderia, of Italian horses.
1935 Alfa Romeo Bimotore
In order to compete with Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, Alfa Romeo’s race team manager, Enzo Ferrari, wanted a twin-engine racecar. In 1935, the Alfa Romeo Bimotore debuted with a 3.2-liter straight-8 engine at the front and another engine behind the driver.
Somewhat surprisingly, both engines sent their power to the rear wheels. Because of the Bimotore’s uneven weight distribution, it was a handful to keep on the track, and it consumed tires and fuel like it was going out of fashion. While it was never a huge success in the Grand Prix races, one of the Bimotores set a new speed record when Nuvolari drove it from Florence to Livorno, with an average speed of 201 mph and a top speed of 226 mph.
Alfa Romeo GTV6
The Alfa Romeo GTV6 is one of the coolest-looking everyday cars of its era. It’s jam-packed with quirky solutions and it’s imperfections are part of what makes it so iconic.
At the front, it has a SOHC 2.5-liter V6 engine, wishbone suspension, and ventilated disc brakes. At the back, there’s a transaxle, De Dion rear suspension, Watt’s parallelogram linkage, and inboard rear brakes. It seemed to work like a charm, though, as the V6 received rave reviews from the motoring press and became a very successful racecar.
Honorable Mention: 1954 Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva
The 1954 Alfa Romeo 2000 Sportiva was essentially a concept car designed by Scaglione for Bertone. They only built four show cars, including two convertibles.
Honorable Mention: 1952 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante
The 1952 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante featured an aerodynamic design and was built on request for a US-based customer.
Honorable Mention: 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Le Mans Speciale
Alfa Corse built one 8C 2900 to compete in the 1938 24 Hours of Le Mans. During a time when most Alfas were open-top sports cars, this was a unique, streamlined coupé. It led most of the race but had to retire before the race ended.
