Alfa Romeo Brera 2.2 JTS

Kalbfell says one of his former colleagues at BMW is now in charge of quality at Alfa and that his presence is already starting to take effect; on this evidence I’d say he was right.

There’s a real sense of occasion here, everywhere from the aluminium used for the centre console, the waist rail, the grab handles and the steering wheel spokes to the way the minor instruments are canted towards the driver, just as they were in so many Alfas of old.

There’s even an oil temperature gauge. If you could drop the seat another inch, the driving position would be perfect and I especially like the way that even a tall driver like me can pull the thick-rimmed leather wheel tight into my chest.

We’re in the 2.2-litre Brera as not only will it account for 60 per cent of UK sales, but the 200bhp diesel car (priced at around £27,500) is not available for testing, while the 260bhp 3.2, four-wheel-drive Brera Q4 is oddly restricted to track use only.

We drove carefully at first on roads made lethal by fallen leaves, harvest-time debris and thick, wet mist. How far Alfa Romeo has come in the past decade. I can remember wanting to commit an act of physical violence on the first 155 I drove, not to mention the sickening disappointments that were the early versions of the 145 and 146.

But here we were gliding across the Piedmontese countryside as I marvelled at the Brera’s deftly controlled ride quality, its conspicuously impressive refinement and the sheer extravagance of the cabin.

But as I set it some slightly tougher tasks by starting gingerly to probe its performance, so reality sank its fangs into my cossetted backside.

No question at all, for all the zip of the engine and the slickness of the six-speed gearshift, the Brera is slow by the standards of the £25,000 coupé. A Mazda RX-8 costs £2700 less and offers nearly 50bhp more. The RX-8 will also hit 60mph in a claimed 6.4sec, a massive 2.2sec ahead of the time Alfa says the Brera needs.

Even cars like the Mercedes C230 Sport Coupé and the now-defunct Audi TT 180 Quattro out-power and outperform this Brera for similar money. And we probably shouldn’t dwell too long on the fact that for an extra £500 over the likely cost of this Brera, the entry-level Nissan 350Z offers six cylinders, nearly 100 extra horsepower, a sub 6.0sec 0-60mph time and a top speed of 155mph. The Brera’s all done by 138mph. You’re going to need the small rear seats real bad to make up that kind of difference.

Alfa might argue that statistics don’t tell the whole story and it’d be right, not least because the as yet undetermined UK spec is likely to include not only electric everything and leather upholstery but also the splendid Sky View glass roof.

But there’s another issue here. With the exception of the TT, all rivals mentioned above plus both the existing and forthcoming BMW 3-series coupés and the Chrysler Crossfire have rear-wheel drive platforms.

This is not a coincidence. Whether it is because their drivers really do appreciate the advantages or whether it’s simply a marketing tool, it doesn’t really matter: the point is rear-drive sells. And as anyone who has ever so much as sat in a well-driven Alfa 75 will tell you, these guys once did rear-drive better than anyone.

But I wasn’t sure that what the Brera was serving up as we nosed our way through the murk could be equated to fun. The front-end grip was impressive, exhibiting good traction despite the absence of a limited-slip differential and the body control was never taxed by the relentlessly flat roads. But fun? Not where I was sitting.

Or, I should say, not yet. As I headed back towards Fiat’s vast Balocco test track, I started to fret and when I do that, it’s because I’m feeling guilty about something. This time the something gnawing away at me was a sense that the weather, the roads and some ludicrous time constraints meant the Brera had not been allowed to put its best foot forward and before the whirling soup in my head solidified, I did at least owe it that opportunity.

Selecting a course on the track that mimicked a winding country road, I at last gave it the proper thrashing it deserved and watched as it rose to the challenge with a conviction nothing in the last few hours had suggested it could muster.

Instead of feeling like a less spacious 159, the stiffer springs and shorter wheelbase granted the Brera an agility I had not suspected. Quick steering across – for once in an Alfa – a decent lock meant it could be guided by fingertip control as it fairly danced around the track.