Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 TB 170 HP £20,795

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta is a far better car than the 147. That may be no great revelation - the 147 has been knocking around for a full decade now, and has long been usurped by younger, lither rivals - so here's a bigger one: the Giulietta might just be the best car that Alfa has built in its 100 years of existence.

But it isn't a better Alfa.

Sounds nonsensical? Stick with us. While the Giulietta does all the proper, grown-up car stuff - build quality, refinement, economical engines - better than just about any of its predecessors, it comes at the expense of Alfa's essential... Alfaness. Character. Passion. God-give-me-one-now-and-to-hell-with-the-residuals desirability. The Giulietta is an easy car to admire and like,
but not one that grabs you lustily by the man-parts.

It must be conceded that we don't have the ideal conditions in which to fall helplessly in love with the Giulietta on our early test drive. As we arrive at Alfa's Balocco test facility, just off the Milan-Turin road in northern Italy (Mi-To, reads the sign pointing to the motorway), rain is falling with a weight and ferocity that suggests someone's done something massive to upset Him/Her/Them Upstairs. A Golf remains a Golf no matter what the weather, but an Alfa somehow requires big blue skies and shimmering warmth. Shallow, perhaps, but hey, it's an Alfa. Shallowness is somewhere near the top of the CV.

Through the rain, our white test car looks every inch the big brother to the Mito. Normally we'd steer clear of discussing aesthetics at any great length, because (a) you have eyes and (b) someone keeps casting Kirsten Dunst in films, so clearly taste must be subjective. But Alfa has always relied on visual oomph to sell cars, so forgive us a few demi-objective points. First, the Giulietta is massively colour-dependent.