TechSmart 121, October 2013 TechSmart 123, December 2013 | Page 29

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Romeo Mito
1.4 QV Sport

In Normal and All-weather mode, the Mito puts a muzzle
on the gem of an engine, and delivers a muted exhaust
note and little to no performance zing whatsoever.
Average fuel consumption dips to around 8.7 litres per
100 km though, but, for a sportier vehicle driving in these
modes are simply too boring.
Luckily, a Jekyll and Hyde transformation occurs when you
put the car in Dynamic mode, since the lively powerplant
sparks into its own. You get a titillating exhaust note,
more torque, quicker power delivery, and the shift-up
gear prompts below the rev counter and speedometer
take longer, allowing you to let the rev counter reach the
redline.
All this prompted us to scratch our heads, pondering
the question as to the point of the DNA switch. Phrased
differently: Why would you ever not want to have the car in
Dynamic mode?

too cramped in the back to comfortably fit three adults. As with other
pocket-rockets, the suspension has been tuned to deliver the best
levels of grip and agility as opposed to providing the occupants with
a wafty magic carpet ride. Due to this, the drive in the Mito is not as
extended road-trip friendly as a Polo GTI for instance.

Price of admission
Alfa’s Mito 1.4 QV Sport might be down on power compared to most of
its rivals, but makes up for it in its headturning design appeal, despite
being very understated. When driving the car in dynamic mode it’s also
no less entertaining than the competition on the limit.
It goes for a recommended retail price of R314 990 which sounds pricey
and is, considering buyers can get a Ford Fiesta 1.6 EcoBoost ST (R259
900) and VW Polo GTI for less (R289 600). At least Alfa undercut the
price of the less common Fiat Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari (R550 000) by
a country mile, despite the Abarth offering similar performance in a less
practical, but more eye-catching package. [HD]

Compact car, big fuel drinker
The answer came to us when looking at the combinedcycle (town and highway driving) fuel economy, which
is a claimed 6 litres per 100 km. As always we found
that the reality does differ from the manufacturer’s
theoretical figures (especially true within sportier cars),
as we managed an average of 9.6 litres per 100 km. This
disparity can be attributed to our affinity for the Dynamic
driving mode, blasting the aircon in SA’s summer heat,
and keeping the pleasure pedal floored to get the most
out of the little-engine-that-could.
Another point to take note of is that this car has lots of
head and legroom upfront, but like most coupés is a bit

December 2013 | TechSmart

> CHECK THE TECH
Like Ferrari and Maserati, Alfa Romeo is owned by Fiat, and thus comes
equipped with some of Fiat’s tech including the Microsoft co-developed
Blue&Me in-vehicle infotainment system. Blue&Me enables drivers to pair their
smartphone and use voice commands and steering-wheel mounted buttons
to access features the likes of making- or answering incoming calls. It works
quite well, but unfortunately doesn’t offer Bluetooth audio streaming. Instead,
users get an auxiliary jack and can load all of their favourite tracks onto a USB
memory stick and plug this into the provided port.

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