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The Alfa Romeo brand sits in its own space as a sporting brand. It is not a rich man’s toy like a Ferrari, nor does it have the common touch of Fiat. It occupies a unique niche. It’s an enthusiast brand - one for the keen driver, certainly, but also for the driver who values individuality and riveting style.

Of course, there is one thing about all Alfas that no one can deny: Alfa Romeo knows how to design utterly beautiful cars. Like the Brera Coupe, the subject of this review.

The coupe sits just behind the range-topping Spyder (effectively a Brera with the roof chopped off) but above the GT in the Alfa stable.

Unfortunately, because sales here are small, the scant Alfa press fleet barely covers the Australian motoring media. We were cancelled out of a press fleet Spyder (because it had found a Melbourne buyer) but were lucky enough to get hold of a new Brera V6 ‘loaner’ for this review. (Come on Alfa, you need more cars in the press fleet if you want to keep them in the public eye.)

An ‘organic’ interior

The Interior of this car is very lavish and very ‘Alfa’. The cockpit is dominated by half a tonne of brushed aluminium and round dials, round gauges, round controls everywhere. It is much more organic and less clinical than its German competitors.

The speedometer and tachometer dominate the instrument cluster but are well-designed and very clear. Between the two dials is the red-on-black display for the on–board computer. Here you can setup your Bluetooth connection; parts of the menu system speak and you can also use voice commands to setup and use other functions.

The electronically controlled seats - trimmed in Pieno Fiore leather - are the star-turns of the interior. They are simply just so comfortable – as good as the best leather seats in any BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus I have been in. They provide support in all the right places, and, although they do not have ‘tight’ side bolsters – something to bear in mind when throwing the car around – are the right compromise between comfort and performance.

Another highlight is the huge sunroof with its electronically-controlled sliding blind system. The glassed area in the sunroof, being around twice the size of a normal sunroof, lets plenty of sun in, but the instrument cluster is designed to be read easily despite the glare.

One negative with the Brera’s interior trim is the door release handles which are made of silver-coloured plastic. On a car of this price level, with the rest of the cockpit dressed in aluminium, you’d reckon some metal door handles might have made the cut.

Another negative is the rear-seat legroom. With two guys sitting up front, there is just no rear legroom at all for those unfortunate enough to find themselves in the back. It’s too tight for anyone but pre-teens.

At 235 litres, the boot offers reasonable space for a car of this size. The bonus is that you can fold the rear seats down to create 546 litres of luggage space in total.

Exterior style

The Brera is a thing of beauty, especially so in the Misano Blue example we had. It curves lusciously back from the lovely trademark ‘V’ shaped Alfa grille to a long raked A-pillar, the lines of the car culminating in a tightly-tucked tail.

Little touches like the chrome detail on the side of the light-clusters add to the beautiful style of the car. The wheels are typically Alfa: 18-inch, and with enough rubber to fill the guards purposefully.