4k mile Mito review
Discussion
Well 4,000 miles have come up quick and has given me a chance to get to grips with the car and experience the highs and lows of Alfa ownership. This is my first Alfa and it was bought because I've always loved the look of Alfas and the appeal of owing someing 'different' and exclusive. On both those accounts it's met expectations. . .It's a fantastic looking small car, with big car sophistication and I've yet to see another Silver one, so I guess exclusivity stands!
Having just completed a 5 hour drive up to Scotland reaching the 4k mark I decided it was about time I posted a review here.
We have a 120bhp Veloce in silver with the black leather, for the price I'd have to say this is a well equiped car. . .I keep finding neat innovative ideas although some are becoming annoying now. . .
Interior-
What a refreshing place to be, its an interesting blend of style and function, I love the dashboard look and feel, the layout is prefect for me, the red flood lighting, textures etc. . .all classy. The leather is the best quality in its class, not BMW 7 series quality but definately better than the equivilant Mini leather.
Blue Me. . .well I think it's overly complex. . .I get what they are trying to achieve but the system rarely works as it should. MP3 player great, but rarely understands my ipod. . .sometimes I wish it was just a straight forward input jack. . . The phone connection is excellent and works well with my Sony Ericsson, call quality seems good as well. The voice activation is best dropped. . .dreadful and a waste of tech, it's good that everything can be activated from the steering wheel as well, as the system can be a bit tricky to navigate and I often find myself staring at the display rather than the road.
Quality in some areas is fantastic only to be brought down by the questionable fit and finish in other areas, including the windscreen pillars. . . Currently my passenger side pilar trim is loose and rattling/squeeking and making all sorts other noises I'd rather not be hearing. There are some other annoying noises coming from different places. I'll come on to it later but I think there is a reason for all of this. . . A few weeks after we had the car there was a horrific sqeeling noise coming from the passenger seat. . .which turned out to be a loose seat bolt, the bolt was moving around and the seat was sliding and grinding causing the noise. . .dealer sorted.
Ride and Handling-
Handling is strong, providing lots of grip and as long as the road is smooth a well balanced driving experienced. Feel through the steering is a little vague. . .better in 'D' but then also a little too heavy and 'fake;. But better than most small cars I've driven save for the last edition of the BMW Mini. Braking stability can be alarming. . .under heaving braking the weight pitches forward and can loose traction at the rear. This is whilst braking in a straight line. Having to make an emergancy stop can be interesting and a heart stopping moment, not just because of the object you're trying to avoid but because of the way the car reacts.
Ride quality is terrible. On a smooth road this flaw is hidden but as soon as you're on a uneven and poor road the car skips around, loses composure and passes shocks through the chassis and eventually your butt. I think this has caused many of the rattles and loose fitting trim issues I have in the interior. Swift driving on a B road can be interesting as the car can't cope with bumps at all and becomes a bit of a hand full, losing grip, composure and balance. As the road smooths out it gathers it all back together again, settles and shines.
Engine-
For a little 1.4 Turbo its a nice unit delivering a good amount of grunt and I think is a better engine than the 155 I tried a few times. The torque of the 120 is spot on for a car this size and I have no regrets choosing the 120 over the 155. Seems quite playful when needed and revs well but when cruising on the motorway it's happy to sit in 5th and waft along. (as long as the road isn't bumpy) I often find myself searching for 6th but not sure if this is because I'm used to having a 6th gear or if it's because I think it needs it.
Not sure if it's my driving buy I seem to be getting some terrible mpg figures. My usual drive returns 28 - 30mpg av. And last night on the motorway at a high speeds I was averaging 23mpg. . .from a 1.4! All at about 4-5k rpm. . . Not what I was expecting. To put this in perspective I used to get 28mpg from a 220bhp Mercedes Cosworth in similar conditions. . .Not happy about this. Maybe I should have bough the diesel version, but generally I expected better economy.
External -
It is stunning in silver, and I can't understand why I haven't seen another in the same colour. I was considering Alfa red but I'm very very happy with the look of the car. The wheels look great if a little tricky to clean. . . The car attracts attention, random pointing, gawping and some polite nods and flashes, makes you feel good that you're in a car that others appreciate and notice. Paint quality looks good so far although I notice a difference on the metalwork and the plastic front bumper. . .at some angles you can see it's a shade different. Only issue I have is with the wheel arches, at the bottom where they meet the sills they could have done a better job hiding the edges, looks unfinished and a possible corrosion spot.
Feel good factor is pretty high with this car. . .The ride is terrible but so was the ride on any sports Audis I've driven recently. In fact I used to use a TT 225 and it had worse ride and similar fuel consumption! Over all I'd buy again, maybe with after market shocks of decent quality but I'd give the car a 7/10.
Having just completed a 5 hour drive up to Scotland reaching the 4k mark I decided it was about time I posted a review here.
We have a 120bhp Veloce in silver with the black leather, for the price I'd have to say this is a well equiped car. . .I keep finding neat innovative ideas although some are becoming annoying now. . .
Interior-
What a refreshing place to be, its an interesting blend of style and function, I love the dashboard look and feel, the layout is prefect for me, the red flood lighting, textures etc. . .all classy. The leather is the best quality in its class, not BMW 7 series quality but definately better than the equivilant Mini leather.
Blue Me. . .well I think it's overly complex. . .I get what they are trying to achieve but the system rarely works as it should. MP3 player great, but rarely understands my ipod. . .sometimes I wish it was just a straight forward input jack. . . The phone connection is excellent and works well with my Sony Ericsson, call quality seems good as well. The voice activation is best dropped. . .dreadful and a waste of tech, it's good that everything can be activated from the steering wheel as well, as the system can be a bit tricky to navigate and I often find myself staring at the display rather than the road.
Quality in some areas is fantastic only to be brought down by the questionable fit and finish in other areas, including the windscreen pillars. . . Currently my passenger side pilar trim is loose and rattling/squeeking and making all sorts other noises I'd rather not be hearing. There are some other annoying noises coming from different places. I'll come on to it later but I think there is a reason for all of this. . . A few weeks after we had the car there was a horrific sqeeling noise coming from the passenger seat. . .which turned out to be a loose seat bolt, the bolt was moving around and the seat was sliding and grinding causing the noise. . .dealer sorted.
Ride and Handling-
Handling is strong, providing lots of grip and as long as the road is smooth a well balanced driving experienced. Feel through the steering is a little vague. . .better in 'D' but then also a little too heavy and 'fake;. But better than most small cars I've driven save for the last edition of the BMW Mini. Braking stability can be alarming. . .under heaving braking the weight pitches forward and can loose traction at the rear. This is whilst braking in a straight line. Having to make an emergancy stop can be interesting and a heart stopping moment, not just because of the object you're trying to avoid but because of the way the car reacts.
Ride quality is terrible. On a smooth road this flaw is hidden but as soon as you're on a uneven and poor road the car skips around, loses composure and passes shocks through the chassis and eventually your butt. I think this has caused many of the rattles and loose fitting trim issues I have in the interior. Swift driving on a B road can be interesting as the car can't cope with bumps at all and becomes a bit of a hand full, losing grip, composure and balance. As the road smooths out it gathers it all back together again, settles and shines.
Engine-
For a little 1.4 Turbo its a nice unit delivering a good amount of grunt and I think is a better engine than the 155 I tried a few times. The torque of the 120 is spot on for a car this size and I have no regrets choosing the 120 over the 155. Seems quite playful when needed and revs well but when cruising on the motorway it's happy to sit in 5th and waft along. (as long as the road isn't bumpy) I often find myself searching for 6th but not sure if this is because I'm used to having a 6th gear or if it's because I think it needs it.
Not sure if it's my driving buy I seem to be getting some terrible mpg figures. My usual drive returns 28 - 30mpg av. And last night on the motorway at a high speeds I was averaging 23mpg. . .from a 1.4! All at about 4-5k rpm. . . Not what I was expecting. To put this in perspective I used to get 28mpg from a 220bhp Mercedes Cosworth in similar conditions. . .Not happy about this. Maybe I should have bough the diesel version, but generally I expected better economy.
External -
It is stunning in silver, and I can't understand why I haven't seen another in the same colour. I was considering Alfa red but I'm very very happy with the look of the car. The wheels look great if a little tricky to clean. . . The car attracts attention, random pointing, gawping and some polite nods and flashes, makes you feel good that you're in a car that others appreciate and notice. Paint quality looks good so far although I notice a difference on the metalwork and the plastic front bumper. . .at some angles you can see it's a shade different. Only issue I have is with the wheel arches, at the bottom where they meet the sills they could have done a better job hiding the edges, looks unfinished and a possible corrosion spot.
Feel good factor is pretty high with this car. . .The ride is terrible but so was the ride on any sports Audis I've driven recently. In fact I used to use a TT 225 and it had worse ride and similar fuel consumption! Over all I'd buy again, maybe with after market shocks of decent quality but I'd give the car a 7/10.
Good write up thanks!
It's a shame Alfa can't get their cars damping sorted for UK roads. I though they had cracked it with the Brera/159 but perhaps they just pulverise all the bumps flat? If the 1.4 is like any other Alfa engine it will benefit from a lot of miles on it before it starts giving it's best, so you might see a slight economy improvement. It is cruising at quite high revs from what you say, so maybe a sixth gear would be handy.
The Blue & Me speech commands are not great but you should be able to use the basic telephone ones OK - press your steering wheel button, shout "Call HOME" (or whatever name is in the phonebook) and when it replies "call home?" either say "YES" or press the phone button on the wheel.
It's a shame Alfa can't get their cars damping sorted for UK roads. I though they had cracked it with the Brera/159 but perhaps they just pulverise all the bumps flat? If the 1.4 is like any other Alfa engine it will benefit from a lot of miles on it before it starts giving it's best, so you might see a slight economy improvement. It is cruising at quite high revs from what you say, so maybe a sixth gear would be handy.
The Blue & Me speech commands are not great but you should be able to use the basic telephone ones OK - press your steering wheel button, shout "Call HOME" (or whatever name is in the phonebook) and when it replies "call home?" either say "YES" or press the phone button on the wheel.
After driving all versions on both the Italian and UK launches I bit the bullet and bought one.
Sod what the press say, most members of the press drive a different car everyday yet never spend their own money!
Mine's a 1.6 jtd, fast and torquey can't fault it, only 500 miles covered though.
Sod what the press say, most members of the press drive a different car everyday yet never spend their own money!
Mine's a 1.6 jtd, fast and torquey can't fault it, only 500 miles covered though.
Lovely piccy pimp 
Good write up too spence! Nicely done
I'd say we're very happy with the ride on ours - not the best surfaces here in the heart of Devon either! We actually love the 'sporty' feel the ride gives - that's a naff word I know, but it's kinda suited here. Having had an Elise, the MiTo is positively spongy!
Good write up too spence! Nicely done
I'd say we're very happy with the ride on ours - not the best surfaces here in the heart of Devon either! We actually love the 'sporty' feel the ride gives - that's a naff word I know, but it's kinda suited here. Having had an Elise, the MiTo is positively spongy!
Cheers. After writing that I thought I'd give it a chance to prove better real life MPG at 'normal' and expected speeds. Drove down from Glasgow, motorway cruising at around 85 which I think is reasonable if you want to make progress without going like a bat out of hell. . .got 33mpg for the journey.
After spending pretty much 4 days driving about on the motorway and the highland roads it maybe a bit lost on rough roads and not great on fuel but it's a wonderful car to own. . .it's funny, some cars I've had in the past I couldn't fault for what they were but I never paid them much attention nor would I ever consider giving them a second glace, where as with this little car is a joy to own and has character and I'm always looking at it out the window. That's the Alfa effect I guess and that feeling is worth every penny.
My wife was the big decision maker when buying this car, she absolutely adores it so job done there, me. . .I'm just happy I've got something with character, when it's good its very good and we always fight over the keys.
After spending pretty much 4 days driving about on the motorway and the highland roads it maybe a bit lost on rough roads and not great on fuel but it's a wonderful car to own. . .it's funny, some cars I've had in the past I couldn't fault for what they were but I never paid them much attention nor would I ever consider giving them a second glace, where as with this little car is a joy to own and has character and I'm always looking at it out the window. That's the Alfa effect I guess and that feeling is worth every penny.
My wife was the big decision maker when buying this car, she absolutely adores it so job done there, me. . .I'm just happy I've got something with character, when it's good its very good and we always fight over the keys.
Edited by xspencex on Saturday 12th September 13:50
My 155 is now 6 months old and 6k on the clock. The engine is only just loosened up and is a stonker . Alfa have been somewhat conservertive with the quoted output,Group 10 ins?, as the ones that have been on a rolling road are around the the low 160s mark. Ride quality has improoved with age and about the same as my departed Clio 197 but the Mito creams it regarding fuel consumption and overtaking ease.
The Clio needed to be doing at least 4000 revs before it showed any interest in making any power and far happier in the 5000 to 7000 range hence the low gearing of 18.5 miles per 1000 revs. The Mito pulls strongly from 2500 up to 6500 when the limiter kicks in. The gearing on my Mito is about 24 mph to 1000 revs so motorway cruising is far better.
The 120 must be lower geared for to cruise at 4 to 5k in my 155 is around the 95 to 115 mark which in Essex where i live is Bye Bye licence for sure!
The Clio needed to be doing at least 4000 revs before it showed any interest in making any power and far happier in the 5000 to 7000 range hence the low gearing of 18.5 miles per 1000 revs. The Mito pulls strongly from 2500 up to 6500 when the limiter kicks in. The gearing on my Mito is about 24 mph to 1000 revs so motorway cruising is far better.
The 120 must be lower geared for to cruise at 4 to 5k in my 155 is around the 95 to 115 mark which in Essex where i live is Bye Bye licence for sure!
I'm surprised about the handling. I guess it does look pretty damn tall compared to old school hot hatches!
The rattles from the dash and front pillars are the same as in mine. Although mine is 9 years old and only cost a few grand, I suspect it would have been the same when new. (It's my only complaint, so better than thousands of pounds on dodgy VW mechanicals I had previously go wrong).
The rattles from the dash and front pillars are the same as in mine. Although mine is 9 years old and only cost a few grand, I suspect it would have been the same when new. (It's my only complaint, so better than thousands of pounds on dodgy VW mechanicals I had previously go wrong).
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