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Alfa Romeo Mito Cloverleaf

Test date 08 September 2009  Price as tested  £17,895

What is it?

Alfa has decided to use the still-new Mito as the launch pad for its ‘revolutionary’ Multiair engines. Initially, they will come in 1.4-litre capacities as a naturally aspirated 103bhp unit, a 132bhp turbo and a 167bhp turbo.

Multiair not only eliminates the throttle butterfly but has a completely new take on how a camshaft actuates the intake valves, as well as the tech to subtly vary the timing of the valve openings.

All of which ensures that this range-topping turbo petrol, which is based on an utterly conventional 1.4-litre block, develops 121.5bhp per litre. VW’s 1.4 TSI needs a turbocharger and a supercharger to achieve a similar output.

What’s more, Fiat engineers have managed to significantly reduce the pollutant levels in the exhaust gases.

Usually in a four-valves-per-cylinder engine there are two camshafts, one for the intake valves and one for the exhaust valves.

It’s common these days for variable valve timing to be fitted to four-valves-per-cylinder engines. But these variable systems usually only have two different operating regimes, a relatively crude solution.

The Multiair’s electro-hydraulic valve management system can adjust the valve timings in much finer increments. There are six basic timing parameters, but valve timings can be infinitely varied within them.

The Multiair engines have only one camshaft, which has three lobes for each cylinder. The first two control the eight exhaust valves, because the engine’s eight intake valves are activated by oil pressure.

The oil pressure is boosted by a rocker arm, which itself is activated by the camshaft’s third lobe.

Varying the oil flow can then vary the opening and closing of the valves in a way that ideally matches the driving conditions. The valve control system is so finely tuned it can, for example, open the intake valves twice during one piston stroke, an ideal trick for slow urban driving.

This Multiair top-end is modular and can be fitted to other, existing engine blocks. Fiat is working on a two-cylinder version and a V6.

What's it like?

The flagship Multiair Mito will be the new 167bhp Coverleaf. Aside from the new engine, it gets a new six-speed gearbox and a new adaptive damping system designed by Fiat and Magneti Marelli.

We tried the new car – due in the UK in late January 2010 – at Alfa’s Balocco test track. This is a genuinely swift car, with an engine that is tractable and flexible but feels nothing like a highly tuned but small-capacity motor. It has real muscle under the bonnet, although it could be a little quicker to rev.

The new six-speed ’box is slick and quick-shifting too, but the biggest step forward for the Mito is the updated steering and suspension. Unlike the 132bhp version, which we also sampled, the steering of the Cloverleaf suffers much less from the odd springiness and over-enthusiastic self-centring.

The Cloverleaf steered with far more positivity, and this sensation was enhanced by the active damping, which seemed to escape the over-firmness of the standard Mito while managing to quell roll.

The Mito chassis is also gloriously failsafe; the front end hangs on tenaciously in the hardest corners, and the traction control system helps to positively pull it around.

Should I buy one?

See the Alfa Romeo Mito Cloverleaf picture gallery

This car will be the best Mito by miles, although it’s unlikely to be a bargain. The Multiair system, meanwhile, is a transformational piece of technology. Watch it closely.

Hilton Holloway

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