Alfa Romeo Guns The Accelerator...

Alfa Romeo looks to be getting serious with its hero cars of late - and about time too.

While the humble Alfa will never match its country-men, such as Lamborghini and Ferrari in terms of sheer straight-line speed and handling dynamics, it is taking the fight to other Euro marques, such as VW, Fiat and Peugeot.

The first big move for the Italian automaker was the introduction of the 156 GTA, which took the 3.0-litre V6 and stroked it to 3.2-litres.

Include a funky aero-kit, exhaust system and gearbox, and power was boosted to happy 184kW @ 6400rpm, put to the ground through the front wheels.

Praised by most as the best front-wheeler doing the rounds, Alfa capitalised on its warmed-over naturally aspirated V6 and lobbed it into a 147, the results of which are mightily impressive.

Promising 'racetrack emotions on the road', the new hot-hatch genre, dominated by the VW Golf R32 for far too long, has a new champion.

The 147 GTA is more than just an engine swap and set of big alloys - quite the contrary, in fact.

At it's heart sits the 3.2-litre six, but new sheet metal means the look involves more than just a bigger spoiler compared with the standard 147 hatch.

Alfa has always been good at adding a more stylish edge to its cars than those of its Eastern European brethren, and if the stock 147 is a head-turner, the GTA is a neck-snapper of the highest order.

Flared wheel arches cover the traditionally styled 17-inch wheels (with 225/45 treads) and a redesigned front and rear end, plus side-skirts and a lower ride height, give the GTA model a healthy dose of visual aggression.

With revised suspension settings, tuned to provide less body-roll, higher amounts of grip at the limit, the 147 GTA also ships with a plethora of fancy driving aids: ASR, MSR (Motor Schleppmoment Regelung - stops wheels spinning on sharp gear down-changes) and VDC.

These computer-controlled gizmos help make the power delivery of 184kW to the front hoops a little less chaotic, and help in hauling the hatch in when things get a little hairy.

The 24-valve engine combines with a six-speed manual tranny to cover 0-100km/h in 6.3 seconds, which is rather quick, yet it falls short of the bulkier 156 GTA - but only just - and tops out at slightly under 250 kays an hour.

While the 156 and 147 GTA add greatly to Alfa's line-up, as the 'go-fast' hero cars that most Alfa fans will aspire to, a third car in the GTA stable is also being flagged for production.

To be called the 156 GTA-m, it will ship with an even larger 3.5-litre V6 and contain a number of improvements over the 156 GTA.

The concept behind the GTA-m came about during this years European Touring Car Championships - just think V8 Supercars with Euro sedans.

Alfa Romeo ended up winning the Euro Touring Car Champioships this year, thanks to a tuned 156 driven by Fabrizio Giovanardi, which means the homologated special is almost a given to reach production.

The new car 'm' car is a collaboration between Alfa and its hi-po tuning and racing spin-off company, N-Technology.

Apart from a 300bhp (223kW), 3.5-litre V6 - rumoured to be the current GTA's 3.2, stroked a further 300-odd cubic centimetres - the new road-going competition car is also a lot lighter than its forebear, which will result in improved handling, braking, acceleration and cornering.

Weighing some 30kg less than the 156 GTA, the GTA-m achieves this by taking advantage of carbon-fibre composite materials, which include new bonnet, quarter panels and front apron/air-dams.

The beefed-up 156 also gets a number of cosmetic changes, least of which are enlarged wheel arches to accommodate truly massive 19x8-inch alloys, with super-slim 35mm profile tyres.

The front-end has been re-tooled, with an eye towards increased downforce - the deep chin spoiler also mean this Italian bad-boy won't be doing the Maccas drive-thru in a hurry...

Suspension has also been heavily revised, with Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers tuned to the hard side of 'bloody stiff'. While the suspension rig will be height-adjustable, don't expect a supple ride on Australian roads: the 156 GTA-m will not be easy to live with, but perhaps that's part of what will attract potential customers.

Bigger 330mm disc brakes with Brembo calipers will also make the cut, but a release date is still up in air. We could speculate and say mid-2003, but that'd be, err, speculating.

Alfa's future is looking increasingly illuminated. With the AWD, quasi-supercar, the Brera, now slated for production, which may ship with a number of engines (a turbocharged three-point-something vee-six is odds on favourite), and the new 156 GTA-m taking the GTA line-up to three, Alfa looks to be capitalising on its performance range.