by Surely many of us dream of such moments in life when it seems that all the stars have aligned, the keys are in hand, an enchanting Italian everyday environment and a car that has something to prove all come together at once. In 2002, in Palermo, Sicily, an interesting situation unfolded with the pleasure of driving the new 156 GTA sports sedan on the legendary Targa Florio route, which was once extremely demanding for car racing on Italian roads. It was an incredibly exciting opportunity, but it was also accompanied by a healthy dose of fear, as there was practically no room for error on the narrow, steep sections of the road. All these worries melted away as soon as I personally saw the press cars under the Sicilian sun, gleaming and waiting for journalists to take the wheel. This job really has its perks.
Just a few years into my career, here I am, ready to drive what, at least on paper, was Alfa’s answer to the almighty BMW E46 M3. The task was extremely challenging, and I was very eager to see how the GTA would attempt to meet these demands. In other words, while the M3 outperformed it in practice, the Alfa model, with front-wheel drive bumpers and an engine with 100 hp less, at first glance didn’t even come close to the vulnerable Bimmer. The latter, introduced in 2000, was equipped with a naturally aspirated inline-six tuned by the M division to deliver 343 hp. That was almost 100 hp more than the GTA’s V6, which, despite its 3.2-liter displacement, only managed 247 hp.
In more detail, the BMW had rear-wheel drive and a limited-slip differential as standard equipment. In contrast, the Alfa had front-wheel drive and, despite its impressive power, an LSD was unavailable. The electronic stability control system VDC, which the Italians named, was also absent. A strange choice, since on the later model introduced the following year (the GTA retained the original body but received an updated cabin), it became standard, although the base 1.6-liter version made do with fewer horsepower.
