The Comeback // 2010 Alfa Romeo MiTo

Gas prices are creeping ever close to the $5 a gallon marker, a new era of automotive design and innovation is under way and we are starting to feel the burn. A fill up at our local 76 set us back a cool $100 (turbos like premium) and people (including some ColdTrackDays staff members) are turning in their pickup trucks and SUV's and settling for something a bit more reasonable. Enter Alfa Romeo. Long having been a champion for cool, the Italian automaker is making its triumphant return to our United States. Don't think they are going to show up to the party with only one girl, Alfa is bringing a few, all of which are equally impressive in their own right. The 8C comes as the flagship, leaving its mark, as well as a slew of dazed onlookers. Though beautiful, the 8C is not going to solve the MPG problem some of us are having. Here is where the MiTo (Me-Toe) fits in. Rumored that it will be sold at Mini dealers nationwide beginning in 2010, the MiTo, as offered in Italy, should arrive with a few options beneath its hood. A standard 1.4L four cylinder, good for 70bhp, a turbocharged 1.4L good for 151bhp and a 1.6L turbo diesel making 115bhp. Unlikely to see the diesel variant, stateside buyers will have to settle for the turbo petrol version for now, that is, until the MiTo GTA arrives... // 07.22.2008