1990 Alfa Romeo 75 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

This is a '90 Alfa Romeo Milano (75) Verde - "green cloverleaf". This was the sport model of the series equipped with the exclusive 3.0L V6 engine with 189 horsepower, mated only to a 5 speed manual transmission which was rear mounted to (for optimal weight distribution). The Verde also differed from the regular series with more sporty exterior trims such as side skirts and rear lip spoiler. No powered leather seats were found inside but in their place, voila, you found Recaro cloth sports seats front and back, very exotic! Driver centric centre console (a la BMW) was used with emphasis placed in the self diagnostic/warning system, which unfortunately had worked overtime since there was never a moment when nothing was wrong with this italian sport sedan. The dash design was similar to its german rivals but more angular and material used was marginally inferior. Exterior paint finish was only fair as swirl marks were everywhere and so was body adhesive near poor fitted trims. Body panels were wave free but the clear coat was thin and soft. The engine was originally designed for the Alfa 6 model where emphasis was placed in smoothness and low speed driveability. This engine had a very pleasant induction resonance (much like that of the award winning nissan V6 unit) and performed very well right from low rpm giving very satisfying thrust for taking off and powering out of turns. Unfortunately, the torque curve stayed flat throughout the rpm range and no additional grunt were available at higher rpm. The redline also came early at 6k making this engine the least race car like. Note: this car should be driven like a muscle car, not a race car. The suspension was very compliant, extremely comfortable on rough pavements, thanks to the amount of suspension travel available. However, this also translated into dangerous amount of body roll in turns and emergency lane change manauvre - where snap oversteer was very easy to induce (due to abrupt weight transfer). This car was a handful to catch once it started fishtailing as the momentum built very quickly with each time the body tried to centre itself, the suspension would do nothing to help damp the rolling motion at all! This could be due to the much fabled and traditional De Dion rear suspension which allowed the live axle to operate without much restrain by control arms from the chassis! This was the biggest failing of this vehicle and I doubt if lowering the ride height or by fitting stiffer swaybars would be enough to correct this problem. Coincidentally, this was also the last of its kind to utilise such suspension design. Other manufacturers at the time had equally economical suspension design (eg. the Volkswagen's torsion beam, the BMW and Porsche's semi-trailing arms, etc.) and all provided superior body motion control without sacrificing ride quality. Feb 15, 2009