7
Copyright © 2019 Alfa Romeo Owners Club | MiTo Register www.mitoregister.com Faceliſt MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo If you are on our Facebook group (or aended Spring Alfa Day), you may have been una- ble to avoid my constant posts about my new MiTo and my endless and tedious pictures of it. And I make no apology for this. I am very happy with it and it would be rude not to share. For those of us (yes, I was one too) with the older model MiTo, I thought it may be inter- esng to hear about what is different, what is improved, what is the same and what works beer or worse. So lets start with my old MiTo, which I sll greedily own, much to the consternaon of my long-suffering wife. It is a pre-facelife 2012 MiTo Quadri- foglio Verde in Graffite Grey (Grigio Gaffite). I bought this as a used car, albeit with very low mileage, from a dealer in Edin- burgh and bought it based on pictures alone, having to have it shipped on the back of a truck to my home town of Bourne- mouth. There were a few reasons why I chose this specific car: I love grey and at the me owned a Stromboli Grey Alfa GT which I very much regret selling. I wanted the cloth interior (never really been a fan of leather – cold in winter and too hot in summer) and I adore the green/ white stching on the seats (reminds of my very first Alfa, an Alfasud Sprint Green Clover- leaf with black cloth, green stching and green carpet). It has a manual gearbox and I had driven automac or Selespeed cars for a while, and it had a full service history with only one owner from new. It was the closest I could get to buying a new car, and it took me many months to find in the right con- dion, mileage and history. Over the course of my own- ership, the car has been subtly modified but only to make the driving experience even more of a pleasure or, in a few cases, improve the aesthecs to my own personal taste (something that I dont expect us all to agree on). I run my own busi-

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Page 1: Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo - MiTo Register · 2019-06-11 · Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo If you are on our Facebook group (or attended

Copyright © 2019 Alfa Romeo Owners Club | MiTo Register www.mitoregister.com

Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo

If you are on our Facebook

group (or attended Spring Alfa

Day), you may have been una-

ble to avoid my constant posts

about my new MiTo and my

endless and tedious pictures of

it. And I make no apology for

this. I am very happy with it

and it would be rude not to

share.

For those of us (yes, I was

one too) with the older model

MiTo, I thought it may be inter-

esting to hear about what is

different, what is improved,

what is the same and what

works better or worse.

So let’s start with my old

MiTo, which I still greedily own,

much to the consternation of

my long-suffering wife. It is a

pre-facelife 2012 MiTo Quadri-

foglio Verde in Graffite Grey

(Grigio Gaffite). I bought this as

a used car, albeit with very low

mileage, from a dealer in Edin-

burgh and bought it based on

pictures alone, having to have it

shipped on the back of a truck

to my home town of Bourne-

mouth.

There were a few reasons why

I chose this specific car: I love

grey and at the time owned a

Stromboli Grey Alfa GT which I

very much regret selling. I

wanted the cloth interior (never

really been a fan of leather –

cold in winter and too hot in

summer) and I adore the green/

white stitching on the seats

(reminds of my very first Alfa,

an Alfasud Sprint Green Clover-

leaf with black cloth, green

stitching and green carpet). It

has a manual gearbox and I had

driven automatic or Selespeed

cars for a while, and it had a full

service history with only one

owner from new. It was the

closest I could get to buying a

new car, and it took me many

months to find in the right con-

dition, mileage and history.

Over the course of my own-

ership, the car has been subtly

modified but only to make the

driving experience even more of

a pleasure or, in a few cases,

improve the aesthetics to my

own personal taste (something

that I don’t expect us all to

agree on). I run my own busi-

Page 2: Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo - MiTo Register · 2019-06-11 · Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo If you are on our Facebook group (or attended

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Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo

ness, so if I’m not using the

train into London to meet with

customers there, the type of

driving I do typically involves

long hauls across the UK to see

customers who span from Glas-

gow down to Doncaster and

York, Liverpool and Manches-

ter, Birmingham, Cardiff and,

my largest customer, in Milton

Keynes where I also have an

office I work from sometimes.

So not short journeys, but not

every day either.

In summary, I might not use

the car for a few days but then

I’ll be in it for a thousand miles

over a few days and stay over

somewhere in a dodgy travel

tavern along with all the travel-

ling carpet salesmen and hard-

hat/hi-viz wearing real-workers

who go where the money is.

So I rarely drive my car down

to the shops. I normally get in

it at 4am and drive until 10am.

Then I might drive it again from

4pm until 8pm, ready for a stop-

over close to the next customer.

Then return home the next day

in a five or six hour drive home.

So comfort, ultra-reliability, sta-

bility, enjoyment, a good stereo,

phone connectivity and not-too-

frequent fuel stops are a priority

for me. But most importantly I

need to make a tedious journey

enjoyable, and I do that by be-

ing in an Alfa Rome and driving

with spirit and joy in the compa-

ny of equal measures of good

music and talk radio.

So one of the first modifica-

tions I did to my QV was to in-

stall a sub-woofer and amplifier

in the boot, delivering outstand-

ing sound quality of all music

types. My QV had the standard

fitments like cruise control, but

not BOSE. In fact I don’t think it

has any specified options. I

commissioned a custom stain-

less exhaust, but only because

my original one had reached it’s

typical MiTo end of life by

rusting away to dust (check

yours at the weekend). I then

went on to modify the perfor-

mance a little, initially with a

Bluespark tuning box, and later

with a hybrid turbo and re-map.

So some might say my car is

Page 3: Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo - MiTo Register · 2019-06-11 · Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo If you are on our Facebook group (or attended

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Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo

sunroof, dual zone climate con-

trol, folding mirrors, BOSE

sound, visibility pack (auto

lights, auto wipers and dipping

rear-view mirror), 60/40 split

rear seat with third seat belt,

heated washer jets (great in

winter) and, the most im-

portant of all, no front number

plate plinth!

The Veloce comes with

standard black cloth upholstery

but with red stitching (green no

longer available). I did consider

leather but knew it wasn’t really

for me so I settled for the stand-

ard cloth which I’ve been very

impressed with. Some have

asked why I did not specify the

Sabelt seats, and my short an-

swer is because it doesn’t come

with an armrest which I use all

the time with my type of long-

distance driving. The longer

answer though is that although I

think they are things of beauty

to look at, I always advise peo-

ple to try them first. For me,

they were too hard, not adjusta-

ble enough, just frankly painful

and they took away the enjoy-

ment for me. But I know people

who love them, so always try

them first! I should also confess

that I’m pretty chubby and six

foot one, so a more normal

sized human may find them

more appealing. But I digress.

So what’s really different

then between the shiny new

MiTo and the old MiTo?

Sunroof

I hadn’t had a sunroof for as

long as I can remember. When I

had a sunroof years ago, I don’t

remember using it. And with air

conditioning why would you

quite heavily modified. My view

is that I have created the sub-

lime MiTo for my style of use

and driving. The combination of

torque and fun is certainly some-

thing to experience, but I really

only made the most perfect Mi-

To just a tiny bit better, and a

little more personal. And I love

it.

I didn’t plan to buy a new Mi-

To. If Alfa Romeo had continued

production of the MiTo for a few

more years I almost certainly

wouldn’t have bought a new

one. In fact, I was never really

sold on the facelift – it had to

grow on me. I thought Alfa

could have done much more on

the re-design, but what they

actually did was the least they

could get away with to make the

front look a bit more like the

new Giulia. Don’t get me wrong,

I love the facelift design now, but

it would certainly not have been

enough for me to buy a new

one. No, I bought a new one so I

could have one of the last ever

made and know that now the

MiTo is no longer being built, at

least I had one of the last ones

that was.

Ordering was a pain. Not the

fault of the dealer or indeed Alfa

Romeo UK. Just a reflection of

Alfa Romeo Italy wanting to

close the factory as soon as fea-

sibly possible. Their announce-

ment that they were ceasing

production was not, as we might

like to think, a final call for or-

ders. Quite the reverse. They

didn’t want any more orders and

made the process as difficult as

possible for anyone trying to

shoe-horn a last MiTo in.

And so it was I settled on my

Alfa White MiTo Veloce. There

were certain options and colour

combinations that were impossi-

ble for the factory, and they

made this very clear by refusing

point-blank to build them! But I

did get a number of options that

I really wanted, including electric

Page 4: Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo - MiTo Register · 2019-06-11 · Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo If you are on our Facebook group (or attended

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Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo

an Alfa owner. My wife doesn’t

think it is hugely intuitive, but if

you’ve come from an older MiTo

like me then I think you’ll be

impressed.

Dual Zone Climate

What can I say? It works

well, the fascia is good quality

and it’s a nice change from hav-

ing the three big turn-wheels.

And it’s dual zone, meaning your

passenger can control their own

temperature separately from

often and be generally a bit rub-

bish. Not true with this new unit.

True, you do get the occasional

radio silence, but only for a sec-

ond or two. I can drive from the

south coast of England to York

and have only one disconnect,

sometimes none. A huge im-

provement on an after-market

double-din DAB unit I fitted in my

previous Alfa GT.

I think the touch-screen con-

trols and buttons on the new unit

are very intuitive, but I say that as

need one? Well, I didn’t order

the sunroof to use the sunroof

as such. I ordered the sunroof

as it gives the MiTo a feeling of

openness, a sense of sky above

you, less of a feeling of being in

a car. I appreciate that sounds

mad. But I do love the way Alfa

have implemented the sunroof

in the MiTo. It is tinted and has

a nice quality sliding mesh cov-

er which comfortingly clicks in

and out of place with a quality

you don’t necessary expect.

With the roof closed and the

mesh engaged, it just feels

more open. Slide the mesh

back on the motorway and the

reveal of the sky just adds to

the ambience of driving. And I

have to confess to opening the

sunroof a few times, though

mainly just to press the lovely

one-touch electric buttons on

the roof which work a dream.

I do run the risk of having

yet another electrical item

fitted that will go wrong, but so

far I’m really enjoying the expe-

rience of having a sunroof,

even if I don’t open it very

often.

Uconnect vs Blue&Me

For anyone who does long

journeys, however infrequent,

an intuitive and good quality

stereo is important, and I cer-

tainly think so. My older QV

has the standard CD/radio with

Blue&Me and the dash-top plug

-in TomTom Live satnav unit.

Perfectly usable and I’ve never

had any trouble with it. I con-

nect my phone with Bluetooth

and I plug the phone in via the

USB to use Spotify and a radio

app to listen to my favourite

DAB radio stations.

But the new system just

does all that through the magic

Bluetooth. The phone connects

and works. It has full telephone

functionality plus instant media

player (including Spotify and any

other apps) which all seamlessly

play wirelessly without a physi-

cal connection. When I showed

it to my wife, she was deeply

unimpressed as her Audi has

done that for years. But to us

Alfa owners this level of connec-

tivity is a sight to behold.

Of course, the new Uconnect

system has a colour touch-

screen with built-in TomTom

satnav, DAB radio, CD, media

player and some generally

pointless “apps” which I imme-

diately got bored with. But con-

nect your phone over Bluetooth

to the new stereo and BOSE

system and you really do have a

brilliant system for longer

drives.

The DAB radio works really

well. If you’ve never had DAB

before, you may have heard

that it tends to cut out quite

Page 5: Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo - MiTo Register · 2019-06-11 · Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo If you are on our Facebook group (or attended

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Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo

the driver. But to be honest

this should have been standard

on the MiTo for years, as it has

been on most other new cars.

It does seem to demist quicker

than my QV, but that is proba-

bly just my imagination. Per-

haps it actually mists less…

Visibility pack

The visibility includes an

automatic setting for the lights

and wipers, with sensors in

front of the rear-view mirror to

determine the levels of light

and rain, the results of which

determine whether the MiTo

puts your headlights on or

wipes your windscreen. There

is also a light sensor for the

rear-view mirror so at night it

automatically dips to prevent

bright lights in your eyes.

The light sensors seem to

work well. It’s quite fun seeing

the lights coming on as you go

in a tunnel like most German

cars do. It’s certainly nice to

feel in the modern age. The

auto-wipers though? They are

pretty useless. I doubt if there

is any adjustment possible, but

I wish the sensitivity could be

modified slightly. In essence, a

few tiny drops and it gives a

quick wipe. No problem. But if

it then starts pouring down, the

wipers just sit there mockingly,

expecting you to see like magic.

When they finally do start wip-

ing you’ve already taken your

life into your own hands. So I

think it’s a nice idea and, ran-

domly, does work quite well.

But it needs to work 100% for

me to trust it, and it doesn’t. So

I don’t.

Inside

I have to say hats off to Alfa

Romeo for overall feeling in the

cabin. Of course, it’s a MiTo so

is not unfamiliar. But small

changes to the dash, the steer-

ing wheel, the armrests in the

doors (slightly more padding),

the centre armrest material, the

seat cloth materials and the

general level of quality of how

everything has been screwed

together does make me feel

that the level of quality control

has improved a lot, and the tiny

changes that any ordinary buyer

wouldn’t notice are certainly

noticeable to someone who

already has a MiTo. And cer-

tainly to someone to alternates

using two MiTos! The car feels

good quality, solid and sturdy

with robust materials, and as a

result feels like a different car,

even though of course I know

it’s basically the same car and

my old one is far from falling

apart – it is very solid.

The folding mirrors are stur-

dy, if somewhat manual in oper-

ation (my wife’s Audi automati-

cally folds the mirrors when you

switch off the ignition – the Mi-

To needs you to press a button

before taking your keys out).

Small but perceptible things

like the boot release being more

sturdy (a convincing clunk when

the lock releases) could just be

because it is new – I’m not

aware of any change in the boot

locking mechanism. But I can

see various tiny changes to the

use of certain screws and bolts

around the car and under the

bonnet. Nothing worth men-

tioning, and I doubt any make

much difference, but again it

looks like some extra thought

has gone into quality in the last

years of production.

Outside

Of course, the facelift front is

quite different when you com-

pare the two models. They have

been clever in ensuring the did-

n’t have to change any wing or

bonnet design, yet fundamental-

ly changed virtually every aspect

of the front bumper and grilles.

It’s grown on me a lot, and I’ve

come to really like the wider

from grille and different lines of

the front end.

The headlights are the new

carbon-fibre look lights that are

standard on the Speciale and

Veloce (optional as a “carbon

pack” in Europe). They are gen-

uinely beautiful, and work really

well with the dark grey (not

quite black) light surrounds and

wing mirrors. With white paint-

work, the black of the sunroof is

also a nice visual feature of the

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Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo

MiTo, though that was the case

on the old model too.

The new Veloce 18” five-

hole black alloys really are

things of beauty. They stand

out from the older-style MiTo

wheels and I really, really like

them. But as usual (there’s

always a catch) washing and

drying them is a nightmare, so

no improvement there!

The Veloce suspension large-

ly mirrors the old QV suspen-

sion with active damper activa-

tion when the DNA mode is set

to D. But I’m pretty sure the

new MiTo sits a fraction lower

than the pre-facelift. I can’t be

certain as my old MiTo is on

Eibach lowered springs, but I

don’t think the new one is

sitting horribly high (something

I did think of the old one before

I lowered it slightly).

The rear of the new Veloce

features a new diffuser design

which, whilst many people

think is a fantastic improve-

ment, I have to confess to just

thinking “meh”. It’s good and

has nice lines, but I fitted the

SBK diffuser to my QV and I

think those lines are just per-

fect. So I don’t dislike the new

one, but I don’t think it’s any-

thing particularly special. And

the exhaust looks the same as

my old one, so I look forward to

that rotting away prematurely…

Pre-facelift MiTo owners will

know there are certain aspects

of the MiTo which are infuri-

ating when you wash them.

Water collects around the rear

lights and at the base of the

grilles on the front bumper.

And don’t get me started on

wing-mirror water retention…

I’m happy to report that whilst

the rear lights retain all their

magical water retention powers,

the front lower grilles are much

improved! Though this annoy-

ance is replaced by the new 5-

hole alloys having a lovely de-

sign feature (or trough) around

the perimeter which collects the

water nicely.

The Engine and that TCT

Under the bonnet, things

look the same as they always

did, with some very minor chang-

es visible to the initiated MiTo

owner who has spent a bit of

time under the bonnet. But of

course, things are very different

lower down.

There is new design of air in-

take which is much lower and

delivers better gulps of air. And

although this new MiTo is un-

tuned and standard in every way,

it does feel fast. Very fast.

But the biggest difference is

of course the TCT or Twin Clutch

Transission, being the only op-

tion available on the MiTo Velo-

ce. As you might guess from the

name, the TCT features twin

clutches and was developed

over many years at an enor-

mous cost by a collaboration

between Fiat Powertrain Tech-

nologies, Magneti Marelli and

Borg Warner and is fitted in the

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Facelift MiTo vs Previous MiTo How a 2018 MiTo compares to a 2012 MiTo

Alfa Romeo 4C. So it should be

pretty good.

I have driven both a MiTo

and a 4C with the TCT, and I

confirm it is very good. As au-

tomatic ‘boxes go, it is pretty

impressive and generally,

though not always, it chooses

your gear selection well. The

automatic blipping of the

throttle on down-changes and

the relatively seamless up-

changes are all fantastic, partic-

ularly in Dynamic mode which

both my cars live in.

So in full automatic mode,

the car is both fun and quite

accurate, and you can still over-

ride the ‘box with the steering

paddles if you want to down-

shift suddenly to overtake,

though in truth (and full nerd-

test style) the TCT gearbox did

it for me when I depressed the

accelerator in lots of test com-

parisons.

However, flip the gearbox

into full manual mode and

drive it entirely on the paddles,

and now you really do have

fun. The gear changes are al-

most instant, though when

you’re changing near the red-

line you do get a far more pro-

nounced clunk of a change –

not a bad thing, but more no-

ticeable than normal fast driv-

ing. But for everyday spirited

driving, it does everything you

want it to do and more. It

changes gear faster than a man-

ual gear-change (though I know

some of you will still think

you’re the fastest gear-changer

in the west) and it does it very,

very well.

Gearing in first gear is still a

little too short for me, but that’s

the same in the manual and I

guess for the majority of owners

and driving conditions is about

right. I imagine not everyone is

pulling away and reaching for

second gear within seconds like

me. But that’s a small price to

pay for an otherwise wonderful

driving experience.

For long journeys, the TCT is

brilliantly relaxing. For fast B-

roads and twisty bits, the TCT is

just brilliant. I won’t go so far as

to say it is a better driving expe-

rience than a manual as I’ll sud-

denly have all the manual driv-

ers shouting at me. But I urge

you to try a TCT. It may surprise

you as it did me.

There are two things that

take some getting used to: the

stop/start and the slow manou-

vering. In the manual, the stop/

start is pretty straightforward.

In the TCT, braking at a standstill

of a junction results in an engine

stop, so not ideal if you can see

a space coming up for you pull

away. There is no adjustment

on the wait-time for the stop/

start which would be a good

setting for the TCT. And slow

speed manoeuvring takes some

getting used. I have a certain

way I slowly reverse up my

drive, but with an automatic you

need to be on the brakes a bit

more. As you brake, the revs

drop, and as you take your foot

off the brake the revs increase a

little. Not a problem, but if like

me you park up close to a wall

or gate you are convinced every

time the revs increase that

you’re going to hit something!

I’m getting used to it now but it

still catches me out sometimes

and my wife thinks I’ve become

one of those people that take

forever to park a car…

Summary

So I have a new MiTo and an

old MiTo. The old one was and

still is a brilliant car which I love

to drive. The torque and the

power are sublime, but so is the

car as a whole. I love it. But the

new MiTo, is it better? Well, it’s

newer, and who doesn’t love

the feel and the smell of a new

car? It has new features which I

love and, in all honesty, make

the car just that little bit easier

to live with. It looks different

and feels different, in a very,

very good way. And I adore the

look of it, the stance, the

facelift, the new wheels and of

course that wonderful TCT

which is a joy on the paddles.

I suppose I would have to say

that the new one is a little

better all round than the older

one to someone else who didn’t

labour on their old one to get it

right.

If I had had to sell my old one

to get the new one, I would be

absolutely delighted to own just

the new one.

But being lucky enough to

own both, they are both just

different. Both outstanding, and

both different.

And I don’t want to part with

either. Ever. Though I suspect

my wife will have something to

say about that. But I certainly

plan on keeping both these fan-

tastic Alfa Romeos for as long as

I can get away with it...