Alfa Romeo Mito Cloverleaf car review

The iconic Cloverleaf badge is back. No longer the preserve of just the £150,000 Alfa 8C supercar, the iconic badge which has been reserved for the sauciest Alfas since the 1930s has returned on its smallest model, the Mito.

And that will please the Alfista – Alfa’s hardcore band of followers – because it means for the first time there is a Mito hot hatch. Stuart Milne put the Alfa Romeo Mito Cloverleaf through its paces around Scotland.

Alfa Romeo Mito Cloverleaf gallery:

It may not be as instantly recognisable as BMW’s M badge or Audi’s RS moniker, but the Cloverleaf emblem is one of the most legendary in performance car history.

With Alfa currently celebrating its 100th anniversary, the time was right to resurrect it on an affordable sporty car.

And despite subtle differences in appearance between the Cloverleaf and the standard car (bespoke alloys, wing mirror covers and light surrounds and a white triangular badge with the green Cloverleaf logo), Alfa has worked hard to make it feel different.

It starts with the clever Multiair engine which is able to meter different amounts of air depending on the specific needs of the engine at the time. Alfa says this means improvement in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

But most importantly for the Cloverleaf, it means an improvement in performance.

The cooking Multiair-engined Mito kicks out 135bhp, which is adequate if not exceptional, but the Cloverleaf ups this to 170bhp.

Hot-hatch rivalling 170bhp

That means a 7.5 second 0-62mph time and a 136mph maximum – quick enough to provide a big grin.

Out on the road, the engine enjoys being revved, and needs to be to get the most out of it. Keep it on the boil and it’s a rapid machine with a pleasant gearchange (although some drivers will bemoan the lack of space to rest their left foot). The new six-speed manual gearbox is slick; far more so than the notchy ‘box in the standard Multiair.

Threading through pothole-scarred roads around Scotland at speed, it quickly became apparent the Mito Cloverleaf needs to be left in the ‘D’ mode of its DNA drive selector to get the best from it.

The dynamic mode markedly sharpens throttle response and eliminates the woolly feeling around the dead-ahead that is prevalent in normal mode. In either mode, the ride is hot hatch firm, and we found it crashed – rather than rode – over the worst of road surfaces.

It’s the only car in its class to offer active suspension as standard. Alfa says the race-bred technology uses sensors to constantly adjust the damping to control pitch and roll. In practice, we found it afforded excellent grip on the damp roads around Glasgow.

DNA offers a third mode - all weather - which softens the Mito’s responses for driving in slippery conditions.

Better steering feel

The steering is improved over the artificial feeling provided by the standard Alfa Mito, and in dynamic is nicely weighted on turn-in and responsive throughout the turn. By comparison, Normal is too light and too vague to make confident progress quickly.

The Alfa Mito Cloverleaf is fairly standard inside, with only a darkened headlining and bespoke steering wheel to indicate the car is something special in the range. A smattering of Cloverleaf graphics would have been a nice touch.

Elsewhere, the Cloverleaf is standard Mito fare, meaning a pretty cabin complete with Italian labeling for the gauges, a reasonable boot, comfortable seats and a five star EuroNCAP crash test rating. Less impressive is the interior space for front and rear occupants.

Reduced emissions

Running costs are good for a hot hatch. Despite its rapid performance, it emits 139g/km of CO2 – much less than 153g/km emitted by the previous 155bhp flagship Mito. And Alfa say 47.1mpg is possible too.

The sub-£18,000 asking price isn’t too outrageous either – this is a model from a manufacturer with pedigree, wearing an iconic badge.

Would we recommend you buy one? Some of its rivals offer more polished dynamics, others more space. But none has the same feeling of passion, style and emotion of the Mito Cloverleaf. It would be a leftfield choice then, but you would have a smile on your face every day.