The remarkable new MultiAir technology means that not only is the new Alfa Romeo faster than other versions of the chic Mito, it also is significantly more economical across the different tests and produces considerably less carbon dioxide. The advances made in this new engine are so great that it has been voted by the world’s leading technical engineering journalists as the best new engine of 2010. In short, the Alfa Romeo Mito Quadrifoglio combines hot hatch performance with economy car fuel consumption and emissions.

“If MultiAir was the only technical innovation in the new Mito, it would make it one of the most significant technical advances to arrive in Australia this year,” says Andrei Zaitzev, General Manager for Alfa Romeo in Australia. “But the Mito Quadrifoglio also debuts dynamic adaptive suspension, bringing technology normally associated with cars that measure their prices in fractions of a million dollars into a new market sector for affordable cars, and debuts the latest Stop&Start engine technology.”

Dynamic adaptive suspension enables all four shock absorbers to change their rate of damping to adapt to changing road and driving conditions and controlling both body roll and lateral movement of the body. Working with the DNA system already seen on the Mito, the driver can choose Dynamic, Normal or All-weather settings for the suspension and drivetrain, optimising safety, comfort and driver enjoyment in all conditions.

Like two existing versions of the Mito, the new Mito Quadrifoglio provides all the style, luxury and features of its larger brothers, but in a new compact size. As befits a car that carries the legendary Alfa Romeo badge, the Mito has styling that is second to none, carrying themes from the Alfa Romeo 8C supercar and ensuring that the Mito, despite its size, will never be confused with a small economy car.

The Mito Quadrifoglio is powered by the latest version of Alfa Romeo’s family of ‘Fire’ 1.4 litre engines that have set new standards for performance, economy and emissions. The Holy Grail for any engineering endeavour is to have your cake and eat it - to unify seemingly incompatible goals. For the Fiat Group's engine designers, FPT, the quest has been clear cut: how to deliver high performance and driveablity while, at the same time, significantly reducing emissions and fuel consumption.

The key to achieving this is well understood. It requires taking more precise control of the quantity and characteristics of the air drawn into the cylinders in the combustion cycle. There are numerous electro-mechanical variable valve timing systems in production today that seek to achieve this. But because they usually have only two operating regimes, they are severely limited by the degree of flexibility they can exercise in the valve opening schedules.

MultiAir eliminates these compromises by metering the direct air charge at the cylinder inlet ports with an advanced electro-hydraulic actuation and control system that has no fewer than five basic parameters, and the ability to optimally adjust valve timing and lift between them to exactly suit different engine speeds and loads, ensuring strong low- and mid-range torque and vigorous top-end power, combined with good economy and low emissions.

The MiTo's Start&Stop technology makes its debut combined with MultiAir engines for the first time on an Alfa Romeo. The system turns off the engine whenever the vehicle is stationary and idling in neutral, then restarts it automatically when the clutch is depressed. Start&Stop can be deactivated at will by the driver but, when active, achieves notable reductions in fuel consumption, emissions and noise pollution. The culmination of this technology is that the Mito Quadrifoglio delivers hot hatch performance , with a zero to 100 km/h time of 7.5 seconds and a 219 km/h top speed. Yet, at the same time, on the open road it consumes just 4.8 litres per 100 km and offers a combined fuel figure of just 6.0 litres per 100 km. Emmissions are a high creditable 139 g/km. Drivers car further adjust performance to driving conditions, with a choice of two torque peaks, 230 Nm in normal mode or, by selecting Sport mode, 250 Nm. All of this comes from alight, compact 1.4 litre engine which delivers the driving experience of a 2.0 litre engine.