Mito (Type 955) 2008 - Current

There are a number of give-aways as to whether an early 58-reg MiTo was one of the original 20 or so cars registered before the official UK release of the MiTo in January 2009.

They typically are either Alfa Red or Giulietta Red, many have black leather and all have Veloce specification with dual-zone climate control.

Other than those features, the only sure-fire way of knowing if it is an Alfa press car is checking the first owner and the first pre-delivery inspection in the service book.  Press cars were all owned by Alfa Romeo UK as the first owner, and they all had the PDI and potentially a first service at the Alfa Press Garage in Maidenhead.

RE58 CPX was one of those early press cars, and it was used throughout 2009 by Alfa Romeo Press including appearing at Goodwood.

The car was spotted on eBay as a relatively plain advert for 155TB MiTo that had been used for over 100,000 miles and spent most of it's life in Norfolk, having been acquired from Alfa Romeo in 2010.

The car had been used as an everyday driver and the owner had no idea of the press car origins, but she had taken reasonable care of the car through her ownership, and the listing on eBay looked like the car was in good order.

But like so many cars, something that looks shiny in pictures and something described as “really nice condition” can often be a little disappointing in real life.

My brother, David, who runs the Mito Register, was delighted when he collected it as it drove like a dream. But the bonnet had had years of dodgy touch-ups, there was a nasty dent on the rear quarter, the Alfa badges were faded beyond recognition and the brake calipers were in a terrible shape.

A low bid secured the car with a plan to restore the car back to life, though the plan was more of a resto-mod rather than completely original.

Over the coming weeks, the MiTo was to receive many hours of labour. Anyone with an Alfa Red car will know that matching the paint after a decade is almost impossible, and once you start identifying the areas that need some paintwork you realise that virtually every panel needs something.

So my brother bought a number of new parts from the AROC Parts Service including new front grilles, a new rear diffuser, new rear tailgate release badge and a variety of little bits and bobs including new number plates and new discs and pads all round which I fitted without drama.

With virtually a complete respray in Alfa Red, he decided to go slightly unoriginal with Titanium light surrounds and mirror covers to bring the car a little up to date.

With no obvious evidence of a cambelt change, the car had a full service with fresh cambelt and waterpump and it continues to drive like a dream.

Some additional non-original changes were made, including fitting a later model steering wheel, QV wheels and new tyres and a QV gear knob, and brand new 305mm Brembo front calipers were fitted as the old ones were so badly corroded.

Whilst my brother was at our local Alfa specialist (Autolusso Bournemouth) he spotted an almost new Pioneer SPH-DA120 that they had just removed from a 159. A quick cash deal later (and having ordered a new fascia and the right leads off the internet) that was fitted so the car had full Apple Carplay.

Once all the work was complete, the MiTo was ready to again be in daily use.

It was mechanically strong, the bodywork looked good and it was lightly modified using parts that were available on later MiTos - no non-OEM changes were made as such.

I bought the car from my brother in early 2022

Issues since then have been the dual-zone air conditioning which proved unreliable until we finally resolved the wiring issues, an electric window needing new wiring in the door to work again, air con re-gas and typical issues such as new top-mounts, new anti-roll bar links and rear brake calipers seizing which, to be fair, were not part of the restoration.

Continued regular servicing and late last year a brake fluid change and four new Pirelli tyres and alignment.

MOT early 2024 included new rear wheel bearings.

The car runs extremely well for a car with c.118,000 miles and it will hopefully live on for years to come.

The car is regularly taken to AROC and Auto Italia events, and whilst it is a daily driver it still cleans up well.

It is not the most pristine MiTo, but it spent a year or so as a press car then covered another 80,000 miles in Norfolk before being restored.

The car has travelled around the UK to events and always attend the MiTo Register track days at Curborough.  You can usually see it on the track at Bicester at National Alfa Day too.