The door-to-door salesman might have been a bit slow on the uptake but he fairly knew his cars!

I made it clear that I wasn’t interested in what he had to offer. However, he was prepared to spend time at my door.

“That’s some car you’ve got there,” he ventured. Warming to the occasion, he was rewarded with a quick run down of the car. An Alfa Romeo 156 GTA, 3.2-litre, 24V V6 engine.

Dynamic stuff. Superbly shaped and moulded. Sexy as it stood there in its coat of bright red.

And with all those 250 horses just raring to be let loose. You can really hear every one of them when you let it rev up high.

Even to look at the speedo, which reads to 200mph, there’s that indication of power. But of course, the engine is electronically limited to much less. And anyway, where in Ireland is such a speed possible?

It can’t be driven to its full potential or you’d be knee deep in speeding tickets, or worse .... it’s a car that really belongs on a racing track.

It’s aimed at those who have lots of money to afford the road tax and insurance premium and the E53,725 required for this expensive toy, and its protection when you’re not behind the wheel.

It can fairly squeal rubber when put to the test. We let the acceleration rip along a safe road, reaching 0-60mph in just under 7 seconds. I’m sure it can even do better.

On the other hand, you CAN drive the 156 GTA in a more refined manner and you’ll get just as much pleasure from it this way. It steers and corners beautifully and the big low profile tyres it fairly sticks to the road. Suspension is firm but quite bearable, even over some of our pretty awful bog roads.

No matter where we took it, this shapely car turned heads.

The powerful look from the front is centred on that impressive nose. The central recessed triangular grille with the Alfa badge on top. Even the headlights style have a long, lean look. Two indent lines sweep down from the side mirrors, taking the eye to the Alfa badge.

As with other 156s, the front number plate is on the left hand side of the car, another distinctive that sets the model apart.

The GTA came with all the trimmings, including front air dam and side skirts, and low 5-ringed alloy wheels. Tinted glass, silver front door handles, same body coloured bumpers and side mirrors added to the look. Rear door handles are to be found in the black plastic surround to the rear side windows.

But a word of warning! That front dam is very vulnerable to getting a whack off the road, or from a ramp or pavement kerb, because it’s so low down.

To the rear, prominent twin exhaust pipes are evidence enough that this car means business.

Inside there’s lots of flocked black plastic, leather and metallising. The sides of the car sweep in at the corners to cocoon you in the cabin.

The dash has a busy look to it. Not a square inch is left uncovered. The aluminised central stack brightens up the dark interior. Sporty instruments are in two big recessed circles which protrude up over the dash. However, I had to lean a little to the right to see that all-important 50-70mph section of the speedometer as my left hand at the 10 o’clock position on the steering wheel blocked my view. For me, this is a problem with all 156s.

The seats are comfortable and supportive, coming in to hold you around the sides. But I’m not keen on those movable bits just under the thighs. The leather has a pleated finish along parts of the seats and the doors. The seat back is electrically adjusted but the other controls are manual. Seats come with integrated solid headrests, which makes it a bit difficult to over your shoulder at passing traffic, or just to catch a glimpse of your rear seat passengers.

There are only two headrests in the back which means you have a fairly good view of the road behind. Unless, that is, you are small in height and the ‘bump’ holding the high level brake light at the back obstructs your view.

I had to pushy my seat forward a lot to be able to reach the steel foot pedals in comfort, but this wasn’t a problem when changing gears (there are six) as there is no armrest between the front seats to catch an elbow. There is a big one in the back which when pulled down reveals a ski hatch to the boot.

Don’t expect much economy - even if you drive it with kid gloves on. You’ll only get about 20.6mpg for the combined cycle.

If you are a more sedate type of driver who just wants to make a statement by driving such a powerful car, you can opt to drive it in a more refined way. You won’t hear the throaty roar, but you know the horsepower is there, if needed.

And besides, as my door-to-door salesman confirmed, it simply looks great just sitting there.