Alfa Romeo is all about drama. Movement, sound effects, a dedicated language for its performers, and a themal visuality which is an unmistakable identifier to the audience.

In recent years, while the 156 and newer 147 have led the brand upwards in its market, the 'sexy' themes have been carried by the more exotic GTV and its top-down stablemate the Spider. The latter a name symbolic with the brand since as long back as The Graduate, where it upstaged a callow young actor named Dustin Hoffman.

The latest iterations of both cars are upgrades rather than totally new vehicles, because, Alfa say, there was 'no need' to change the current styling drastically.

But they enhanced aspects of the drama, in the same way that a skilled troupe will tweak a show each night to get a little more out of it, or to handle better the audience and stage conditions.

And the first change one sees is the nose, where the much more impactive trade-mark 'shield' grille introduced in the 147 has been provided. The car also now has the offset number-plate of the 156, which arguably did more to make an oncoming 156 stand out than any other feature of the car.

Beyond those, the distinctive steep wedging of the side-metal retains the strong identity of both vehicles.

Inside, for this writer there has been a major improvement: I can actually fit in the GTV. The outgoing model didn't cater for anyone over 6', and I avoided looking for annual review drives since my first experience. Now, by lowering the driving position, they've given me that extra couple of inches that make all the difference.

The standard of trim is very high, with the door panels infilled in what they call Alfatex - a fabric with suede-like properties very similar to the Alcantra which used to be featured on Lancias.

Dashboard design on current Alfas also follow a theme - deep hooded instruments and a strong centre stack, that last now sheathed in metallised trim which well relieves the overall blackness of some interior choices.

(For those who don't like unrelieved gloom, there's a rich light brown leather, an essential for those opting for the Spider, because otherwise driving with the roof up can be in a depressing environment.)

The GTV is a 2+2, the rear seats coyly described by the makers as being 'on a smaller scale' than the front pair. They're not really usable. In the Spider, that back space is reserved for storage.

My time with the new car was short, and limited for a couple of score kilometres around the Pininfarina headquarters in Cambiano, outside Turin. But there are some rolling hilly roads around there which gave a couple of opportunities to let it rip.

They've softened the suspension, not to a degree where it is no longer sporty, but more to provide the kind of ride comfort that somebody spending this kind of money deserves. It's good.

They've got a multilink rear suspension setup which does different things to the steering performance of the car at different stages of a bend at high speed (you'd be as bored as I was with the actual technicalities) and my initial impression is positive.

Under the bonnet are a choice of engines - the one I drove was a version of Alfa's fairly recent JTS 2-litre direct injection petrol unit, which delivers more power (165bhp) than the company's traditional Twin Spark engines, yet runs leanly at times when emissions can be troublesome.

The other is the 3.2-litre V6 which outputs 240bhp and with which some of us are familiar in the GTA version of the 156 (and soon in the 147). A colleague waxed enthusiastically about it. Me, I think the 2-litre is as much as we need in our driving environment, and it is even a pity that a 1.8-litre version which had been available in some markets is not planned for this upgraded model.

The audial end of the Alfa drama is well catered for in the latest car, with that traditional metallic 'song' right on the note when you apply a little enthusiasm to the right pedal. As I've said before, it is addictive, and could easily put you in the points if you don't watch it.

But early on a Sunday morning, on an empty straight road ...

Meantime, back at the reality ranch, there were no prices for the new version - due in June - at the time of going to press. But Alfa's local people here are hopeful that there won't be much change over the current car.

Buy one, and you'll be in the 40-people-a-year bracket, 50-50 likely to be a man or a woman, and among aficionados from all age brackets.

They're good odds for individuality, in a high-powered drama, as they say.