Another Alfa tease? Italian automaker keeps promising a return to the U.S., but don’t count on this Mini fighter to lead the way.

It was thought that the car you see here—Alfa Romeo’s MiTo, named for the location of its design, Milan, and its place of build, Turin, and pronounced ME-toe—would lead the dandy Italian automaker’s return to the United States market, possibly in 2010.

But details of this much-advertised return are still sketchy at best, and it’s our bet that the MiTo, which is aimed directly at BMW’s Mini, won’t make it here, mostly because it lacks the federally mandated OBD II diagnostics that have been required in the States since 1996.

Alfa is looking into the costs of retrofitting the MiTo to satisfy OBD II regs, but that involves huge bucks, possibly enough to be a deal breaker. Alfa says this version of the MiTo will be the last vehicle it will build that will not be eligible for worldwide sale.

Power for the roughly 2600-pound car comes from a pair of four-cylinder engines—either a gas-powered, turbocharged 1.4-liter making 153 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque or a 1.6-liter turbo-diesel making 118 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed manual gearbox drives the front wheels.

We sampled only the gasoline engine on a recent run through northern Italy. The engine feels strong from low rpm, with hardly a whiff of turbo lag. Shifts are smooth despite a slightly rubbery feel in the shifter. Alfa says the turbocharged gas car will zip to 60 mph in eight seconds flat, though it felt much livelier than that—think 7.3 seconds. Those numbers aren’t as quick as a Mini Cooper S, but Alfa has plans for adding more power. About a year after the MiTo goes on sale this month, another trim level, dubbed GTA, will debut. The GTA will have 230 horsepower on tap by way of a 1.7-liter turbo four equipped with variable intake-valve lift and a twin-clutch automated manual transmission.

The MiTo lacks an independent rear suspension. Designers fitted it with a compact torsion-beam setup to create a back seat large enough for adults—something the Mini cannot claim to offer. The MiTo also has a softer ride than the Mini, but the combination of ride compliance and a less sophisticated rear suspension means the MiTo does not match the crisp and go-kart-like handling of the Mini.

Alfa Romeo has a long history of designing some of the best-looking cars ever made, and the MiTo carries on this tradition, borrowing styling elements such as the head- and taillights from the company’s halo supercar, the 8C Competizione.

The interior is better than you would expect from a car of this size, or a car costing less than the Mini Cooper. Minis are roughly $30,000 in Italy; the MiTo starts about $1500 below that. The bucket seats in front have ample bolsters to keep the driver well-planted while ascending mountain switchbacks. The little details, such as embroidered Alfa Romeo insignias on the front seats, give the impression that you are driving a car in which no expense has been spared. The optional carbon-fiber-look dash may be hard to the touch, but it is easy on the eyes.

Hopefully Alfa will get its plan in order so American buyers can decide for themselves if an almost affordable Italian car with all the panache of the six-figure Italians is right for them. But remember: Mito is also the Italian word for myth.