[8] The review continued to say the Trevi was "a conventional three-box saloon...it is a Beta under its skin but most of the body panels and the interior are completely new."

[9] "The residents of Staid Lane" wrote Tumminelli, "preferred conformity...as a courtesy to Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl, the old-fashioned saloon, standard bearer of the bourgeoisie, must be reanimated".

The Trevi Volumex was the last version of the car, introduced in 1982 at the Turin motor show [12] and designed to improve performance without affecting fuel economy.

Fitted with a twin scroll Roots-type supercharger (and carburettors, rather than the expected fuel injection), this increased output to 135 CV (99 kW).

[13] This development meant the Trevi was the first car fitted with a mechanically driven supercharger in nearly five decades if not considering the 131 Volumetrico since it was a limited production run.

[4] This car allowed Pirelli to carry out tire testing for the upcoming street version of the Lancia Delta S4.

Contemporary automotive journals described the dashboard as ugly,[3] gimmicky and overstyled,[21] resembling Swiss cheese,[22][23] or having the appearance of something from the US television drama Star Trek.

The front cover featured the Bellini-styled interior under the headline "Cutting a new dash...Lancia's Trevi tested."

The article opened with an explanation that the Trevi was designed as a means to restore confidence lost during the Lancia Beta rust debacle where sales fell from 11,000 a year in 1977 to 7,000 in 1980.

Autocar viewed the Lancia Trevi 2000 as competing with the following cars: the Alfa Romeo Alfetta 2.0, the Citroën CX Athena, the Fiat Mirafiori Sport, the Renault 20 TX and the Saab 900 GLS saloon.

Referring to the Volumex model Autocar magazine reported that despite the fitting of a Roots-style positive displacement supercharger "fuel economy is not penalised; an overall consumption of around 28 mpg has been quoted by Lancia".

[28] The view of the UK's Car magazine in November 1981 was that the Trevi's main strength was handling with strong grip and "truly excellent balance that pleases and rewards a keen driver".

CAR's opinion was favourable concerning the performance which it described as being due to the evenly-spread close ratios[32] which had "a fairly low first and a top which allows the engine to go past peak power at maximum speed."

Also relative to the test cars, the Lancia had a gearchange "as slick as silk with well-judged spring loading into the third/fourth plane, and appeared to need no more than a quick dip of the clutch to snatch changes".

The driver's seat received commendation for its general comfort, being softer than the Saab and allowing more freedom to change position than the Citroën CX.

Due to the chassis layout, steering characteristics and the choice of tyre, CAR's view was that the handling was very consistent with high levels of grip and a readiness to hold the required line of driving during cornering.

"Beneath the Trevi's conventional slab-fronted bonnet sits an extrovert twin-cam motor that's coupled to a close ratio five-speed gearbox... Mastering our car's fiery Latin temperament was a test of our tester's patience.

It started out well enough on the auto choke, but the engine stuttered and spluttered along until the coolant's temperature needle was well into its normal running zone.

Each time the throttle was re-applied the engine's power disappeared like a rocket into a black hole - only to reappear just as suddenly to blast the Trevi away.

The engine's response is usually crisp and clean, the exceptions being the mild fuel starvation when the Trevi is cornered enthusiastically and minor plug fouling after prolonged low-speed crawling.

The caveat was that "as usual though there is little feedback from the front tyres as the nose of the car nudges wide of the line on fast corners".

It's a low profile tyre that gives a very high standard of grip in all weathers, and contributes to the well-balanced 'feel' of the car during rapid cornering."

[22] The dashboard, designed by Italian architect Mario Bellini, was derogatorily compared to Gruyère cheese and "drew not one word of praise during our fortnight's testing."

The overall summary of the author was that the Trevi was a "dynamic machine that makes fast driving on secondary roads a pleasure."

The Trevi "fails to arouse enthusiasm the way a good Italian car should, and its ungainly rear end and cramped accommodation were further drawbacks.

While other manufacturers were pursuing turbocharging as a means to boost power, Lancia used mechanical forced induction, in order to give the impression of driving a larger engined car rather than a tuned one.

[36] The result was a car that "doesn´t feel quick...in short the Lancia's straight line performance has plenty of soul but little sparkle".

[25] Apart from the changes in performance, Motor reported that the car exhibited "the usual Trevi traits, good, bad and indifferent.

Other performance figures were very little improved over or even worse than those of a 2000IE tested earlier, in part due to longer gearing (which still failed to provide a higher top speed).

At this time the entire Lancia range was relegated to the category of "Adequate" in CAR Magazine's listings section.