159 Opening Thoughts

There were a couple of 159s in our local showroom today so I had a
look. A 1.9JTS and a 2.4JTDm. I thought they looked much better in the
metal than in the pictures I've seen.

It's not as photogenic as the 156 was. The front of the car is much
more 'in your face' than the 156 front. However, cleaning all the
detail bits round the lights and grills looks like a power wash or
toothbrush job (thanks a lot for that Geo!).

The standard 17 inch wheels (toothbrushes required again) didn't seem
to fit as snuggly in the wheel arches as I was expecting and the cars
both looked high off the ground especially at the back.

The door handles do feel nice but they are a bit ordinary really.
Where the 156 said 'I want to be different' this car is much more
about being similar. I suppose the exception is the front end but, to
be honest, the relative dullness of the rest of the car makes you gasp
when you walk round and get to the extrovert front. It just seems a
little unbalanced to me.

Inside, there was some odd positioning of switchgear - the fog light
switches have moved to where the fuse box cover is on the 156 but they
looked a bit out of the way on the underside slope of the dash. Other
than that, the inside will not seem unfamiliar to 156 owners. This
also includes a dire lack of space in the back if the front passengers
are tall. The front seats on one of the show cars were sufficiently
far back that I could not envisage someone actually getting their feet
and legs in the back foot wells.

As usual, there's a shortage of leather on the doors so anyone not
going for black leather will have little patches of coloured leather
on their doors.

Looking at the options list (something that's grown out of all
proportion since the 156), the external colours are disappointingly
dreary with little choice (Alfa Red and a light silver seemed the only
viable bright colours). Several options (like a sunroof) are not
available at launch.

So what's my gut feeling - I'm really under whelmed actually! I came
away thinking it was far too much like a face lifted 156 and not a new
car.

There's also some info now filtering out on the net hinting that Alfa
may be at it again with the hyperbole (no it wasn't the centre of
attention at a certain car show) and, yes, it appears that the
suspension settings on the 2.2JTS are too under damped for UK roads.
However, Alfa do learn SOME things and all the petrol engines now come
with the reassurance of chain driven cams! Yippee.

From the specs, the 2.4JTDm appears to be carrying a VERY similar
mechanical specification (brakes etc) to the 3.2JTS. The word on the
street is that the 2.4JTDm is the one to buy - the 3.2 is held back by
its weight (it now has 4WD ), the 2.2JTS by suspect suspension. The
1.9JTDm is also a contender.

The equivalent car to mine is now 10,000UKP more than mine was
so..er..I think I'll wait and let someone else get punched in the face
with the early years Alfa depreciation.

What a disappointment really...

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)

Zathras wrote:
> There were a couple of 159s in our local showroom today so I had a
> look. A 1.9JTS and a 2.4JTDm. I thought they looked much better in the
> metal than in the pictures I've seen.

I test drove a 1.9JTDm last week. Owning a 2.5 V6 156 it was the wrong
engine to impress me, I was hoping to try the 2.4JTDm. Without wishing
to upset 1.9JTD owners I find that engine a bit too ordinary even though
it performs well enough.

My lasting memories? The console is much more imposing - it still
contains the guages which I like but is much larger and even more angled
towards the driver, containing the fashionable large buttons. All
ergonomically good but lacks some of the style of the 156 IMHO. Gone are
the chrome air con controls on the face lifted 156 interior of 2002
which is a shame.

The stalks contain more controls and are rectangular rather than rounded
and the steering wheel contains a much larger boss.

Gone are the deep cowled instruments with much shallower affairs. The
dash is a more integral unit with speedo, rev counter and computer
display, I would have preferred a more distinctive style like the 156.

One of the most noticeable differences from the 156 are the huge
squarish door mirrors. The 156 mirrors were very stylish, these look
functional but not Alfa

Other than that I felt externally it looked pretty good with its wide
arches, though the rear lights looked a little too Japanese for my
tastes. Although larger it didn't have that bloated look of the latest 3
series BMW.

Driving it is certainly more supple than the Veloce 156, a TI pack will
follow with lowered stiffer suspension. My 156 felt more sporty at the
expense of a harsher ride. The 159 felt a better family car.

My overriding opinion was this was a car designed to take on the German
and Japanese models at some expense to the Alfisti. The dash
immediately in front of the driver is less distinctive than the
156/147/GT and is not dissimilar to the new Passat. The heater controls
could have come off a Mazda 6 and the rear lights are a hybrid between
the old 156 and an Accord. Fortunately the steering wheel control remain
fairly subtle compared with other makes.

The 159 is the first Alfa produced under new Chief Exec Karl-Heinz
Kalbfell, a former director at BMW. On the basis he said of Alfa "you
cant find financially-minded people in this company it's full of
engineers, who all want to launch new cars and dont want to deal with
the boring bits in between. Perhaps Alfa has a little too much spirit
for non-Alfisti, in its appearance, driving style and temperament."
maybe it is not surprising the 159 feels a little less Italian than its
predecessor?

Having said that the 2.4JTDm is one hell of a spec - 200bhp and 400nm
with the distinctive 5 cylinder engine sound. Plus the Q4 makes for an
interesting option (standard on the 3.2 petrol now and an option on the
2.4 diesel later in the year), the salesman raved about his drive of the
3.2 Q4 on the test track in Milan (Perry McCarthy - the original stig -
was there - he wrote off a Brera!).

My conclusion was similar to Zathras, no rush to trade in my 156, but
I'll reserve judgement until I drive the 2.4JTDm or 3.2 Q4

Cheers
Tony

Zathras wrote:

> Inside, there was some odd positioning of switchgear -

I agree. Did you clock the remote boot release?: It is a tiny switch in
a bank of switches above the rear view mirror - most of them controlling
the interior lighting. I can see it now: fumbling in the dark to turn on
the interior lights only to hear boot ping open and a trip to the rear
to close the thing.... again and again.
>
> What a disappointment really...

Yes and No.

Yes - front apart it is externally far too ordinary: the *******
offspring of a marriage between a 156 and a generic Beemer. But we
forget in complaining just how extraordinarily beautiful and
aesthetically balanced the 156 was... and is. Only familiarity has
dulled our appreciation. It was always unlikely that Alfa could out-156
the aesthetics with the replacement.

No - tremendous seats. I have never found it so easy to become quickly
comfortable in a drivers seat. The promise of a better ride (not had the
test drive yet). Boring stuff: a usefully large boot. Feels very solid.
5-star NACAP crash results. All very good day to day stuff, but adding
to the sense of something German lurking in the genes....

Like Tony, nothing to make me rush to dropping the 156. Not sure the
greater utility and comfort will ever be enough to outweight the joy I
still feel everytime I see my nuvola 156. People still look and comment
on it even after over five years and three quarters of a million 156s on
Europe's roads. I don't think a 159 would turn heads in the same way in
any colour: and, yes, where is the iridiescent option???

OTOH, no more 36K cambelt swaps, no more disintegrating
wishbones/bushes, a ride that leaves my fillings in place over the
broken stuff (? - so I'm told)...... like I said, Yes and No. But take
away the flaws in a car and generally for some reason the character
seeps away with the gremlins...

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 21:33:18 GMT, Zathras
> wrote:

>There were a couple of 159s in our local showroom today so I had a
>look. A 1.9JTS and a 2.4JTDm. I thought they looked much better in the
>metal than in the pictures I've seen.

Agreed.

>The door handles do feel nice but they are a bit ordinary really.
>Where the 156 said 'I want to be different' this car is much more
>about being similar. I suppose the exception is the front end but, to
>be honest, the relative dullness of the rest of the car makes you gasp
>when you walk round and get to the extrovert front. It just seems a
>little unbalanced to me.

Question of taste of course. I think it looks very good, though I agree
the back doesn't quite match up to the front.

>Looking at the options list (something that's grown out of all
>proportion since the 156), the external colours are disappointingly
>dreary with little choice (Alfa Red and a light silver seemed the only
>viable bright colours).

I really agree with you on this one. The entire car-owning world (well,
at least on the evidence of the roads in the Netherlands) seems to be
competing to be as boring as possible as far as colours are concerned.
Most large and medium cars, and quite a lot of small ones, seem to be in
one of the colours Pale Fog Grey, Dark Mud Grey, Boring Blackish-Blue or
Hearse Black. And now even Alfa seems to be going the same way. Quite
bizarre.

Still - at least it's getting easier and easier to find my car in a
large car-park.

--
Stephen Poley

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 06:50:06 +0000, Barry Bingham
> wrote:

>Zathras wrote:
>
>> Inside, there was some odd positioning of switchgear -
>
>I agree. Did you clock the remote boot release?

Missed that one!

>: It is a tiny switch in
>a bank of switches above the rear view mirror - most of them controlling
>the interior lighting. I can see it now: fumbling in the dark to turn on
>the interior lights only to hear boot ping open and a trip to the rear
>to close the thing.... again and again.

FFS!

>>
>> What a disappointment really...
>
>Yes and No.
>
>Yes - front apart it is externally far too ordinary: the *******
>offspring of a marriage between a 156 and a generic Beemer. But we
>forget in complaining just how extraordinarily beautiful and
>aesthetically balanced the 156 was... and is.

I don't.

> Only familiarity has dulled our appreciation.

Perhaps. But then you park next to some other new pose-mobile and you
see it still holds its own.

>It was always unlikely that Alfa could out-156
>the aesthetics with the replacement.

I always said that from the moment I got my 156. I wonder if
Pininfarina might have made a better job. For me Guigaro blows too hot
and cold. And STILL you get the tacky boast sticker on the front
wing!!!

>No - tremendous seats. I have never found it so easy to become quickly
>comfortable in a drivers seat. The promise

Don't lose sight of reality - these are *ALFA promises*!

>of a better ride (not had the test drive yet).

That'll be interesting if you get the 'dodgy' 2.2JTS to try.

>Boring stuff: a usefully large boot. Feels very solid.
>5-star NACAP crash results. All very good day to day stuff, but adding
>to the sense of something German lurking in the genes....
>
>Like Tony, nothing to make me rush to dropping the 156. Not sure the
>greater utility and comfort will ever be enough to outweight the joy I
>still feel everytime I see my nuvola 156. People still look and comment
>on it even after over five years and three quarters of a million 156s on
>Europe's roads. I don't think a 159 would turn heads in the same way in
>any colour: and, yes, where is the iridiescent option???
>
>OTOH, no more 36K cambelt swaps, no more disintegrating
>wishbones/bushes, a ride that leaves my fillings in place over the
>broken stuff (? - so I'm told)...... like I said, Yes and No. But take
>away the flaws in a car and generally for some reason the character
>seeps away with the gremlins...

er..ask anyone with a petrol cambelt failure if they'd rather have the
'character'. 'Cr@p' and 'character' shouldn't be mistaken, but often
are, for the same thing. As for the bushes..we shall see....

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)