Goodbye 156 SW 2.4JTDm Veloce

Well, it's been a great three years, but unfortunately it's time for the
Alfa to go. The expanding family means I have had to go for something
bigger (Passat Estate 2.0Tdi 170 dsg - which is huge, and drives really well
by the way).

The Alfa has been great: sylish, practical, reliable (yes, really),
scorching performance from the almost 400Nm of torque. It will be sorely
missed. I looked at the 159SW, but after seeing the size of the Passat
(and the loss of my closest Alfa dealer), I decided to go for the VW.

The only problem I had with the Alfa, was the damp passenger footwell
issue - quickly resolved under warranty by sorting the aircon pipe location.
The Veloce was a little too low, with the heavy 5 pot diesel, meaning it
bottoms out regularly at the hint of an uneven road surface - but the
undertray has remained solid.

Typically, I got around 44mpg (indicated), with over 50 on longer runs, and
down to around 35-38 when booting it.

If anyone is interested in the domain: my sportwagon dotco dot uk let me
know in the thread. Likewise if anyone is interested to know what the lease
company will want to purchase... (36k, Lipari Grey, Leather, Bose, Comfort
Pack, Cruise).

Bye, bye Alfa - will be back again at some point I expect..!