All quiet on the 159 front?

Been following this group for a couple of weeks, expecting to see quite
a bit of comment on the new 159, but haven't seen any. Is it perhaps not
yet in the showrooms in any English-speaking countries?

--
Stephen Poley

Stephen Poley > wrote:

> Been following this group for a couple of weeks, expecting to see quite
> a bit of comment on the new 159, but haven't seen any. Is it perhaps not
> yet in the showrooms in any English-speaking countries?

My local dealer reckoned it was due in February and was talking of silly
cheap contract hire rates on a 156.
--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Fiat Marea 20v HLX - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

In Holland the dealers have one demo car each.
Orders for the 2.2 pertrol and 1.9 diesel engine are accepted, but delivery
???????
Other engines cannot be ordered yet!!
But they do have very special 156 offers and the 159 SW will not be on the
market for at least 6 months.
In Holland the SW made over 60% of the 156 business!!
I'm sorry for all those dealers having to loose the mid-class sedan new car
business for so long.
How long can they afford remaining a loyal Alfa dealer????
--
Ciao from The Netherlands
alfistagj (aka Gert-Jan)
GT 2.0 JTS (2005)
Montreal 2.6V8 (1428700 - 1973/4)

"Stephen Poley" > schreef in bericht
...
> Been following this group for a couple of weeks, expecting to see quite
> a bit of comment on the new 159, but haven't seen any. Is it perhaps not
> yet in the showrooms in any English-speaking countries?
>
> --
> Stephen Poley

On Sat, 3 Dec 2005 23:44:58 +0100, "alfistagj"
> wrote:

>In Holland the dealers have one demo car each.
>Orders for the 2.2 pertrol and 1.9 diesel engine are accepted, but delivery
>???????
>Other engines cannot be ordered yet!!

They're accepting orders for the 1.9 petrol, and my dealer quoted three
months delivery to me. If they're not available in the UK yet, that
explains the silence here though.

>But they do have very special 156 offers and the 159 SW will not be on the
>market for at least 6 months.
>In Holland the SW made over 60% of the 156 business!!

Really? I wouldn't have guessed that from the number I see on the road.
The 156 stationwagon always struck me as a rather pointless car - the
boot space is tiny for a SW.

>I'm sorry for all those dealers having to loose the mid-class sedan new car
>business for so long.
>How long can they afford remaining a loyal Alfa dealer????


Anyway, I did a test-drive of the 159 yesterday. I've driven 146's for
nine years. Never went to the 156 because (a) my 146 was running so well
and (b) I have a family and the 156 boot is smaller than the 146. The
146 is a great family car, and it's a shame it never got a successor.
(The 147 is claimed by salesmen to be a successor, but the boot is far
too small for a family car.)

When I saw the 159 pricelist however I more or less decided it'd have to
be a Mondeo this time around. (I was happy with the Escorts I had before
the 146's, the Mondeo seems to be considered the best handler in its
class, and my local Ford garage is a good one.) The 159 is 3000 Euro
over what I was planning to spend. But I wasn't going to pass up the
chance of a drive.

First impression behind the wheel is the 159 is *much* bigger than the
146. Well, it is quite a lot bigger outside of course, though the inside
space is only a fraction more. But it's much quieter, and soaks up the
bumps very well.

However it feels much smaller going round corners. I put it through one
sharp corner at a speed that would produce lots of tyre squeal and
understeer in most cars, lots of passenger squeal in my 146 - but it
just went around completely flat and fuss-free. All I got was a squeak
of surprise from my wife when she discovered she didn't need to grab
hold of the armrest after all! I was impressed.

I drove the Mondeo afterwards. All the reviews say how good the Mondeo
handling is, but it felt awfully spongey after the Alfa. OTOH my 146
felt awfully spongey after an afternoon karting. Probably I should have
driven the Mondeo first.

The Alfa seats feel better as well; rather to my surprise my wife came
down firmly on the side of the Alfa for comfort. But the Mondeo has a
lot more interior space and the hatchback is of course more practical.

The Alfa dealer gave me a good offer on my 146, but to my surprise the
Ford dealer gave me an even better offer, making the price difference
between the two almost 5000 Euro. You can do a lot for 5000 Euro. The
Alfa pricing seems rather cynical in places. For example the only colour
you can get at the list prices is black. Every other colour costs more.

It's going to be a tough decision ...


--
Stephen Poley
Barendrecht, Holland

In the end:
The 159 is not comparable to the Mondeo at all.
It's more modern, better engines, better looking inside and out, nicer
internal materials, more options standard, quiter in and out, and, and, and,
and......
It's a class of it's own, in handling (not always in performance though)
still out-performing Audi & BMW and in price still (much) lower.
But indeed, for 5000 euro you can do a lot of nice things, on the other hand
over 5 years that's less than 20 euro a week, so ....
And a part of the price difference will be "owned" by the guy who buys your
car in 5 (?) years, so your part willl only be 10-15 euro a week.....
Need more figures to convince your wife?????????????????
--
Ciao from The Netherlands
alfistagj (aka Gert-Jan)
GT 2.0 JTS (2005)
Montreal 2.6V8 (1428700 - 1973/4)


"Stephen Poley" > schreef in bericht
...
> On Sat, 3 Dec 2005 23:44:58 +0100, "alfistagj"
> > wrote:
>
>>In Holland the dealers have one demo car each.
>>Orders for the 2.2 pertrol and 1.9 diesel engine are accepted, but
>>delivery
>>???????
>>Other engines cannot be ordered yet!!
>
> They're accepting orders for the 1.9 petrol, and my dealer quoted three
> months delivery to me. If they're not available in the UK yet, that
> explains the silence here though.
>
>>But they do have very special 156 offers and the 159 SW will not be on the
>>market for at least 6 months.
>>In Holland the SW made over 60% of the 156 business!!
>
> Really? I wouldn't have guessed that from the number I see on the road.
> The 156 stationwagon always struck me as a rather pointless car - the
> boot space is tiny for a SW.
>
>>I'm sorry for all those dealers having to loose the mid-class sedan new
>>car
>>business for so long.
>>How long can they afford remaining a loyal Alfa dealer????
>
>
> Anyway, I did a test-drive of the 159 yesterday. I've driven 146's for
> nine years. Never went to the 156 because (a) my 146 was running so well
> and (b) I have a family and the 156 boot is smaller than the 146. The
> 146 is a great family car, and it's a shame it never got a successor.
> (The 147 is claimed by salesmen to be a successor, but the boot is far
> too small for a family car.)
>
> When I saw the 159 pricelist however I more or less decided it'd have to
> be a Mondeo this time around. (I was happy with the Escorts I had before
> the 146's, the Mondeo seems to be considered the best handler in its
> class, and my local Ford garage is a good one.) The 159 is 3000 Euro
> over what I was planning to spend. But I wasn't going to pass up the
> chance of a drive.
>
> First impression behind the wheel is the 159 is *much* bigger than the
> 146. Well, it is quite a lot bigger outside of course, though the inside
> space is only a fraction more. But it's much quieter, and soaks up the
> bumps very well.
>
> However it feels much smaller going round corners. I put it through one
> sharp corner at a speed that would produce lots of tyre squeal and
> understeer in most cars, lots of passenger squeal in my 146 - but it
> just went around completely flat and fuss-free. All I got was a squeak
> of surprise from my wife when she discovered she didn't need to grab
> hold of the armrest after all! I was impressed.
>
> I drove the Mondeo afterwards. All the reviews say how good the Mondeo
> handling is, but it felt awfully spongey after the Alfa. OTOH my 146
> felt awfully spongey after an afternoon karting. Probably I should have
> driven the Mondeo first.
>
> The Alfa seats feel better as well; rather to my surprise my wife came
> down firmly on the side of the Alfa for comfort. But the Mondeo has a
> lot more interior space and the hatchback is of course more practical.
>
> The Alfa dealer gave me a good offer on my 146, but to my surprise the
> Ford dealer gave me an even better offer, making the price difference
> between the two almost 5000 Euro. You can do a lot for 5000 Euro. The
> Alfa pricing seems rather cynical in places. For example the only colour
> you can get at the list prices is black. Every other colour costs more.
>
> It's going to be a tough decision ...
>
>
> --
> Stephen Poley
> Barendrecht, Holland

"alfistagj" wrote:

> Orders for the 2.2 pertrol and 1.9 diesel engine are accepted, but
> delivery ???????

A colleague took delivery of his brandnew 159 last friday (Belgium).

However, I must admit it's the first 159 I've seen "in the wild"...

Steven

- - -

UK salesmen are away in italy right now on the 159 and the new product
technical training starts this week too so they are about already.



"Steven Spits" > wrote in message
et.net...
>
> "alfistagj" wrote:
>
>> Orders for the 2.2 pertrol and 1.9 diesel engine are accepted, but
>> delivery ???????
>
> A colleague took delivery of his brandnew 159 last friday (Belgium).
>
> However, I must admit it's the first 159 I've seen "in the wild"...
>
> Steven
>
> - - -
>
>

On Sun, 4 Dec 2005 11:19:25 +0100, "alfistagj"
> wrote:

>"Stephen Poley" > schreef in bericht
.. .

>> The Alfa seats feel better as well; rather to my surprise my wife came
>> down firmly on the side of the Alfa for comfort. But the Mondeo has a
>> lot more interior space and the hatchback is of course more practical.
>>
>> The Alfa dealer gave me a good offer on my 146, but to my surprise the
>> Ford dealer gave me an even better offer, making the price difference
>> between the two almost 5000 Euro. You can do a lot for 5000 Euro. The
>> Alfa pricing seems rather cynical in places. For example the only colour
>> you can get at the list prices is black. Every other colour costs more.
>>
>> It's going to be a tough decision ...

>In the end:
>The 159 is not comparable to the Mondeo at all.
>It's more modern, better engines, better looking inside and out, nicer
>internal materials, more options standard, quiter in and out, and, and, and,
>and......
>It's a class of it's own, in handling (not always in performance though)
>still out-performing Audi & BMW and in price still (much) lower.


Well, I did it. I´ve ordered the 159. I´ll report back around the
beginning of March ...

--
Stephen Poley

On Fri, 09 Dec 2005 20:14:01 +0100, Stephen Poley
>, wrote:

>Well, I did it. I´ve ordered the 159. I´ll report back around the
>beginning of March ...

Well done. We look forward too hearing your report.
Then in April your review? :-)

Pete
--
>
156 2.0 TS (2001) - Proteo Rosso

Congreg!!
--
Ciao from The Netherlands
alfistagj (aka Gert-Jan)
GT 2.0 JTS (2005)
Montreal 2.6V8 (1428700 - 1973/4)

"Stephen Poley" > schreef in bericht
...
> On Sun, 4 Dec 2005 11:19:25 +0100, "alfistagj"
> > wrote:
>
>>"Stephen Poley" > schreef in bericht
. ..
>
>>> The Alfa seats feel better as well; rather to my surprise my wife came
>>> down firmly on the side of the Alfa for comfort. But the Mondeo has a
>>> lot more interior space and the hatchback is of course more practical.
>>>
>>> The Alfa dealer gave me a good offer on my 146, but to my surprise the
>>> Ford dealer gave me an even better offer, making the price difference
>>> between the two almost 5000 Euro. You can do a lot for 5000 Euro. The
>>> Alfa pricing seems rather cynical in places. For example the only colour
>>> you can get at the list prices is black. Every other colour costs more.
>>>
>>> It's going to be a tough decision ...
>
>>In the end:
>>The 159 is not comparable to the Mondeo at all.
>>It's more modern, better engines, better looking inside and out, nicer
>>internal materials, more options standard, quiter in and out, and, and,
>>and,
>>and......
>>It's a class of it's own, in handling (not always in performance though)
>>still out-performing Audi & BMW and in price still (much) lower.
>
>
> Well, I did it. I´ve ordered the 159. I´ll report back around the
> beginning of March ...
>
> --
> Stephen Poley