Alfa 156
12 February 2002, 08:26 AM
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I had a 2.0 156 for a year and loved it. Edited to add that I had no problems with it at all.
Due to a change of job I've had to sell my Scooby and changed it over on Saturday there.
Got a great part exchange for a 10 month old 156 2.0 Sportswagon (SP1) which I've had for a couple of days now. Lovely sounding engine and I had forgotton how good the driving position is - seats are great (leather + sports) and for an old(ish) model the looks are great (probably explains why they are not going to model change until 2005).
Richard.
[Edited by Scotsman - 12/2/2002 8:27:25 AM]
Due to a change of job I've had to sell my Scooby and changed it over on Saturday there.
Got a great part exchange for a 10 month old 156 2.0 Sportswagon (SP1) which I've had for a couple of days now. Lovely sounding engine and I had forgotton how good the driving position is - seats are great (leather + sports) and for an old(ish) model the looks are great (probably explains why they are not going to model change until 2005).
Richard.
[Edited by Scotsman - 12/2/2002 8:27:25 AM]
12 February 2002, 07:00 PM
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I'm currently running a 2.0TS Selespeed Veloce.
As said in earlier posts the handling is superb, the engine note means you rev it more than you should though.
In the 10 months I've had it from new its been totaly faultless and has not needed to go back to the dealers which is a good thing as they are generally thought of as crap.
There have been reports of some TS engine failures. 90% of these have been caused by low oil level according to Alfa. They noe put a sticker on the windscreen reminding people to check oil level every 500miles as most TS's do require a top up between services
The only downside is the relativly short gearing at just over 20mph/1000rpmn 5th for the petrols, the sporty engine turns into a background drone on motorways with 80mph being nearly 4000rpm.
Performance is good but you do need over 3750rpm to get any real performance as the VVT and variable intake geometry changes at around this speed.
The 1.8TS has the same setup as the 2.0TS with the VVT and variable intake but the 1.6 has a simpler setup and can feel a bit gutless.
As for turning circle the 5 cylinderdiesel and V6 have a larger turning circle than the 4 cylinder petrols. The 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 have a turning circle of 11.1 metres which is the same as most FWD cars of the class such as the Audi A4 etc so the 2.2 turns lock to lock just means super fast steering.
Go for a Veloce spec with sports pack as this has a slightly lower and uprated suspension setup, ride quality only suffers slightly but handling is far better.
Pics of mine here
Cheers
Lee
[Edited by logiclee - 12/2/2002 7:04:37 PM]
As said in earlier posts the handling is superb, the engine note means you rev it more than you should though.
In the 10 months I've had it from new its been totaly faultless and has not needed to go back to the dealers which is a good thing as they are generally thought of as crap.
There have been reports of some TS engine failures. 90% of these have been caused by low oil level according to Alfa. They noe put a sticker on the windscreen reminding people to check oil level every 500miles as most TS's do require a top up between services
The only downside is the relativly short gearing at just over 20mph/1000rpmn 5th for the petrols, the sporty engine turns into a background drone on motorways with 80mph being nearly 4000rpm.
Performance is good but you do need over 3750rpm to get any real performance as the VVT and variable intake geometry changes at around this speed.
The 1.8TS has the same setup as the 2.0TS with the VVT and variable intake but the 1.6 has a simpler setup and can feel a bit gutless.
As for turning circle the 5 cylinderdiesel and V6 have a larger turning circle than the 4 cylinder petrols. The 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 have a turning circle of 11.1 metres which is the same as most FWD cars of the class such as the Audi A4 etc so the 2.2 turns lock to lock just means super fast steering.
Go for a Veloce spec with sports pack as this has a slightly lower and uprated suspension setup, ride quality only suffers slightly but handling is far better.
Pics of mine here
Cheers
Lee
[Edited by logiclee - 12/2/2002 7:04:37 PM]
02 December 2002, 07:47 AM
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I had a 2.5 V6 sp3 for a year and c35000 miles - beautiful car. Handled like no other FWD car I have driven (before and since), faultless reliability, build quality on a par with the Germans.
02 December 2002, 08:22 AM
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I had a 2.0 TS with Sports pack 2 for a couple of years. Great fun to drive and one of the best sounding 2 litre engine ever made. Totally reliable, I only sold it to buy the Scooby.
02 December 2002, 10:11 AM
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Cheers guys. I think he is considering either a 1.6 or 1.8 Sportivo, with 120 BHP and 140 BHP respectively. Would these engines (esp. the 1.6) be underpowered for a car like this?
I know he would be better of with the 2.0 but he says he doesn't need that much power.
Gavin
I know he would be better of with the 2.0 but he says he doesn't need that much power.
Gavin
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02 December 2002, 10:50 AM
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Had a 156 2.0TS in Germany for a while. The handling is excellant (although does get twitchy at 140MPH through the sweeps on the Autobahn). Economy was not great but that is more down to wanting to hear the engine sing then anything else.
Ross Brawn (he of relative success with some Italian firm in motorsport) drives a 156 2.0, saying it is THE model to go for.
If he has a choice Alfa tan leather seats are IMHO the best in the business
Ross Brawn (he of relative success with some Italian firm in motorsport) drives a 156 2.0, saying it is THE model to go for.
If he has a choice Alfa tan leather seats are IMHO the best in the business
02 December 2002, 01:54 PM
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Had a 2.4 JTD for about two weeks, now. Plenty of grunt, little bit noisy compared to (say) the BMW 320d. Great toys to play with, handles nicely, plenty of grip. Looks lovely.
Downsides? The turning circle really is pretty poor. There's a reason why it's only 2.2 turns lock to lock! And I'm dubious about the quality of the electrics, which is a shame as I really want to give it the benefit of the doubt. So far the CD player has packed up and the VDC dynamic control system came up showing a fault on the computer one morning - though admittedly it did go away the next time I started it...
Downsides? The turning circle really is pretty poor. There's a reason why it's only 2.2 turns lock to lock! And I'm dubious about the quality of the electrics, which is a shame as I really want to give it the benefit of the doubt. So far the CD player has packed up and the VDC dynamic control system came up showing a fault on the computer one morning - though admittedly it did go away the next time I started it...
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