Test Alfa 159 su Channel4
4CAR Voto 4 stelle su 5
Assets
Looks terrific, mixes Italian flair with real quality, has sporty handling but a decent ride, sounds crisp and keen, is roomy and well equipped.
Drawbacks
Steering too light in some versions, awkward handbrake, mediocre fuel economy.
Verdict
Alfa's latest attempt to take on BMW's 3-Series is a worthy rival with substance as well as character. The V6 Q4 is especially good.
INTRODUCTION
If this doesn't do it, it's hard to know what will. We're talking about Alfa Romeo's eternal quest to create a car able to rival BMW's ubiquitous 3-Series: not an Italian BMW, but a car of equivalent worth and desirability which retains its Italian characteristics (the good ones, at least).
The 159 is the first Alfa to be launched under new Alfa CEO Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, formerly of BMW and Rolls-Royce and a declared Italophile when it comes to cars. The design and engineering of this 156 replacement were almost finished when he arrived, but his arrival has certainly concentrated Alfa minds and encouraged those who wanted this car to be as good as possible. It goes on sale in most of Europe very soon, but its UK launch is delayed until the end of the year to make time for the planned overhaul of Alfa dealers and their customer service attitudes - the chief reason for the handsome and likeable 156's slide down the sales charts.
This time, Alfa's 3-Series-basher is a bigger car, 105mm longer in the wheelbase than the 156, appropriately roomier and built on a new, currently Alfa-unique platform which will also underpin the Brera coupé. The style is similar outside and in, if more solid and aggressive without the lightness of touch, but there are almost no carry-over parts. That means the front double-wishbone suspension is an all-new design and the former rear struts are ditched in favour of a sophisticated multi-link arrangement.
The Fiat Group's recently-curtailed link with General Motors has led to some new petrol engines, all with direct injection and continuously-variable valve timing for both inlet and exhaust cams. They are a 1.9 with 160bhp, a 185bhp 2.2 and a 260bhp V6, this last coming with Q4 four-wheel drive transmission split 43 percent front, 57 percent rear. In all cases, Alfa-unique cylinder heads top GM-designed engine blocks.
The UK market also gets two Fiat-made turbodiesels, a 150bhp 1.9 and a 200bhp, five-cylinder 2.4. The lower-powered 120bhp JTD is not planned for the UK market. All 159s get six-speed transmissions as standard, but Selespeed sequentials or full autos will be available in some versions. The 2.4 JTD can also be had with Q4 four-wheel drive.
RELIABILITY AND QUALITY Voto 4 stelle su 5
Reliability and quality are vitally important things in themselves, but a decent dealer network can ease the pain if a car proves troublesome. This has been the main past Alfa weakness, aggravating any problems they have had because they often haven't been resolved properly. If all goes according to plan, this shouldn't be an issue with the 159. It helps that there's a strong sense of quality and solidity in the new car, with very good panel fit, substantial soft trim, decent switchgear and no rattles or squeaks. The facia covering feels expensive and good to the touch, and what little hard plastic there is - most interior trim panels are padded - has a pleasing surface treatment. Alfa style, BMW-standard fit and finish. Now let's see how the customer service turns out.
IMAGE Voto 4 stelle su 5
The 159 looks highly desirable, with its Giugiaro styling and its low, slant-eyed front. The thick shoulder-line and tough-looking wheelarches give a visual presence even the supremely elegant 156 couldn't quite manage, and people may well buy a 159 for this alone. Inside, the style is again 156 with added substance, and the colour scheme with dark red or beige leather seats and door pads in an otherwise black cabin looks very smart. Avoid the light facia-top option, though, which looks appalling and makes bad reflections in the windscreen. Alfas should always have black facia tops; the light one is aimed at the US market, which the 159 will eventually enter, but it's all wrong. The Alfa brand still has a big cachet for its connotations of speed, style and history, and it's a great marketing tool which the 159 justifies. The only reason for a four-star score here, instead of a full five, is the worry over long-term dependability and the quality of the whole 'ownership experience', which scares some buyers away. Maybe the 159 will allay those fears, but it will take time.
DRIVING Voto 4 Stelle su 5
If we're talking about the V6, this would be a five-star rating. The four-wheel drive transmission means there's none of the bad behaviour suffered by the 156 GTA, which aimed to channel 250bhp through its front wheels alone, and the V6 Q4's handling is a delight. It points like a rear-wheel drive car and corners quickly with a gentle tail-out stance, yet the front wheels pull it straight should too much be asked of the rears. Similarly, there's almost no understeer when entering a corner quickly, because the Torsen-C centre differential diverts torque rearwards if the front wheels have too much to cope with. That 47/53 torque split is just the starting point, alterable as needed. It all makes for a highly enjoyable, very fluid drive.
The steering is very quick to respond, high-geared like the 156's, but the action is more progressive now and the turning circle is no longer bus-like. It feels slower in the nose-heavy, front-drive version of the 2.4 JTD, and there's more understeer as you'd expect, but the 2.2 JTS has the agility of the V6 if not quite the flowing style. This four-cylinder car's steering is a little too light for its directness and accuracy, though. All three 159 variants, the ones samples by 4Car to date, are a responsive, eager drive.
All have a good driving position, too, with firm but comfortable seats and clear instrumentation. The handbrake, to the right of the centre tunnel, means that drivers of left-hand drive 159s (such as those we tested) will be stroking passengers' arms inadvertently, though, and for right-hand drive the handbrake might be too near to the driver for easy operation. Brakes are progressive in action, the gearchange is smooth and accurate. All 159s have a separate starter button, operated after the 'key' is placed in a slot, so there's no conventional steering lock and ignition key to damage knees in an accident.
PERFORMANCE Voto 3 stelle su 5
Clearly the V6 is fastest - it does 149mph and reaches 62mph in 7.0 seconds - and its flat torque curve makes the performance easy to exploit. It sounds delicious, too, the usual Alfa V6 note reproduced convincingly on this all-new engine. The 2.2 JTS also sounds correctly Alfa-esque, this time much like the old 2.0 Twin Spark complete with crisp-edged exhaust note. It has rather more low-speed pull than that engine, though, while still reaching 62mph in 8.8 seconds and a maximum speed of 138mph. The petrol engines' natural enthusiasm is one reason why you might favour them over a diesel, but the 2.4 JTD is as muscular and sonorous a unit as ever. It's very energetic with its newly-enhanced outputs of 200bhp and 295lb ft, too, able to reach 142mph and sprint to 62mph in 8.4sec - so it's notably quicker than the 2.2 JTS as well as more relaxed and more economical. Torque figures for the 2.2 and 3.2 petrol engines, incidentally, are 170lb ft and 237lb ft respectively.
SAFETY AND SECURITY Voto 4 Stelle su 5
The usual boxes are ticked here, with up to eight airbags (all 159s have at least seven), active front head restraints to reduce whiplash, and stability control - Alfa Romeo calls it VDC rather than ESP - as standard. This Vehicle Dynamic Control includes a hill-holder device acting on the brakes to stop rolling back on a hill start. Tyre-pressure monitors are standard, and the whole car is built into a structure claimed to be stiffer even than BMW's very stiff new 3-Series. The lack of a mechanical steering lock improves the safety of the driver's knees (there's also a knee airbag), and the fact that the lock is electronic improves security. The pedals are designed to collapse under heavy impact, too. There's no EuroNCAP rating yet but it would be surprising if the 159 didn't score at least four stars.
RUNNING COSTS Voto 3 stelle su 5
Servicing on current Alfas is required every year or every 12,000 miles, whichever comes first, and the 159 is likely to have similarly infrequent service visits. Depreciation is of course an unknown quality, and Alfa Romeo will be hoping the 159 will score better here than the 156 whose residual-value history has not been impressive. As for fuel economy, the best bet is the 1.9 JTD 150 with a combined-cycle 47.1mpg and 157g/km CO2. The 2.2 JTS manages 30.1mpg and 221g/km, not a particularly impressive result (a kerb weight not far short of 1500kg is one reason why), while the V6 makes you pay for its pace and poise with 24.6mpg and taxman-pleasing 270g/km. And the 2.4 JTD? Fuel consumption is 41.5mpg, CO2 179g/km. It's the best pace/cost combination of the lot. The diesels have maintenance-free particulate traps which will render them able to meet future Euro 5 emissions rules
COMFORT AND EQUIPMENT Voto 4 stelle su 5
Here's an Alfa with, at last, a genuinely good ride. It doesn't run out of front suspension travel like the 156 did, it dives less under braking and its damping is better controlled. The taut, responsive handling isn't achieved at the expense of excessive firmness underfoot, and a sport suspension option is neither available nor necessary. Wheels can be up to 18-inch diameter, although 16in or 17in are usual and inevitably make for better absorption of small bumps. The smaller, lighter engines lead to a slightly more fidgety ride, so the 2.2 JTS proves less serene than, say, the 2.4 JTD and there's a hint of engine shake over ripply surfaces. But it's still a big improvement over the 156 and compares well with Audi and BMW rivals. Road and wind noise are low enough not to be an issue.
There's fair space in the cabin, even in the back, and the rear seats' backrests fold down to increase boot space. Be careful leaving the front passenger seat, though, because it's easy to catch a knee on the protruberant dashboard.
Air-con is dual-zone as standard, triple-zone optionally, and there's an air-quality sensor. Other equipment, standard or optional, includes MP3 capability in the CD player, a Bose sound system, a built-in phone, Bluetooth compatibility, Connect telematics to go with a large sat-nav screen, and parking sensors. Seats can be trimmed in flock fabric, Alfatex, leather or soft-touch 'Frau' leather, or you can have a Sport interior with so-called Tibet leather.
