Prestazioni 159
- Autore discussione doctorAR
- Data d'inizio
fiffi66":raxzq2z1 ha detto:
La storia dei 3 fari non c'entra nulla. I fari Bixeno sulla 159 sono realizzati con due proiettori poliellisoidali separati per anabbaglianti e abbaglianti; il terzo fare (quello di mezzo) serve per le posizioni e le frecce. Ora adottando i fari adattattivi non è necessario che siano tutti e tre mobili, ma solamente il faro deputatato agli anabbaglianti.
Semplicemente siccome questa tecnologia non è matura e, ad esempio, sulle Mercedes ha dato più noie che vantaggi, ed inoltre considerando cha Alfa vuole recuperare sull'affidabilità, si è deciso non di non montarli.
In ogni caso in questa fascia di prezzo non sono richiesti. Anche su A4, Jaguar X-Type, e Classe C non sono disponibili. Non mi risulta siano disponibili (per ora) neanche sulla nuova Serie 3.
Sulle cinture non più regolabili in altezza
Benchè siamo un po OT
fftopic) , voglio entrare in merito.
Per non fare il solito "avvocato del diavolo" anticipo subito che sono contrario a tale eliminazione, perchè se è vero che regolando la posizione del sedile alla giusta altezza la cintura si posiziona correttamente, è anche vero che questo non tiene conto dei diversi "stili di seduta": c'è chi ama guidare molto in basso nonostante un'altezza nella media, mentre c'è chi è alto e preferisce guidare rialzato per dominare la strada.
Il vero motivo (a quanto ne so, ma posso essere smentito) per cui i costruttori stanno cercando di eliminare tale meccanismo è il risontro che esso può presentare un certo "gioco" o addirittura cedere durante gli incidenti, in parte vanificando il funzionamento dei pretensionatori progressivi.
Le case stanno cercando di porvi rimedio o eliminando il meccanismo di regolazione in altezza delle cinture, sostituendolo con la regolazione in altezza dei sedili anteriori, o disponendo l'arrotolatore in blocco con il sedile e non più sul montante centrale.
Benchè siamo un po OT
fftopic) , voglio entrare in merito.Per non fare il solito "avvocato del diavolo" anticipo subito che sono contrario a tale eliminazione, perchè se è vero che regolando la posizione del sedile alla giusta altezza la cintura si posiziona correttamente, è anche vero che questo non tiene conto dei diversi "stili di seduta": c'è chi ama guidare molto in basso nonostante un'altezza nella media, mentre c'è chi è alto e preferisce guidare rialzato per dominare la strada.
Il vero motivo (a quanto ne so, ma posso essere smentito) per cui i costruttori stanno cercando di eliminare tale meccanismo è il risontro che esso può presentare un certo "gioco" o addirittura cedere durante gli incidenti, in parte vanificando il funzionamento dei pretensionatori progressivi.
Le case stanno cercando di porvi rimedio o eliminando il meccanismo di regolazione in altezza delle cinture, sostituendolo con la regolazione in altezza dei sedili anteriori, o disponendo l'arrotolatore in blocco con il sedile e non più sul montante centrale.
Da italiaspeed.com
This feature appears in Auto Italia - Issue 108 - July/August 2005
Well, this is unexpected. I’ve just been flung around the Nürburgring Nordschleife at great speed in a new Alfa 159, dodging between that peculiar breed of German track-day special that only the ‘Ring spawns and wondering if I’ll ever remember where any of it goes, and now it’s my turn. And the test driver has just walked away, leaving me and a rather valuable 159 containing a certain amount of test gear. Trusting, or what?
It’s one thing to be let loose, alone, on such a sinuous, hazardous circuit in an important new car on whose test programme the finer honing of production versions may depend. But it’s quite another to tick those foregoing boxes and to mix it with nitrous-fuelled BMW M3s and Audi A3s with unfeasibly wide wheels and all varieties of well-thrashed, but not always well-driven, Porsche 911. Still, here goes. And now it’s raining.
This 159 is the top of the new range, a 3.2-litre V6 with standard-fit four-wheel drive. Its torque split is nominally 43% front, 57% rear, but up to 80% can head rearwards via the Torsen-C centre differential should conditions and cornering forces demand it. There was a lot of rearward torque diversion on the test driver’s hot lap. I was sitting in the back – it’s notably roomier than the 156’s rear cabin, by the way – and I could feel how far the Alfa was angled to the direction of travel as the cornering speed climbed.
But I’m still mindful of the 156 GTA, and its necessarily compromised grip/steering/ride combination, as I unleash the 260bhp on offer from the 159 Q4’s 260bhp, GM-based but Alfa-tailored engine. That’s 10bhp more than the GTA, but there are no histrionics at all. Every last twitch of those horses’ muscles is transferred faithfully to the ‘Ring’s graffiti-covered track surface; no pull, no tug, no scrabbling. It’s a perfect flow, channelled just where it needs to be.
The engine is pulling heartily, way up in the higher registers even though it’s strong on low-speed pull. That said, the 237lb ft torque peak is numerically lower than the bhp figure, always an indicator of an essentially revvy engine and a simple comparator lost when people divert into Newton-metres and kilowatts. Glad I’ve got that off my chest. The sound is authentic V6 Alfa, helped by the unique, direct-injection Alfa heads with their variable inlet and exhaust timing. All seems to be true to the brand, no expense has been spared. This time, Alfa Romeo really is going head-to-head with the Germans, and we’re even proving it on German soil. And then, three-quarters of the way round between the Karussell and the smaller version of the same half-banked corner, the rev-limit appears suddenly to have dropped. I change up and there’s nothing. Never overlook the obvious: the Alfa has run out of petrol. I dive for the bank to keep out of the way of wayward 911s, and await rescue. Very embarrassing. But never mind; I’ve learnt a lot about the 159, and such a version would make a fine base for a WTCC car if only the rules allowed this many litres and that many driven wheels. Right now, though, it’s back to Alfa’s Nürburgring garage – 159 dynamics guru Carlo Fugazza and his team have been here for the past two years – and out on the road in some different 159s.
It’s significant that Alfa has developed the 159 at the ‘Ring. The track itself is a kind of ultimate test, and a quick lap time relative to rivals is a point of honour, but equally significant are the public roads nearby which have dips, lumps, bumps and broken surfaces much like those in the UK. It’s a sad indictment of our underfunded, under-maintained road network that carmakers now consider the UK a special case and have to make sure suspension systems can cope here, and it’s also true that the 156 was a car which didn’t cope very well. I went on an early 156 drive in Italy, before the main launch, and all seemed fine. We now know that British roads changed all that.
So the 159 has a much stiffer structure, stiffer even than that of the new BMW 3-series, and its suspension has both more anti-dive and more travel. There are no carry-over parts at all, and even the platform is all-new – the so-called Premium platform that was to have been a joint venture with estranged partner General Motors but which is now unique to the Alfa-Maserati axis (159, Brera and probably the Kubang SUV). The rear suspension is what people lazily refer to as a multi-link arrangement (geometrically a kind of double wishbone with an extra toe-control link), while the front bears the same double-wishbone tag as before but is quite different in design. The upper wishbones, for example, are no longer steeply angled back but have conventional pivots parallel with the Alfa’s longitudinal axis.
I’m back in the garage and trying to decide if I like the way the 159 looks. It has presence, definitely; it’s bigger than the 156 (the wheelbase has grown from 2595mm to 2700), and it looks sturdier, sharper, tougher if less achingly beautiful than the 156 as first perceived.
It looks, in fact, more German: “The 159 should fit into a population of Volkswagens and Mercedes-Benzes,” Alfa CEO Karl-Heinz Kalbfell had declared earlier in the day, “and it should have that seriousness.”
But equally he acknowledges that people like the idea of an Alfa precisely because it isn’t German, because it has a kind of flair and vivacity and a Latin appeal to the sensual side of our nature. If Kalbfell, the ex-BMW, ex-Rolls-Royce German famously in touch with the Italian way of thinking (but able to bring German rigour to the thought) was to decide that an Alfa should simply be a BMW copy, then he might as well give up. Thankfully he knows that would be pointless.
He also knows that the UK dealer network is in need of a major attitude transplant, to make customers feel valued and want to buy another Alfa. Moves are urgently afoot to achieve this – he wouldn’t reveal what they are, exactly – and the job should be done in time for the 159’s UK arrival. Otherwise it would be doomed. The dealers had the 156 (one of the more significant in a long line of ‘cars to save Alfa’) and blew it, and it’s not going to be allowed to happen again.
Whatever, there’s no doubt at all that the 159 looks a convincing Alfa. Inside, too, there’s a 156-derived theme although chunkier and more tactile. Some of these early cars, though, have a light-coloured dashboard top as often favoured in the US, a market the 159 will one day enter. Alfas, to my knowledge, have never had this before and they shouldn’t now. It looks cheap and the reflections in sunlight are terrible. Don’t worry, though; conventional black is normal fare, with black elsewhere or light colours to choice. An interior all-black except for dark red leather seats looks especially good.
Other interior niceties include a starter button, keyless entry and particularly comfortable front seats with an excellent driving position. Not so clever is the handbrake, to the right side of the centre tunnel which means the driver, in these left-hand drive cars, is forever stroking the front passenger’s leg. In UK cars the driver will not be so touchy-feely but the angle of attack on the handbrake will be awkward.
And so to the roads, initially in a 2.2-litre JTS whose 185bhp engine, like the 160bhp 1.9, is again a GM-derived but Alfa-specific unit with variable inlet and exhaust-cam timing. I’m pleased to report that it sounds almost exactly like a 2.0 Twin Spark, with a similar edge to the induction and exhaust note, but it pulls rather better from low speeds. It also copes better than its predecessor with a road’s lumps and dips, with less of the engine shake (a trace remains) and a taut but absorbent ride. Even Kalbfell himself remarked on the 159’s comfort on this test route.
The steering is very quick – like a 156’s – and a little too light, but the response is more progressive and the whole car feels calmer and more composed. It’s still highly agile, though, pointing keenly into corners and letting you alter the line with the throttle once in them. No need for a sport suspension option here, and none is offered.
I then tried the tuneful 2.4 JTD, heavier in the nose, calmer in the ride. It needs bigger steering movements to counteract the greater understeer – four-wheel drive is optional – but the weighting is more credible and the engine’s 200bhp and 295lb ft of torque give terrific overtaking thrust. The six-speed gearbox (standard in all 159s, including the petrol and diesel 1.9s I didn’t sample) makes sure there’s always a gear to make the most of it.
Finally, it was time to meet the V6 Q4 again in real-road circumstances. Six-pot 156s were always the compromised handlers, heavier and clumsier and lacking the four-cylinder cars’ lightness of touch. Not so the 159 Q4, thanks of course to the four-wheel drive. It feels poised and planted on the road, fluid through the corners, accurately responsive to all commands. It’s smooth, sonically delicious without being loud, and it rides excellently. It’s the pick of the range without a doubt, which isn’t always true of a range’s grandest model.
Meet, in fact, the best Alfa Romeo saloon there has ever been. They’ve cracked it, no more excuses. This time BMW should be seriously worried.
Test by John Simister
This feature appears in Auto Italia - Issue 108 - July/August 2005
Well, this is unexpected. I’ve just been flung around the Nürburgring Nordschleife at great speed in a new Alfa 159, dodging between that peculiar breed of German track-day special that only the ‘Ring spawns and wondering if I’ll ever remember where any of it goes, and now it’s my turn. And the test driver has just walked away, leaving me and a rather valuable 159 containing a certain amount of test gear. Trusting, or what?
It’s one thing to be let loose, alone, on such a sinuous, hazardous circuit in an important new car on whose test programme the finer honing of production versions may depend. But it’s quite another to tick those foregoing boxes and to mix it with nitrous-fuelled BMW M3s and Audi A3s with unfeasibly wide wheels and all varieties of well-thrashed, but not always well-driven, Porsche 911. Still, here goes. And now it’s raining.
This 159 is the top of the new range, a 3.2-litre V6 with standard-fit four-wheel drive. Its torque split is nominally 43% front, 57% rear, but up to 80% can head rearwards via the Torsen-C centre differential should conditions and cornering forces demand it. There was a lot of rearward torque diversion on the test driver’s hot lap. I was sitting in the back – it’s notably roomier than the 156’s rear cabin, by the way – and I could feel how far the Alfa was angled to the direction of travel as the cornering speed climbed.
But I’m still mindful of the 156 GTA, and its necessarily compromised grip/steering/ride combination, as I unleash the 260bhp on offer from the 159 Q4’s 260bhp, GM-based but Alfa-tailored engine. That’s 10bhp more than the GTA, but there are no histrionics at all. Every last twitch of those horses’ muscles is transferred faithfully to the ‘Ring’s graffiti-covered track surface; no pull, no tug, no scrabbling. It’s a perfect flow, channelled just where it needs to be.
The engine is pulling heartily, way up in the higher registers even though it’s strong on low-speed pull. That said, the 237lb ft torque peak is numerically lower than the bhp figure, always an indicator of an essentially revvy engine and a simple comparator lost when people divert into Newton-metres and kilowatts. Glad I’ve got that off my chest. The sound is authentic V6 Alfa, helped by the unique, direct-injection Alfa heads with their variable inlet and exhaust timing. All seems to be true to the brand, no expense has been spared. This time, Alfa Romeo really is going head-to-head with the Germans, and we’re even proving it on German soil. And then, three-quarters of the way round between the Karussell and the smaller version of the same half-banked corner, the rev-limit appears suddenly to have dropped. I change up and there’s nothing. Never overlook the obvious: the Alfa has run out of petrol. I dive for the bank to keep out of the way of wayward 911s, and await rescue. Very embarrassing. But never mind; I’ve learnt a lot about the 159, and such a version would make a fine base for a WTCC car if only the rules allowed this many litres and that many driven wheels. Right now, though, it’s back to Alfa’s Nürburgring garage – 159 dynamics guru Carlo Fugazza and his team have been here for the past two years – and out on the road in some different 159s.
It’s significant that Alfa has developed the 159 at the ‘Ring. The track itself is a kind of ultimate test, and a quick lap time relative to rivals is a point of honour, but equally significant are the public roads nearby which have dips, lumps, bumps and broken surfaces much like those in the UK. It’s a sad indictment of our underfunded, under-maintained road network that carmakers now consider the UK a special case and have to make sure suspension systems can cope here, and it’s also true that the 156 was a car which didn’t cope very well. I went on an early 156 drive in Italy, before the main launch, and all seemed fine. We now know that British roads changed all that.
So the 159 has a much stiffer structure, stiffer even than that of the new BMW 3-series, and its suspension has both more anti-dive and more travel. There are no carry-over parts at all, and even the platform is all-new – the so-called Premium platform that was to have been a joint venture with estranged partner General Motors but which is now unique to the Alfa-Maserati axis (159, Brera and probably the Kubang SUV). The rear suspension is what people lazily refer to as a multi-link arrangement (geometrically a kind of double wishbone with an extra toe-control link), while the front bears the same double-wishbone tag as before but is quite different in design. The upper wishbones, for example, are no longer steeply angled back but have conventional pivots parallel with the Alfa’s longitudinal axis.
I’m back in the garage and trying to decide if I like the way the 159 looks. It has presence, definitely; it’s bigger than the 156 (the wheelbase has grown from 2595mm to 2700), and it looks sturdier, sharper, tougher if less achingly beautiful than the 156 as first perceived.
It looks, in fact, more German: “The 159 should fit into a population of Volkswagens and Mercedes-Benzes,” Alfa CEO Karl-Heinz Kalbfell had declared earlier in the day, “and it should have that seriousness.”
But equally he acknowledges that people like the idea of an Alfa precisely because it isn’t German, because it has a kind of flair and vivacity and a Latin appeal to the sensual side of our nature. If Kalbfell, the ex-BMW, ex-Rolls-Royce German famously in touch with the Italian way of thinking (but able to bring German rigour to the thought) was to decide that an Alfa should simply be a BMW copy, then he might as well give up. Thankfully he knows that would be pointless.
He also knows that the UK dealer network is in need of a major attitude transplant, to make customers feel valued and want to buy another Alfa. Moves are urgently afoot to achieve this – he wouldn’t reveal what they are, exactly – and the job should be done in time for the 159’s UK arrival. Otherwise it would be doomed. The dealers had the 156 (one of the more significant in a long line of ‘cars to save Alfa’) and blew it, and it’s not going to be allowed to happen again.
Whatever, there’s no doubt at all that the 159 looks a convincing Alfa. Inside, too, there’s a 156-derived theme although chunkier and more tactile. Some of these early cars, though, have a light-coloured dashboard top as often favoured in the US, a market the 159 will one day enter. Alfas, to my knowledge, have never had this before and they shouldn’t now. It looks cheap and the reflections in sunlight are terrible. Don’t worry, though; conventional black is normal fare, with black elsewhere or light colours to choice. An interior all-black except for dark red leather seats looks especially good.
Other interior niceties include a starter button, keyless entry and particularly comfortable front seats with an excellent driving position. Not so clever is the handbrake, to the right side of the centre tunnel which means the driver, in these left-hand drive cars, is forever stroking the front passenger’s leg. In UK cars the driver will not be so touchy-feely but the angle of attack on the handbrake will be awkward.
And so to the roads, initially in a 2.2-litre JTS whose 185bhp engine, like the 160bhp 1.9, is again a GM-derived but Alfa-specific unit with variable inlet and exhaust-cam timing. I’m pleased to report that it sounds almost exactly like a 2.0 Twin Spark, with a similar edge to the induction and exhaust note, but it pulls rather better from low speeds. It also copes better than its predecessor with a road’s lumps and dips, with less of the engine shake (a trace remains) and a taut but absorbent ride. Even Kalbfell himself remarked on the 159’s comfort on this test route.
The steering is very quick – like a 156’s – and a little too light, but the response is more progressive and the whole car feels calmer and more composed. It’s still highly agile, though, pointing keenly into corners and letting you alter the line with the throttle once in them. No need for a sport suspension option here, and none is offered.
I then tried the tuneful 2.4 JTD, heavier in the nose, calmer in the ride. It needs bigger steering movements to counteract the greater understeer – four-wheel drive is optional – but the weighting is more credible and the engine’s 200bhp and 295lb ft of torque give terrific overtaking thrust. The six-speed gearbox (standard in all 159s, including the petrol and diesel 1.9s I didn’t sample) makes sure there’s always a gear to make the most of it.
Finally, it was time to meet the V6 Q4 again in real-road circumstances. Six-pot 156s were always the compromised handlers, heavier and clumsier and lacking the four-cylinder cars’ lightness of touch. Not so the 159 Q4, thanks of course to the four-wheel drive. It feels poised and planted on the road, fluid through the corners, accurately responsive to all commands. It’s smooth, sonically delicious without being loud, and it rides excellently. It’s the pick of the range without a doubt, which isn’t always true of a range’s grandest model.
Meet, in fact, the best Alfa Romeo saloon there has ever been. They’ve cracked it, no more excuses. This time BMW should be seriously worried.
Test by John Simister
Friendevil":m7siohst ha detto:
Scusa, ma è un pò lungo e ora ho da lavorare e non posso tradurlo. In due parole dice che la 159 è molto valida su strada, stabile e veloce come e più della 156, anche se un filo meno agile. La strazione Q4 abbinata al V6 di 3.2 e 260 CV ha fatto divenire un ricordo i compromessi tra trazione e direzionalità tipici della pur ottima 156 GTA. Il confort è molto aumentato, così come l'assorbimento delle sospensioni. Lo sterzo è sempre il più pronto, anche se un pò troppo leggero in velocità, ma comunque più progressivo. Con la trazione Q4 le perdite di aderenza sono nulle. Il design è un pò più vicino ai canoni tedeschi, anche se la vettura si presenta come genuinamente Alfa nei sui tratti salienti. Lo spazio interno è aumentato soprattutto dietro. La plancia è molto bella e si presenta come la naturale evoluzione di quella della 156, quindi Alfa al 100%.
Questi i contenuti in sintesi. Prometto: se ho tempo ve lo traduco letteralmente!
doctorAR":3rb68yw3 ha detto:
Non pretendo tanto va benissimo il riassunto che mi hai appena fatto.
Grazie :worship) :OK)
mivar":1uy2w8k8 ha detto:
delle ruote posteriori autosterzanti si era parlato per l'eventuale 8c, infatti alfa romeo sta sviluppando qualcosa in merito
in pratica le ruote dietro sterzano dietro di qualche grado
non si tratto di uno sterzo vero e proprio é solo la particolare costruzione dell e sospensioni che fa inclinale la gomma o qualcosa del genere, forse c'è qualcuno che sa meglio di me come funziona il sistema :ciao) :ciao)
C'era un articolo su EVO che ne parlava e se non ricordo male era in associazione alla trazione integrale :OK)
Se ce la faccio lo tiro fuori e lo posto
Se ce la faccio lo tiro fuori e lo posto
Friendevil":1ii1bewc ha detto:
Aspetta provo a superarmi... :asd)
Alfa Romeo incontra, Università Politecnico delle Marche, Ancona 20-05-2004
Il 20 maggio ho avuto l'opportunità di partecipare al seminario svoltosi presso l'aula magna della Facoltà di Ingegneria di Ancona dal titolo “Alfa Romeo incontra”.
Partecipavano al dibattito l'Ing. Paolo Massai attuale Vicepresidente Alfa Romeo Engineering, e l'Ing. Nicola Tommasini del Politecnico delle Marche.
Ad accompagnare l'evento la gamma completa Alfa Romeo con l'aggiunta di due chicche veramente speciali: la splendida 8C Competizione ed in anteprima la nuova Alfa Romeo 156 Crosswagon.
Nello specifico nella giornata in cui sono potuto essere presente si è discusso delle tecniche di misura dell'handling nelle automobili.
Per rompere il ghiaccio (nel vero senso della parola ) l'Ing. Massai ha proiettato il video della 156 Crosswagon in azione sul circuito di prova situato nel circolo polare artico.
Che dire: SPETTACOLO! La Crosswagon si muove su ghiaccio e neve come se fosse asfalto!
Veramente impressionante.
Si è così passati alla visione di grafici e tabelle su cui erano riportati andamenti di curve che rappresentavano la tenuta di strada ed altri parametri, come la linearità dello sterzo (indice di sincerità della macchina) della 156 paragonata a due auto tedesche definite una "sportiva" (si è poi scoperto essere una Porsche), e l'altra "elegante sportiva" (con buona probabilità una CLK).
Sorprendenti sono stati i risultati, non tanto per quanto riguarda la Mercedes, quanto per la Porsche che era praticamente come la 156!
Massai ha poi a lungo parlato a ruota libera di come è la filosofia Alfa Romeo e perché l’Alfa ha intrapreso questa rotta.
Da un sondaggio portato avanti in tutta Europa qualche anno addietro i dirigenti hanno appurato che il marchio del Biscione era si percepito come marchio dalle caratteristiche sportive, ma era anche chiassosaoe un po’ truzzo (la parola precisa non la ricordo ma questa rende bene l’idea).
Quindi in Alfa si sono rimboccati le maniche e si sono riappropriati di quell’eleganza tipica delle Alfa Romeo anteguerra e sono usciti così i nuovi interni: ora infatti le ns. amate appaiono indubbiamente sportive, ma anche eleganti; da qua, purtroppo, anche il soffocamento del tipico e celeberrimo rombo Alfa...
A Massai ho poi chiesto come mai anche dell’ingentilimento degli assetti su 156 (un po’ quello che venne fatto anche con le ultime serie dell’Alfetta) e la risposta è stata che in Alfa l’età media si alza e anche chi lavora al suo interno denuncia dolori alla schiena..così dalla richiesta del grande pubblico c’è stato l’ammorbidimento del comparto sospensioni, con la conseguente bastonata per gli sportivi puri.
Ai quesiti sul perché non si rifaccia un’Alfa a trazione posteriore l'ingegnere ha chiamato in causa le economie di scala ma si è difeso benissimo anche dando delle spiegazioni tecniche facendo intuire una cosa: egli stesso non è un amante della trazione posteriore in quanto tale e, se non strettamente necessaria (nel caso di potenze elevate), preferisce la anteriore che a suo avviso è molto più sincera e di conseguenza gestibile anche dai guidatori meno esperti; ha affermato che comunque la trazione posteriore si farà, non in tempi brevissimi ma ci ritorneremo.
Nel corso del pomeriggio sono stati proiettati altri lucidi in cui si mostravano progetti in atto all’Alfa Romeo tra cui:
TECNOLOGIE PER IL PIACERE ED IL CONTROLLO DI GUIDA
Sistema ARC (Active Roll Control)
Si modifica la rigidezza della barra anteriore secondo la situazione di guida per diminuire il ROLLIO e la VELOCITA’ di ROLLIO (movimenti di CASSA) aumentando la STABILITA’ ed AGILITA’ (sicurezza attiva) e migliorando la MOTRICITA’ in curva (motricità).
Planning:
03/2001 Start Attività
12/2002 Delibera su prototipo 166
03/2006 Produzione su nuova 156
Sistema 4WS (4 Ruote Sterzanti)
Le ruote posteriori sterzano grazie ad un attuatore elettrico (fiabilità ed efficienza) per aumentare la stabilità e l’agilità (sicurezza attiva) permettendo di semplificare la meccanica (costi sostenibili).
Planning:
07/2001 Start attività
02/2003 Delibera su prototipo 166
03/2007 Produzione su nuova 166
Trazione integrale
Primo step: sistema con tre differenziali meccanici per migliorare la motricità.
Secondo step: sistema con tre differenziali a controllo elettronico per migliorare anche la sicurezza attiva.
Planning:
01/2001 Start attività primo step
06/2002 Start attività secondo step
12/2002 Delibera prototipo 156 primo step
05/2003 Delibera su prototipo 156 secondo step
06/2004 Produzione su 156 SW 4x4 primo step
12/2004 Produzione su 147 GTA 4x4 secondo step
Brake by wire
I freni sono azionati grazie ad un attuatore elettrico e senza connesione fisica al pedale freno: miglioramento dell’efficienza frenante (frenatura), della sicurezza passiva (intrusione in abitacolo) e semplificazione architettura veicolo.
Planning:
03/2002 Start attività primo step
12/2003 Delibera prototipo 147
06/2008 Produzione
Queste in sostanza alcune anticipazioni fornite dal simpatico Ingegnere della casa del Biscione.
Altra storia riferita riguarda naturalmente l’evoluzione del motore diesel: secondo Massai (e quindi sicuro visto che Lui si occupa anche di queste cose) la corsa alla potenza dei motori a gasolio si è già arrestata per cedere il passo alla “corsa ad avere basse emissione inquinanti”.
Infatti esiste già un 1.9 Diesel Alfa Romeo capace di 240 CV ma che non rispetta assolutamente le norme antinquinamento e, con la tecnologia attuale, rendere i motori a gasolio capaci di rispettare le norme Euro 5 in vigore dal 2008 diventerà costosissimo e complicatissimo, come si evince dalla slide sottostante:
Massai vede quindi una ripresa dello sviluppo dei motori a benzina specialmente quelli ad iniezione diretta magari accoppiati ad un turbocompressore (di cui ha forte nostalgia!) affermazione di poter risuscire a realizzare un 1.4 JTS Turbo per il 2008 con circa 200 CV con consumi sensibilmente più bassi di un motore odierno (speriamo tanto!!!).
Per concludere infine il suo intervento, ha voluto rispondere a delle domande poste dal pubblico, fra cui ovviamente le mie.
In modo particolare ho domandato quale sarà la sorte dello storico V6 Busso e l’Ing., con molta diplomazia, mi ha risposto che nessuno toglierà mai ai tecnici Alfa tutto il Know-how acquisito in trent’anni sui V6, perciò pur partendo da una base meno nobile (il solo monoblocco che comunque resta in alluminio) come il blocco Powertrain, è sicuro di ottenere un motore completamente Alfa con lo stesso rombo paradisiaco degno sicuramente dei suoi predecessori.
A noi non resta che augurare che la realtà rispecchi le intenzioni del simpaticissimo e veramente bravo Ing. Massai.
Fonte: Club Alfa Sport, presente alla manifestazione