Jurgen's 156 1.8TS
Is all lost on the Alfa Romeo front for us...? No! Since April 1998, Jurgen is driving an Alfa 156 1.8 TwinSpark! The arrival of this car in a way speeded up the demise of the line-up of GTV6es, but that doesn't matter. The 156 is a true joy to drive, fast, reliable and comfortable, Fiat really outdid itself with this one, it doesn't get much better than this car in the mid-to-upper section of the market. This car finally kills off all those irritating myths on the reliability of Alfa's and that's a good thing. Is it as good as a GTV6? Yes, and no. Obviously, this is end-of-the-90's car technology so comes with a capital Q in build quality, whereas the GTV6 is really 70's-based technology (and build quality :-<). The 1.8 engine does almost what the 2.5 V6 does, with a difference that the V6 gets it 'from below' (torque) and the 1.8 gets it 'from above' (power). The V6 has a longer breath and is faster in the end. It's a close call, though. The 156's suspension feels hardly different in spite of it being FWD versus RWD, the 156 feels more solid and compact, stiffer than the GTV6 and has almost the same neutral feel like the GTV6. In the end the 156 is a superior car for quality, comfort and safety: simply a fantastic travel companion. The GTV6 is, in the light of what you can get for today's bucks, still an amazing engineering feat. It has real character, a dream for an engine, great road handling and is still up-to-par with modern cars in perfomance, this in spite of it running against almost 30 years of additional automotive development. If only the GTV6 would have the build quality of today's vehicles... The 156 is cultivated and appeals to a wider audience, the GTV6 has the heritage, the bravado and chutzpah you'd want to have in such a car. Summa summarum: have a 156 as a daily driver to take you very fast to where you want to go in safety, style and comfort and take a well restored GTV6 out for that winding-road, back-gripping, tail-sliding sunday-afternoon spin :-).
Some techie talk: this 156 has a 1.8l four-cylinder DOHC engine with variable 16-valve timing and twinspark ignition (that's two spark plugs per cylinder and ancient Alfa technology, btw). Bore and stroke are 82mm and 82.7mm respecively and compression sits at 10.3:1. It has a (Bosch) Motronic M1.5.5 multi-point fuel injection system with integrated ignition. The toothed-belt-driven 1.8 turns out 104kW (144hp) @ 6,400rpm and redlines at 7,000rpm :-). Torque is 169Nm @ 3,500rpm. The 156 1.8 has a top speed of 208km/h (130mph) and does 0-100km/h (0-62.5mph) in 9.3s whilst guzzling an average of 8.2l of unleaded 95RON-minimum fuel per 100km (62.5mi). It is frontwheel drive (duh) with a regressive power steering system and has a manual 5-speed gearbox with a final drive of 3.733:1 (= 15/56 for crown/pinion). It comes as standard with double airbags, safety belt-tensioners and ABS with EBD. The independent front suspension has double triangular frames, shocks, springs and a torsion bar. The independent rear suspension has McPherson spring/damper elements, double cross-mounted frames, reaction bars and a torsion bar. The whole lot comes in at 1245kg and is 4430mm in length, 1745mm wide, 1415mm high with a 2595mm wheelbase. It sits standard on 185/65 VR 15 tires on 6J*15" steel rims.
The one I've got has a few extra's installed such as front fog lights, an airco and wooden steering wheel (real this time, not like the fake plastic ones in the GTV6).
The intrument panel is very nice with all kinds of retro elements like vents, round (white-with-backlit-green) clocks, small dials and such things. In the right picture you can see my empty CD/radio front and GSM phone holder.
They sell 156es like hot candy here in The Netherlands, this in spite of the high price (my 156 1.8, options included, came in at almost 24,000 Euro a year ago). It's a looker, though, so I don't blame people for following my lead :-). I drive one out of the very first batch that was brought to The Netherlands. I have an absolutely trouble-free drive in this car, outside regular maintenance I have had one preventive recall for a supposedly wrongly attached power steering hose (I had no problems), a different throttle valve (?) and an injection system software update (:->).
Mine has a LPG tank installed (on my company's demand). This is a modern version that has a direct liquid injection system vis-a-vis earlier days where there would be a vaporiser between the fuel line and the carburator/maniford. This direct liquid injection makes that there is no difference in performance as to regular gasoline whilst driving. The only setback is that, due to the 156's booth size, there is only room for a 65l tank which implies that I'm back at the gas station at roughly 350 to 400km...:-(. And, the booth space is reduced to half. Then again, I only have a girlfriend, a weekend bag and a beauty case to take along, so... ;-).
Enough on the inside, let's have a fly-by at the outside! The grey-metallic colour is called 'Grigio Africa', which goes nicely with the dark green velours interiour.
Nice, eh? :-)
