Alfa Adds Lightness to Revised 159
Good news! Alfa Romeo has done the most modest of facelifts and revisions on the 159 sedan and wagon, as well as their siblings, the Brera coupe and Spider. This gives us an excuse to talk about Alfa Romeos and post a pornographic gallery of cars that come from an unacceptable tree in the Garden of Eden. Mechanical refinements to this fantastic car that isn't on sale in North America include "new engines include 140hp and 185hp petrol units displacing 1.8L and 2.2L" which comes as a surprise to me, as engines with these displacements and power outputs have been on sale in the 159 for quite some time. Until now, buyers could only opt for the sonorous 260 horsepower V6 along with Alfa's heavy (and expensive) all wheel-drive. To add lightness, Alfa offer the V6 with a new Q2 torque splitting system that works well (they claim) with front wheel-drive (i.e. without much torque steer). The 159 also drops 100 lbs with lighter alloy wheels, aluminum suspension pieces and new aluminum monoblock brake calipers. Will these cars ever be on sale in the U.S.? I think so maybe yes– after the recession.
Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.
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PLUS, Alfa has the balls to put a 200 BHP turbo Diesel engine in that Spider too. I'd huck my beloved Jetta TDI to a 24 Hours of LeMons competitor in exchange for $500 and one of those oil burning Spiders. --chuck http://chuck.goolsbee.org
Redbarchetta: I know what you mean. I bought a 1984 GTV-6 back in 1989 and it was a blast to drive-- but not so much fun to keep on the road. At slow speeds and putting around town it was a chore to drive but get it on an open road or even better, a winding road, and drive it hard and suddenly the heavy steering felt just right, the clutch no longer felt heavy and the engine sang that song to which only Italian cars seem to know the words. Sign me up for a 159 sedan with a 5 speed, leather and a long full factory warranty!
Yep, you know what you are getting into with an Alfa, but you do it anyway. If the car is good looking enough, why not?
I had 185,000 glorious miles in my Alfa and really no problems until after 100,000, well except it ate mufflers every 40,000 miles at almost $500 a pop for the pair. Most of the stuff that went after that was my fault, I drove that car HARD.(tie rod, both axle bearings, 2 bent rims, electrical switches that got water logged in the rain with the top down, speedo cable, U-joints) And ran like crap if I didn't give her her daily whipping. The interior and window modules were my only complaint with that car. I had a '91 so maybe I got lucky. I have heard their build quality has greatly improved, not sure if that means better that the Germans or not. As long as it's not FWD and filled with too many electronic gizmo's their not too much of a pain in the ass to work on yourself.