My 156 is great!
Discussion
It's been a bit over a year since I bought the Alfa, so I thought I'd put my experiences on record.
Firstly the facts;
156 V6 Lusso, year 2000, silver with black Momo leather, completely standard car.
Mileage now 37000 was 28252 when I bought her for 7000 GBP.
Parts: 1 sidelight bulb, MFA (replaced under warranty by Autodelta - car was bought with failed MFA), all tyres.
36k service done without issues for 115 GBP by Bianco Auto Developments.
Using:
Cons: Poor turning circle - you get used to it, sometimes parking takes a bit longer.
Low mpg, I get around 25-28 mpg.
No roof gutters - keep windows up if roof is wet!
Smallish boot aperture.
Pros: If you're an Alfisti you'll know all the pros, but to list some;
V6 noise (low gears, high revs, nice)
V6 looks
styling
comfort
power (relative I know, but it has enough to make me smile)
To summarise, the 156 is a breathtakingly beautiful car - I could spend ages just looking at the styling cues, flow of the lines and the shape of the car. Even though it's quite old now it still looks fresh and unique. The drive is very comfortable, with a quiet (too quiet for me) cabin, easy controls and good seats with plenty of room. I particularly liked the silvery white backed dials on the Lusso (and particularly disliked the orange on black and fake carbon-fibre of the Veloce) and quite enjoy the smooth ride of the softer suspension. Downside is that it dives when driven hard and grounds over nearly all speed bumps. Handling is okay, considering it's the luxury version of a sports saloon, its performance is as expected. It will roll, but hang on, understeer if pushed, but is predictable. The V6 is heavy out front, but I would trade cornering for noise. The engine is superb and has just the right balance of torque and banshee screaming high rev power. The car makes a very accomplished cruiser and I would recommend a good example to anyone over most of the other more mundane manufacturers.
Dr C
Firstly the facts;
156 V6 Lusso, year 2000, silver with black Momo leather, completely standard car.
Mileage now 37000 was 28252 when I bought her for 7000 GBP.
Parts: 1 sidelight bulb, MFA (replaced under warranty by Autodelta - car was bought with failed MFA), all tyres.
36k service done without issues for 115 GBP by Bianco Auto Developments.
Using:
Cons: Poor turning circle - you get used to it, sometimes parking takes a bit longer.
Low mpg, I get around 25-28 mpg.
No roof gutters - keep windows up if roof is wet!
Smallish boot aperture.
Pros: If you're an Alfisti you'll know all the pros, but to list some;
V6 noise (low gears, high revs, nice)
V6 looks
styling
comfort
power (relative I know, but it has enough to make me smile)
To summarise, the 156 is a breathtakingly beautiful car - I could spend ages just looking at the styling cues, flow of the lines and the shape of the car. Even though it's quite old now it still looks fresh and unique. The drive is very comfortable, with a quiet (too quiet for me) cabin, easy controls and good seats with plenty of room. I particularly liked the silvery white backed dials on the Lusso (and particularly disliked the orange on black and fake carbon-fibre of the Veloce) and quite enjoy the smooth ride of the softer suspension. Downside is that it dives when driven hard and grounds over nearly all speed bumps. Handling is okay, considering it's the luxury version of a sports saloon, its performance is as expected. It will roll, but hang on, understeer if pushed, but is predictable. The V6 is heavy out front, but I would trade cornering for noise. The engine is superb and has just the right balance of torque and banshee screaming high rev power. The car makes a very accomplished cruiser and I would recommend a good example to anyone over most of the other more mundane manufacturers.
Dr C
I get some torque steer on the 2.0, and it seems to pull to the left a bit under heavy braking as well (although I proably ought to get the wheels aligned). And I do quite often seem to lose traction, especially coming off a roundabout under acceleration. It's controllable, but I can't help thinking that anything any more powerful should really be rear-wheel drive - it's one of the things that puts me off trading up to a more powerful Alfa sometime. On the other hand I don't really want to end up with a Beemer (an M3 might just be acceptable) and most RWD cars are either too expensive to buy & run, and/or not practical enough.
I think torque steer has a bit of a bad name really - in moderate amounts it's quite entertaining! My old Alfa 33 had the worst torque steer I've ever experienced - especially on Yokahomas - but it was kinda fun for overtaking - floor throttle, car pulls out to right automatically. Who says manufacturers don't think of the UK market? Seriously, any powerful fwd car will probably exhibit some torque steer given the right conditions, but the 156s and 147s seem pretty sorted.
Fair enough!
It's true my 164 is now very old with massive miles and cheap tyres. Added to that the roads round my part of the world are pretty awful so I guess I'm asking for it. I agree that powerful cars shouldn't be front wheel drive (or, more importantly, torquey cars shouldn't be front wheel drive)! I think now that traction and stability control are becoming more widespread, we should see a gradual return to rear-drive cars - I certainly hope so! I have a large trailer (about half a ton empty) and the 164 really struggles to get its power down pulling that in the wet! For what its worth though, the car doesn't always turn right when I nail it - a lot depends on the road surface! (which tends to add that extra adrenalin buzz on overtaking!)
It's true my 164 is now very old with massive miles and cheap tyres. Added to that the roads round my part of the world are pretty awful so I guess I'm asking for it. I agree that powerful cars shouldn't be front wheel drive (or, more importantly, torquey cars shouldn't be front wheel drive)! I think now that traction and stability control are becoming more widespread, we should see a gradual return to rear-drive cars - I certainly hope so! I have a large trailer (about half a ton empty) and the 164 really struggles to get its power down pulling that in the wet! For what its worth though, the car doesn't always turn right when I nail it - a lot depends on the road surface! (which tends to add that extra adrenalin buzz on overtaking!)
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