159Ti = WORST car in the snow EVER!!!

[Rochester TVR]

OK, so maybe if I didn't have Pirelli Corsa's that are very near the end of they're life things would be different...

...but I do!

Still love it though!

Edited by Rochester TVR on Monday 6th December 22:21

[Church of Noise]

The 156 SW is up there too, believe me.
Strangely (ho hum), I 've had the xmas lights for VDC, ABS etc light up as well. For the one time they just might be useful...

Great fun huh! :-D

[anonymous-user]

My 156 is fairly hopeless as well. Not bad if you can keep a bit of momentum, but terrible when you want to stop and even worse when you want to get going again. Even trying to pull off in 2nd it can be a PITA to try and get any traction.

Church of Noise said:

Strangely (ho hum), I 've had the xmas lights for VDC, ABS etc light up as well. For the one time they just might be useful..

I get that as well after a bit of wheelspin (it gets particularly confused if you've got a bit of lock on and one wheel is spinning more than the other). On mine it shuts off the ABS system, which is ironically quite a useful way to malfunction in the snow.

[PompeyDarren]

Not let me down at all, it's gone anywhere I’ve wanted.

Although I did have 2 new front tyres about 10 days ago, so I have plenty of grip.

I'd go as far as to say it has handled the snow/ice/slush as well as my previous 4wd saloon.

[RichV6]

Until this year never had any problem, thats until I changed to Goodyears from toyos. Only did this as there was a 3 week wait for the tyres. Possibly the worst decision I made, still come the summer I can drive like a hooligan to wear them out.

[jamieboy]

My 159 SW ti had new tyres and geometry checked/set in November, and it's rubbish in the snow.

The front goes where you point it, but the back end is all over the place. I guess it's a combination of wide, low-profile tyres and stiff suspension, but the 147 isn't massively different (it has 215/40 18s to the 159's 235/40 19s) and it feels much more sure-footed in the snow.

For me, it's probably the second-worst fwd car I've driven in snow, with our old rear-tyre munching Megane being the worst.


edit - I've not had any warning lights, though, all the ABS, VDC etc seem to be working as you'd expect.

Edited by jamieboy on Wednesday 13th January 15:02

[rs48635]

my 166 sportomatic is great in the snow, must be having nice big V6 sat on those front wheels. Handles quite predictably, traction control not too intrusive, back wheels happy to follow the fronts.
Turn the traction control off and it's a different story.

[nc107]

The brake calipers:

Were they frozen on when you got in the car in the morning? If so almost certainly water has got into the handbrake cable and frozen, preventing the handbrake releasing. Two people at work with 156's have had that problem this past week.

[14-7]

Oddly despite my 147GTA once or twice having the handbrake frozen on I've sailed past lots of supposedly superior RWD cars that have been stuck in the snow/ice.

[bint]

156 SW has been okay, did get the ABS light on once, but hey, surely you don't want ABS in the snow!

Soon resets itself. Generally I've never had a problem with her in the snow.

[RicksAlfas]

jamieboy said:

but the back end is all over the place.

Have you tried putting your collection of Auto Italia in the boot?

[Rochester TVR]

nc107 said:

The brake calipers:

Were they frozen on when you got in the car in the morning? If so almost certainly water has got into the handbrake cable and frozen, preventing the handbrake releasing. Two people at work with 156's have had that problem this past week.

Your right, turns out thats exactly what the problem was.... plus all electronics have now fixed themselves!

[T5AMX]

I really cant complain....MY 159TI 2.4 d has been superb in the snow...the answer is boys.........Q4 system.... I can only assume yours arnt Q4.

[RicksAlfas]

Yes, Q4 would be great. Sadly discontinued otherwise I would have gone for it next time...

[Rochester TVR]

No Q4 here either...

Had an A4 Quattro before the Alfa and it was fantastic in the snow, although in 12 monthes ownership I only really 'needed' 4WD for about 3 days so decided against a Q4...