ALFA Romeo test drive 156 1997 - 2003 sedan

Coloratura soprano

Yes, Acoustic engineers who set up the exhaust system Alfa Romeo 156 worked well. The singing of a two-liter in-line four can be heard.
If our will, we would sell tickets to the 156th tickets, as, say, for Montserrat Kabalier. Well, okay, the shelma begins to display, you just have to turn the key in the ignition lock! Furely, important and at the same time with mischievous notes. Imagine the poster: Today! Concert of unsurpassed Alfa Romeo. The program has a solo performance. Arias are executed in all registers - from two to seven thousand revolutions. Hurry to hear! We are sure that fans of the Italian singer would dare all tickets at one moment.
The star looks great. Alloy wheels. Rubber 205/60R16. Fog lights. A full electric package, including, among other things, heating external mirrors. White leather seats. Climate control. The steering wheel adjustable in height and angle, which provides the driver with a convenient landing and impeccable visual control over two instruments. By the way, the semicircular visors of the tachometer and speedometer are very reminiscent of one item of women's clothing, especially if you look at them outside, through the windshield.
In 1998, we already rolled a similar car with a smaller engine (1.6 l) and then considered all the nuances of the interior and exterior of the 156th. So today we focus on a stronger motor.
So, 155 hp two -liter engine. Is it a lot or not enough? Touching. Mindful that one and six had to be well promoted before releasing the clutch pedal, I shed the gas pedal. The tachometer arrow rushes at three thousand revolutions with lightning speed, and the car, screening with wheels, breaks off. The sacramental - a lot of sacred in my head. I repeat the exercise for two with a half. The result is the same. For one and a half. Better, but the car still shoots.
Experiments with the gas pedal showed: to smoothly start movement, it is enough to release the clutch. The engine pulls almost from idle. Booking. The work of the gas distribution mechanism with the phase variator, as they say, is evident. A good torque on the bottoms, especially valuable in the city hustle and bustle, is exactly what Alfa Romeo lacked at our first acquaintance.
We did not like for the first time and rather lethargic acceleration of the car. Then, in order to get from Alfa Romeo an acceptable, and most importantly, corresponding to its image, the motor had to twist up to 4 thousand revolutions. Only in this case, the 156th did not blush against the background of the VAZ nine, not to mention the rest of the intervention.
Choose a hiding jacket, and gas - on the floor. A hundred in the second gear was exchanged 9 seconds after the start, the smoke from the tires dispelled after 15, and the ten -meter trace on the asphalt will be trampled, perhaps in a week. The real capture of the two -liter engine turned out to be even at almost all revolutions and began at two thousand. Now, of course, we did not have any complaints about the dynamics of Alfa Romeo 156.
But what was puzzled. For some reason, speed is felt in the car. Sometimes it appears that it is even higher than in fact. For a long time we wondered what to put it in merit, and finally came to a consensus: sharp steering. Judge for yourself. To turn the controlled wheels from one extreme point to another, only two steering turns are needed. Comfortable? Undoubtedly, especially in the city. Safely? Naturally. After all, even at the coolest turn, there is no need to intercept the steering wheel. However, without a certain habit, even a slight deviation of the steering wheel from the normal causes a car with a rectilinear trajectory. As a rule, on other machines, this quality manifests itself at speeds over 120 km/h, and at the 156th - already at 60 km/h. Hence the feeling of flight.
The brake pedal will also have to be used to. The thicker the tread of your boots, the less informative it is. Ideally, of course, it is better to ride in general barefoot. It seems to touch accidentally with the thumb of the right leg to the brake pedal, and you will immediately smear you along the torpedo. And if it were not for the work of the correct ABS, the first kilometers of our path could be easily calculated in brake tracks. Only after a quarter of an hour, it was possible to adopt to the work of the brakes, the effectiveness of which I did not cease to be surprised. Later, when he moved to his classics, he realized that they were not on the four at all.
Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 Twin Spark is one of the few cars that have their own character. Perhaps somewhat nonsense. However, this does not mean that the car is uncomfortable or unsafe. Vice versa. There is a folk sign: the more obscure the character, the better the employee. In this case, the statement is absolutely fair.
Technical characteristics of Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 TS
The body is whole., Carrying, 4 -door O number of places, people. - 5 o equipped mass, kg - 1230 o Full mass, kg - 1750 o dimensions (length/width/height), mm - 4430/1745/1415 O base, mm - 2595 O max. Speed, km/h - 216 o time acceleration to 100 km/h, C - 8.6 o counter. Fuel consumption, l/100 km: (mixed) - 10.2 o engine - 4 -cylinder., In order; slave. volume, cm3 - 1970; Power, L.S. at MIN -1 - 155/6400; Twisting, NM at MIN -1 - 191/3500; Power system - injection O transmission - 5 -speed, fur. o Tire size: 205/60vr16 O Wheel suspension: front and rear - non -vain. o Brakes: front - disk., Vent.; Rear - disk. o steering - with a hydraulic power steering about price, $ - 25,000.
Text: Oleg Kalaushin

Source: Magazine 5 wheel