ALFA Romeo test drive 156 1997 - 2003 sedan

156 Sportwagon 1.6 TS

The universally recognized car queen, the irresistible Italian Alfa Romeo 156, conquering millions of hearts all over the world in its original form, now decided to demonstrate the variety of her outfits.
After an avant-garde in the style of a 4-door body type of sedan-compartment, the car appears in the new version of the station wagon. The wonderful designer Walter da Silva managed to take care of this two years ago before leaving for Spanish Seat and created an elegant universal department of 156 Sportwagon. Even the very name of the new Italian barn, in which the word sport is in the first place, emphasizes the concept of Mashino. Yes, in connection with the many wishes of family customers, the 156th acquired a more practical 5-door body, but it does not follow at all that a beautiful car has become a utilitarian square carrier! That is why the ALFA Romeo marketing service calls not to be considered 156 Sportwagon as a station wagon itself. This is just the same beautiful sport-sedan, but with an enlarged cargo compartment, representatives of the Milan automaker say slyly. However, for the 156 model, which already became a record holder in sales in the modern story of Alfa Romeo, the appearance of a new body was extremely necessary. It is no secret that the triumph of the 156th could be even more stunning, but ... tens of thousands of customers who really like the design of the model simply cannot afford to purchase the 156th as the main car because of the well-known features of the beauty of the miniature and A very uncomfortable trunk and lack of space for the rear passengers. And at the same time, for those who want to buy Alfa Romeo, the image of the image is of priority. Therefore, the company could not offer a banal cargo-passenger version of Alfa 156. All designer delights and theses of marketers are just aimed at convincing the doubters: Alfa Romeo will remain itself even with the body a la station wagon. And we, for example, believed in it!
 
Logical illogicality
But before, some of the modern realities of the Russian car market. We can be proud that the peak of ALFA 156 hobbies, which overwhelmed Western European markets, was also reflected in ours. Despite the practical lack of sales of the model through the official network of Fiat dealers, ALFA 156 became a frequent guest on the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. As in Europe, many buyers did not give a damn about the obvious impracticality of the model, a low resold price (characteristic of machines of this brand), not the best reliability in the world and invested only in the beauty of the car. Divine beauty. We have repeatedly tested the model (see No. 3, 1998, No. 6, 1998, No. 7, 1999) and also invariably fell under the influence of these witchcraft spells, calling for readers: if you like it, then you need to buy thoughts! Something like if you love to marry! And many Russians connected themselves with legal ties with a temperamental Italian. Dozens of private car dealerships who brought the 156th from Europe were at the service of the loved ones. The sellers themselves do not get tired of surprising: with the most unfavorable state of the market, even in the midst of a financial crisis, almost every car dealership received 23 orders for the 156th per month. In order not to be unfounded, let’s say that over the past year only ITalkon, the Finnish importer of Alfa Romeo, sold to Russian clients more than 100 Alfa 156 sedans! There is no doubt that more than one hundred came to us from other countries. This is really a sensation, given the very modest sales of other Fiat models in Russia.
Truly, real passion is stronger than considerations of practice and all kinds of prejudices. However, one pragmatic feature of the Russian syndrome differs: 90% of the sold ALFA 156 cars are equipped with the smallest engine of 1.6 liters, which, of course, is due to preferential customs clearance and low retail price. The same fact suggests that the 156th is buying just representatives of the middle class. Therefore, for the first test of the new 156 Sportwagon, we have chosen a car with a engine of a Russian volume of 1.6 liters. By the way, ALFA 156 tests with the same engine in the sedan version every time convinced us that this is one of the best engines of this volume on the market!
Pleasant bulges
Connoisseurs, of course, remember that the main highlight in the design of the sedan 156 is the handle of the rear doors hidden in the rear rack. As a result, a 4-door body seems 2-door, and therefore the term sedan-wrapper appeared. When creating a station wagon, the same principle was used. The convex back of the Sportwagon, slightly rolling and at the same time very elegant, and an almost invisible rear rear door form form an unusual swift profile, which actually resembles the English Shooting Brake (coupe transformed into a cargo -passenger version) than, for example, typical massive Sarai from Germany. Sportwagon's profile is really unique. And in front and behind, the appearance of the station wagon is almost identical to the sedan. In general, no one doubted that the crossing of the station wagon and the coupe would benefit Alfa 156. Stylistically ... for from the point of view of practicality of Sportwagon in this dilemma, the last component often wins.
 
An unusual rear door opens access to the luggage compartment, and he ... with his shape and volume is ready to compete with Alfa 156 trunk in the sedan version. Moreover, according to official figures, the capacity of the coffee of this station wagon is 360 liters, that is, 18 liters ... less than that of the sedan! But, however, this is only the volume of the trunk under a comfortable retractable curtain that separates the trunk almost in half. The car that we went to the test was equipped with a very practical dividing net separating the trunk from the cabin. Due to the presence of this grid, the luggage compartment can be filled with luggles to the limit, occupying a volume of more than 600 liters. But the defiantly modest volume of the trunk struck, and his shape simply delighted: a narrow compartment of the irrational configuration with strongly protruding wheeled arches, which eat a lot of space, limited access m and a large loading height (at the station wagon!). Decisively, the engineers did not have the task of bringing the transportation of volumetric weights into priorities and making the trunk as large as possible.
 
In fact, 156 Sportwagon does not belong to the wagon family, where each detail serves for the only purpose to squeeze at least another additional liter of the luggage compartment, because the buyers of sheds are primarily interested in cargo capacity. The potential client of Alfa, as we have long understood, belongs to another formation: he is important more or less acceptable capacity, and the luggage volume will never be the main indicator for him. In this sense, 156 Sportwagon is fully consistent with the wishes of the client. This is really a car that can take on board the luggage of five passengers, but to fight the Swabian sheds for the title of trunk, as it were! But how elegantly the rear door of Sportwagon opens: a decent segment of the roof is leaning upside down with it. It is unlikely that it will ever come in handy during operation, but it looks beautiful. And two very stylish boxes of decent volume in the right and left wings, closed with chrome lids?! As in the case of Sedan, the creators of Alfa Romeo do not pursue unequivocal goals, if you want, they do spontaneously, giving preference to the solutions of extraordinary and elegant. In fact, Sportwagon can be shed on wheels, for this it is enough to fold the rear seats (in a ratio of 1: 2). And here is a cargo platform with a perfectly flat floor of 1180 liters. Of course, the above amounts of cargo capacity by 1525% are inferior to the indicators of competing German universals, but the approach of Italians, adhering to the principle of beauty more important than liters, makes us admire. When creating a station wagon, put the style at the forefront, ignoring many utilitarian moments, this requires certain determination in terms of marketing.
 
In parallel, I want to say about several points. For two and a half years of release, the company noticeably pulled the quality of Alfa Romeo 156 in terms of assembly and in relation to the materials used. Progress is noticeable if you compare the plastic of the front panel and the upholstery of the seats of the current machines with the first copies released in 1997. This is a very important detail for the Alfa Romeo brand, which has traditionally had quality problems. The design, the equipment of the salon and the internal dimensions are the same as that of the sedan, except that the height of the ceiling is slightly larger. However, it's time to turn to a story about running tests in which the machines of this brand have never had to be shy about their advantages!
Under the load of trunk
The dimensions of the station wagon on the basis of the 156th remained identical to the sedan. Designers preserved the initially incomparable body proportions, resisted from the rear overjection characteristic of all station wagons to the maximum. With a length of 4430 mm 5-door Alfa, one of the most compact in this segment is still one of the most compact. Unfortunately, the potentially possible large load on the rear axle forced the designers to change the design of the machine chassis, which earned an excellent reputation on the sedan. Favorite -beloved engineers of the Milan company, the front and back on the double triangular levers had to be modified. The front suspension remained the same, and the rear was very simplified here to put the classic Mcphereson (a huge vertical shock absorber stand of which eats up a lot of space in the luggage compartment). Nevertheless, such a rear suspension design was necessary for installing the NIVOMATIC system of BOGE. The hydraulic corrector automatically compensates for the position of the body depending on the loading of the trunk, leaving the clearance unchanged. For the station wagon Alfa Romeo, an overloaded back is completely unacceptable on the ground! The transformation of the suspension that delighted us during the tests of the sedan bothered us the most: will the beauty behavior be as magnificent as before?
 
In general, the answer is positive. The passage of the turns along the most provoking trajectories showed that the 156th station wagon has excellent terminal stability, and the previous front suspension design made it possible to maintain unforgettable liveliness, the acuteness of the behavior of the front axis of the machine in the machine almost perfect neutral rotation. Of course, at the station wagon, the rear suspension became significantly softer, in dashing turns, it is the back that shows noticeable rolls, which were not at all for the sedan. However, with the full loading of the trunk, this difference, probably, would not be so noticeable. But repeatedly noted by us, delightful (almost at the BMW level) filtration of irregularities and the lack of vibrations of the suspension remained unchanged. The sound insulation of the salon is the same as that of the sedan, and has long been considered one of the best among the machines of the segment D. The brakes of the 156th are delighted with tenacity and nature of the operation. Such an infantry picture somewhat spoils the usual turning radius of rotation, which is familiar to Alfa Romeo, the U -turn on this machine brings significantly more trouble than on many cars of similar dimensions. Yes, and the visibility expected with avant -garde design is disappointed. Even in the absence of luggage in the trunk, small rear windows leave a very narrow viewing field, and with a divided net about an intra -axial rear -view mirror, you can completely forget it. It is funny if you take into account that the station wagons are usually characterized by much better visibility compared to sedans. But not Alfa!
 
Finally, the turn came to dynamic indicators. And ... a small but brave motor with a volume of 1.6 liters, equipped with the famous Twin Spark (two candles on the cylinder), with all despair showed that ... he was much better live under the hood of the sedan. The company claims that the station wagon is heavier than the sedan by only 30 kg, and the Sportwagon body is the best among the sheds, it has a lobeal resistance coefficient of the circuits of only 0.30! All trump cards for dynamic, energetic driving in a sports style are evident. Only the reserve of the base engine, which worthy of using its capabilities on the sedan, is clearly not enough for the station wagon. Yes, by promoting this high -cost unit up to 5000 rpm, you can show a rather decent dynamics, and on the highway after several minutes in the pedal mode, the car honestly reaches a passport speed of 200 km/h. But there is no longer the liveliness, enthusiasm that the motor shows on the sedan. In addition, the emergency of the engine at the lower revolutions is not very good for a cargo -passenger station wagon. In other words, from an economic point of view, the choice of a 1.6-liter motor for Sportwagon is still quite justified, but if you imagine that the barn is often used with full load, then the prospect of acquiring a machine with a powerful 2-liter engine (155 liters. p.) It seems inevitable. Although, of course, most of the potential buyers prefers to order a model with excellent TYP-Bodyiseles JTD with a volume of 1.9 or 2.4 liters. On the other hand, better in total, ALFA Romeo philosophy corresponds to a station wagon with the most powerful engine, an amazing, almost racing V6 volume of 2.5 liters, but then the price of the car is already approaching BMW or Audi!
 
But back to our unit: a 1.6-liter baby still pleases with silence during work (and even at maximum speed), pleasant metal notes in the voice and excellent efficiency need to try very much so that the consumption exceeds 10 l/100 km.
If the 156 sedan is known for its originality, then we can say that the car on its base is doubly original. As we made sure, the utilitarian image of a dragging horse for boring pensioners does not smell here. The Alfa 156 Sportwagon station wagon remains a dandy, a mischievous machine for proud and advanced owners. This is perhaps the first station wagon in our practice, the appearance of which makes people turn around (even in Italy!) And admire. Now, for the potential buyer, Alfa 156, the choice between sedan and the station wagon is determined not by whether it is shy or not, but by the need: does he need a large trunk or small coffee, and the fixed back of the back seat of the sedan will completely arrange it. As for prestige and sports, we believe that both bodies are absolutely equivalent in these parameters. Sportwagon is perhaps even more original and absolutely avant -garde. In addition, which is characteristic of Italian mass machines, Alfa 156 remains an inexpensive model. The price of Sportwagon with a 1.6 liter engine in the basic configuration should not exceed 20 thousand dollars. Now, obviously, even to a greater extent than before, it is beneficial to make marriages with Italian according to the calculation. We think that such marriages will certainly be happy for you!
Some technical characteristics of Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon 1.6 TS
(manufacturer data)
Dimensions, mm 4430x1745x1430
Equipped mass, kg 1280
Base, mm 2595
Clearance, mm 140
The lugger volume min/max, l 360/1180
Type of engine gasoline
4-cylinder
Working volume, cubic meter. cm 1598
Max. Power, L.S./rpm 120/6300
Max. moment, nm/rpm 144/4500
Front -wheel drive
Mechanical transmission 5-speed
Disk brakes on all wheels
Tires 185/65 R15
Max. Speed, km/h 200
Acceleration time 0-100 km, from 11
Tank volume, l 63
Ivan Vesnin
Photo by the author
 
 

Source: Avtopanorama magazine