ALFA Romeo test drive 156 1997 - 2003 sedan

Equation with three famous

Once, a temperamental Italian, a respectable German and a Swede clung to a hot skirmish in a hot skirmish. Life is a woman! A free artist, a native of a sunny Turin, waved his hands. And if you manage to carry your hand in hand with her with a whirlwind over the gray roofs of everyday life, she will never go to another! Emotions are what helps us to truly live and achieve the favor of Felichita!.
Look at this Romeo! The unflappable father of the family from Ingolstadt grunted, the owner of a small but profitable workshop and a six -digit bank account. No stable income, no responsibility to children and grandchildren! One thing on mind: pleasure, entertainment, adventure ... With this approach to life, soon you will have nothing left but pasta, chinzano and sun with sea water. Fortunately, you have all this in excess and practically for nothing!. What are you arguing about? A thorough and usually laconic Scandinavus included in a polemic. South, north, West; wine, beer, whiskey; Goethyborg, Oklahoma, love adventures or measured family life ... All this has absolutely equal rights to exist, and everyone chooses from the menu of life what he likes and affected. Yes, at least take a look at who came to what today! What is better than my Saab or your Alfa Romeo with Audi?. And really what?
Alfa Romeo 156 a machine that cannot be fallen in love at first sight. It is not beautiful, not elegant, not delightful, regardless of which design school you give preference and what Mercedes or Nissan you dream of long evenings near Moscow. It is not shameful to have such a car under your window, either an honest businessman of average income, or extravagant impresario. The only reproach for the designers, sticking in a production rush, where the platform for the front license plate got. It seems that the creators remembered about this small but catchy element of design only when it was already too late to make radical changes to the appearance. And in order to harmoniously move the digital hallucination that jumped out on the left cheekbone somewhere in the center of symmetry, the creative team simply did not have enough inspiration ...
Saab 9-3 monumental, like a weathered rock, ingrown with stone roots into the coastal shelf of the Scandinavian fjord. The flesh from the flesh of the last 900th, even in the most absent weather, looks like a jet plane that unfastened the plumage elements that have unnecessary on the road, but still torn into the sky abandoned by the ancestors. When you admire the highway at a highway under a hundred and a half or nine or third, you involuntarily wait for the car to spread the wings, remove the chassis, tear it off from the ground and hide in low thunderclines clouds ... It looks especially good in the monolithic aerodynamic body kit Viggen, but our modest swan of 9-3 SE is not called a ugly duckling. At the same time, one cannot but admit that the appearance of the machine is designed specifically for the connoisseur of the brand, who is well familiar with its history and understands the expression of gloomy faces in the Saab family album.
Audi A4 The well -fed adult child of the public hierarchy of not yet old parents that have been breaking through to the top. Outwardly, the previous car was more original and original. But at the same time there was a stable image of transport for the beautiful half of the speaker in German of humanity. The surface of the autobahns and the seething streams of urban streets were full of four, at which the well-preserved and impeccably tanned business frau with choleric pre -bermans on the rear sofas and full trunk bags from the supermarket sat at the wheel. The new A4 is a completely different story. Now it is a fashionable Unisex with a completely justified claim to recognize strong and prosperous men. You can discuss A4 A4, A8 and TT similarities as much as you like, but no one can convincingly prove that the Audi new product failed. And how i was a success! The stylists have achieved the original effect of the middle class car looks much more solid and larger than the vast majority of their classmates. But this is striking only when the real A6 and A8 are parked next to A4. However, such a neighborhood is unlikely in our area Audi rarely gather in flocks. Unless on the corporate service or at the central entrance of the State Duma. So admire the rear view mirror, as the uninitiated with amazement examines the rear of the four, categorically not understanding why the A4 navaldik is flaunting on the luggage of A6 ...
Inside, these cars differ even more from each other than outside. Alfa Romeo is primarily focused on the driver whose interests are taken into account to the smallest details and details. One has only to immerse yourself in a sports seat with pronounced side supports, put your hands on the rim of a sports three -spoke steering wheel, cast a glance at the round scales of sports devices and signs and you understand that you are captured from which I do not want to run to the will! An ideal place for a driver with ambitions, looking for a continuation of his I in a car. Landing is traditional for Italian machines sitting high, like in a chair. But almost from the first meters of movement, you understand that impeccable specialists were engaged in the ergonomics of the driver's seat. There are only two significant claims. The site for the rest of the left leg in fact is not no matter how much you experiment, you will not find a convenient position on the long journey with its help. And stylish external rear -view mirrors once again confirm that when choosing between beauty and functionality, Italian designers prefer appearance to the detriment of ergonomics more important for the consumer. A review back through these drop -shaped elements of decorative design leaves much to be desired. I am sure that when preparing the next generation of the 156th designers will take into account these shortcomings.
The interior Saab does not fake any surprises in itself. I came, saw the backwaters! Just do not forget that the ignition lock is between the front seats. No matter what is happening overboard, the pilot is always warm and comfortable in the pilot’s cab, and the electric package allows all the manipulations with setting up the workplace for itself exclusively using buttons. There were always a lot of them in Saab, as in any plane, I would have allocated a couple of days to study. The insufficient range of adjusting the steering column in depth is upset and the inability to adjust the angle of its inclination I always wanted to lower the helm and pull it over. Not for takeoff, but to achieve the most convenient landing ...
You can configure A4 perfectly for yourself. No, with the four to never merge in ecstasy, as with the 156th. And do not thaw from snow, as in the 9-3rd. She will always remind you where the driver ends and Audi begins. This is a characteristic feature of any German machine. Still, for the Germans, even the most beautiful mass car remains not so much as a luxury as a means of movement. Based on this Germanite, you should not build the illusions that the machine is a continuation of a person embodied in the metal. No, the car is an extremely convenient and multifunctional unit designed to deliver riders with maximum comfort at the specified address, it is desirable to minimal participation of the driver in the delivery process itself. Little steering wheel, crush the pedals and buttons, switch the programs, enjoy driving but do not teach the car to live and do not bother it to work out the money that you have paid for it. Ready to accept this approach? Then you and Audi are created for each other!
From the point of view of passengers, these cars have much more in common than differences. The back is equally on the back, especially if the audience on the road has been picked up above the average. Do not forget that these are variations on the topic of golf class, and demanding an outstanding internal space from these machines is not entirely correct. But all three hospitably open in front of you the right front doors to sit ahead spacious, comfortable and comfortable. But in Alpha, the fellow traveler is completely deprived of the opportunity to receive any information from the heads drowned deep into the devices even time to find out by the clock hidden from prying eyes only by unfastening the seat belt and practically putting the head of the driver on the shoulder. It is not entirely clear how this can only be explained by the fight against night glare on the windshield? And in Saaba over the left knee of the passenger, a small piece of the central panel threatening and absurdly hangs threateningly and absurdly. So small that you are surprised why he was given such an outstanding role in ergonomics. Of course, the most comfortable passengers feel in A4, after all, the position of the direct competitor of the treshka BMW and Mercedes C-class obliges to hold the style! Which, of course, cannot but affect the price ...
These cars are driving in a completely different way! The 2-liter 150-horsepower Alfa Romeo with the Twin Spark proprietary system for better ignition of the mixture of the dream of any driver with minimal front-wheel drive skills. An excessively configured suspension, optimally selected gear rates in the CP and a sharply honed steering will raise their mood and deliver a true pleasure to the lover of outdoor activities at the wheel. Up to 2000 revolutions, ALFA just rides, breaks up to 4000 and cheerfully gains speed in any of the five gears, and from 4 to 7 thousand flies like a crazy, elegantly noticeing tail of his own traces in the turn to the limit of the possible! In such modes, the engine with two candles on the cylinder sings loudly, like Robertino Loretti, and the sound of the exhaust and the smell of foul rubber scares birds within a radius of several kilometers ... At the same time, it is not necessary to rush headlong from sunset to dawn in the staff from the point of view of traffic rules And our sluggish in the city streets of reality, Alfa modes, unquestioningly obey the driver, allowing you to practically not be distracted by the management process. Here the eternal traffic jams of the metropolis will end, we will jump out into suburban open spaces and drive gasoline through the highways and adrenaline in the veins!
Saab is the most powerful and fast car among the participants in the dough. The 185-horsepower turbo engine confidently carries the car from the bottom. In the city bustle and with measured suburban movement, behavior 9-3 is exactly what an adult sane is necessary. However, the main market for Saab 9-3 the United States of McDonalds and Coca-Cola, and this could not but impose a specific imprint on the suspension. Soft, rolling, weakly resisting rolls and slander, it practically deprives the Swede that has moved to permanent residence in America in America to hold on to alpha and audi in quick turns of the test track. The catastrophic softness of the suspension is best illustrated by this fact: you stand in the extreme left row at a traffic light, a slightly larger car rides a little larger than the oka in the oncoming lane, and Saab sings its air hollow on the racks, like a wave of a wave by a wave by the pier. I am not a lover of Big-macs, so I would order 9-3 with another set of springs and shock absorbers ...
Audi A4 with a 2-liter engine and a mechanical KP is not the best choice. No, in ordinary modes, the car behaves flawlessly, no negative emotions! But in a dense city stream, where you constantly need to move in Stop & Go mode, a meter meter a meter in a traffic jam the right to move in time and space, the engine is catastrophically lacking the moment at revolutions close to idle. In order to confidently move out, you need to raise a tachometer to 1700-2000 min-1. The smaller risk is just to stall. As a result, after half an hour of such a creeping driving, the salon is filled with the aroma of the cashed clutch disc that it will have to be changed once every 10-15 thousand km, along with oil and filters. I would prefer a 2-liter A4 with an automatic machine during our first start we found out that still the car is not for extremes. Although due to complete understanding between the engine and the transmission, good traction from 3500 revolutions and the excellent adjustment of the A4 suspension, it allows us to go actively and quickly. You can generally opt for a turbodiesel. And lovers of thrill to wait for official supplies to Russia 220-horsepower 3L Quattro will have something to talk about with the owners of Subaru Impreza WRX!
Let's summarize. In favor of Alfa Romeo 156, design, philosophy of a bright leader, honorary title of car of the year98 and an extremely competitive price. In addition, the owners of the 156s interviewed by us indicate that this beauty did not bother them with unscheduled repairs and services for 3.5 years of operation. Saab 9-3 as well as come to the court to fans of the Swedish brand. Those who love when the car is comfortable and warm in the car. And for those who want a stylish golf-class car, which allocates its owner from the total mass of classmates released by multimillion-dollar circulations, this is clearly not threatening the 9-3rd. And the Audi success of the A4 in our market guarantees the popularity of the brand growing as in Bavarian beer yeast. What to choose? It all depends on who is closer to you in spirit a temperamental Italian, a respectable burgher or a Swede who moved to permanent residence in America ...
 
Alexey Mochanov,
Photo by Alexander Nozdrin
 
How do they look:
Nikita Rozanov
 
 
 
 
Outside:
When the test participants lined up in a row, it immediately became obvious that all of them, first of all, are very thoroughbred, and the gene pool laid in their design is worth a lot ... Judge for yourself: firstly, they can’t confuse them for anything, for anything. then there are a number of undeniable stylistic features that are stable characteristic of each family; Secondly, the found stylistics found is true, because all these cars stay on the market float for more than one year, and, finally, the style of everyone is a kind of basis for advance forward.
The newcomer is one Audi, which the flesh from the flesh is reduced A6, the plastic of which is slightly adjusted to the almost shocking design of TT and A2. Although in Alfa Romeo the breed of the 147th and 166th models is easily recognized, its style is individual and characteristic. Saab in its design philosophy resembles Audi and confuse the 9-3 model with model 9-5, especially from afar, nothing costs. There is a clear ALFA athlete in the three, whose fierce design is developing a single and sharp fell swoop from the nose, through a dynamic sidewall to insidiously narrowed rear lights. A very small little one lags behind in the Saab style, which is also not indifferent to speeds, which is also indicated by a dynamic bicrobial silhouette, and many spoilers who encircle the car from all sides. The image of Audi, so to say, is the most solid, but not devoid of peculiar dynamics, which is somewhat knitted in chrome frames surrounding a bunk radiator cladding. The picture of the wheels' wheels in all cars is different. Alfa Romeo is the most proprietary and recognizable, solid and most suitable for Audi body style. Here you can see the most professionally made graphics on the trunk lid.

Results:
Alfa Romeo 156 is a very characteristic and refined design that can be recommended either to those who like to attract the attention of others, or to those who can come in handy by the family of professional activity.
Audi A4 The design of the car is characteristic, but not too individual, because it largely repeats the pattern and plastic of the A6 model and, unfortunately, in this context looks somewhat conservative, but so far is still stylish.
Saab 9-3 largely the success of the design of this car owes its image related to the aviation past of the company. Today, aviation technologies are different, and the style of the car will soon need a radical replacement.
Inside:
The interiors of all cars are performed efficiently and endowed with easily memorable features. The composition of the instrument panel is individual and characteristic in its own way. So, Audi has a classic T-shaped, and at its base there is a wide and solid filled console; In Saab, the role of the console is secondary, and the composition rests on the wide horizontal plane of the instrument panel. Alfa Romeo has radically sculptured the design of the panel and is endowed with a number of promising innovations. For example, the actively flowing relief of the instrument panel into the upholstery of the doors or more than the rest, the free space for the front passenger. In addition, the interior of the Italian car is closest to the sports style. A three -spoke steering wheel, and separate round devices, and the shape of the front seats work for this. Audi is traditionally functional, but it looks somewhat conservative, and the thin chrome moldings with which the interior is decorated only enhance this impression.

Results:
Alfa Romeo 156 is a very stylish and modern solution, exactly addressed to energetic and mobile people. True, sometimes the style becomes an obstacle to convenience.
The Audi A4 is a traditionally functional approach to design and high quality finishes are adjacent to a sense of morally outdated solution, which will soon need a replacement.
SAAB 9-3 that has become a traditional solution to design and high quality execution create an atmosphere of good-natured conservatism and the test of constancy time.
 

How they sound:
Maxim Rakitin
 
Of the three dough participants, only two SAAB 9-3 and Audi A4 are equipped with regular audio systems. Alfa Romeo 156 is offered to customers with audio training and six speakers.

Saab 9-3
The car is equipped with a system consisting of a two-dine CD-reiver and six speakers. Harmann-Kardon experts are obeyed over the system. The large header clearly lacks a cassette player, although there are plenty of space for it. Information from the device is reflected on the screen of the triple-computer, and control of the main functions is duplicated on the steering wheel. Very comfortably. A tuner with AM and FM ranges works paired with telescopic antenna. This partly worsens the quality of the reception, especially in the buildings and beyond the city. Settings are made both in manual and automatic modes. The stations automatically fill the memory cells in increasing frequency. The tuner is equipped with a RDS with PTY modes and that, in addition, there is a function of memorizing stations with the most confident technique (BSM).
The CD player easily and quickly swallows the disk, but at the same time it reads it as long as 5 seconds. Search and passage of paths are carried out by the same keys as the tuner, plus DU on the steering wheel. Of the service functions, there is only a free reproduction of a disk/disks in a chainer. The system sounds excellent. There is no need to regulate low and high frequencies for each type of musical works. There is no subtlepent, but this does not affect the quality and saturation of sound. A well -made acoustic space behind the speakers allows all frequencies, especially low, to honestly work out on the system of $ 370. Very inexpensive, given the sound quality and high system power.

Audi A4
A complex and multicomponent Audi Chorus system for A4 was created by Bose specialists. It consists of a CD reserve, six speakers and a subwoofer. All management is entrusted to logically arranged crosses and shoulder keys. Information from a large display is duplicated on the screen of the triple computer on the instrument panel. This distracts the driver from the road, especially when the RDS line runs along the screen. A tuner with two standard ranges and RDS is distinguished by a rather confident technique in the city and simply exemplary behind its line. Two ranges account for four memory banks for six presets. Settings manual and automatic. The first, however, is difficult to activate due to a confused menu and an incomprehensible algorithm for functional keys.
Sidyuk is soft and rabbits, it thinks for 3 seconds, after which the disk begins to play. The service menu is more diverse than in Saab 9-3. There is a free disk reproduction, and playing the first 10 seconds, and a pause. The sound of the system does not quite correspond to its sophistication. It is very high -quality and powerful, but the subwoofer cannot be heard even on fatal and dance compositions. In addition, the speakers in the front doors working simultaneously, for some reason, strive to break into the overload at any opportunity. In the end, you can just make it quieter, and everything will fall into place.

Source: Cars