Test Drive Alfa Romeo 156 2003 - 2005 Sedan
Love Formula
The end of the year is traditionally rich in contests. But if politicians and beauties are awarded at the end of the year of the outgoing, then the car of the year is chosen by an advance. Competition of the 1998 car won the Italian Concern Fiat, who submitted to the journalistic jury the jury a novelty of the Frankfurt Motor Show - Alfa Romeo 156.
Romeo Plus Juliett
At the development stage, the car had the name of his own - Juliet and had to go to the series precisely under this name. But at the last stage of the work, a member of the Coordination Council of the Fiat concern and a volitional decision left for the machine only the index - 156. Then it was found that the authors simply forgot to foresee the area at the number. As a result, I had to adapt the left part of the bumper - for Italy, where the numbers with two packs of cigarettes are not very important.
Scenario, scenario and once again scenario - such is the formula for the success of the Great Charlie Chaplin. Design, design and once again design - this is obviously the formula for the success of engineers and designers of FIATA.
Outwardly, Alfa Romeo is not at all like the rest of modern cars, like a ring made by the Great Faberge, does not like the work of his undoubtedly talented students. In addition to canonical beauty, the beauty is present. It will be good to describe her forms, perhaps, a professional art historian, awarded the depth of perspective in the juggling of expressions, motility influence on the subconscious and the like.
But the designers of Fiat Bicycle were not inherited. We have a four-door sedan with pronounced sports forms. But here's a little barcode - designers hid the handle of the back door in the window opening, and the front handle was made of silver metal in order to face more. Externally, the car looks like a sports coupe, and even our photographer bought this trick, who for his life in art photographed many cars, even the most extravagant and unusual. He was extremely surprised when he discovered the second doorway of quite normal sedan sizes.
Bar number two - a powerful front bumper, which literally chopped in half alfovskoy characteristic V-shaped grille. Such a composition in combination with a long hood and short but high boot attaches around the car-rapid predatory species.
From Alpha to Omega
The plant portfolio of six different engines - four petrol and two diesel. The weakest in the family of gasoline - 1.6-liter and 120 hp The most powerful - the six-cylinder power of 190 hp and a volume of 2.5 liters. On a car with this engine is installed only six-speed gearbox, which allows you to fully enjoy the sporty Alfa Romeo. All other models are equipped with a conventional five-speed gearbox. , Believing Machine engineers are not even stipulated that a true athlete prefers to do things with their hands.
But whether true athlete wants a diesel engine? Might very well be, as the Alfa Romeo 156 is equipped with two types of new diesel engines, and the Fiat company, probably the first in Europe who dared to offer a diesel car in its class. For Alpha 156 have been specially developed diesel engines with direct fuel injection, turbocharging and intercooler. As a result, the most powerful five-cylinder engine capacity of 2.4 liters and 136 hp It accelerates to 203 km / h. Start speaker also looks impressive - for 9.5 seconds. to 100 km / h. Not bad for a tractor engine.
Unfortunately, diesel engines do not use love in Russia, and the autopilot was able to witness only the weakest petrol motor. Press releases say that in order to achieve greater power efficiency while maintaining the engineers used an entirely new injection system with variable geometry.
Do not believe the rumors! These meager technical phrases disguised normal human foppery! They say that the Alfa Romeo engineers have done these jokes on the injection system with one goal - to achieve a special roaring engine sound. As in sports cars anywhere in the race at Le Mans. Well, they did it. If the engine is almost inaudible outside, when you open the hood of the sound is really serious - like a racing car, only a few decibels quieter.
The similarity with the major sports equipment complements the autonomous fire extinguishing system - for the first time faced with this on a serial machine.
Nostalgia They say, in Europe, replicars and vintage cars are rapidly included in Europe. No wonder all modern cars are very similar from the inside one to another, and differences in the interior decoration and the combinations of devices are minimized. You sit down, quickly look the workspace and easily determine what you need to pull so that the car comes to life.
But the old car, as a real English gentleman, is inherent in strict elegance and individuality, which today is not enough today.
The best new is well forgotten old. The Italians proved this again, expressing in the design of the salon Alfa Romeo 156 nostalgia for old good times. It is all on their usual places, but it looks like the first time very unusual and very stylish.
Before the driver's eyes, there is nothing superfluous - only speedometer and tachometer. Not a dashboard, namely, a separate tachometer, a separate speedometer. As on sports cars of the 50s or on replicaras like Morgan Plus 8. There is a block of control lamps between them, which goes out after the engine started, and the driver's more attention is not distracted. But the main devices are just attracted - primarily due to the unusual arrangement of the arrows. When the motor is turned off, they do not lie in the usual place between the family and eight hours, as a professional pilot would say. They look strictly down, as if emphasizing the fact that the car is really at rest.
Auxiliary devices are put on the central console. In order not to overload the driver information, the engineers left only a gasoline consumption sensor, a clock and a cooling fluid temperature sensor.
This unit is also designed in a classic style - three separate round dial of a pleasant silver color, like a speedometer with a tachometer. Only the diameter is exactly two times less.
Obviously, further before developers a question arose - what to make a climate control panel so that it does not fall out of the overall style? And we must pay tribute - they found a worthy way out. Under the dials of the auxiliary devices, three round handles are placed like those that stand on Sony's video recorders. Rotating rings can adjust the air temperature, fan speed and flow direction. The buttons inside the rotating ring are included in the air conditioner, rear window heater and air duct valve.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Everything else is familiar, usually and relevant, although carefully hidden from indiscreet views. Between the seats we found the control of electric mirrors and fog lights, on the door - electric windows.
Seats are quite modern, with good lateral support - tribute to sport style and car character. Like a three-spoke steering wheel, which is carefully hidden a airbag.
It is enough to touch with the place, and the feeling of what you plunged into the past, disappears. In the hands of a real sports car end of the twentieth century. With intensive acceleration from the spot, it is no longer the time to admire the interior decoration, all attention is paid to management. As it should be at sports cars, on Alfa Romeo 156 so-called pinned gear ratios - the engine instantly responds to incorrectly enabled transmission and the tachometer arrow immediately approaches the red zone. Maybe a little inconvenient in the city, but will undoubtedly like those who prefer aggressive ride style and do not be lazy to work the gearbox lever.
From the car with a similar character, it is quite possible to expect a tough suspension, immediately responding to small rods and bumps. But no - Italian designers were used in Alfa Romeo a new type of multi-dimensional suspension than achieving amazing smoothness. Even in the steep turns on a decent speed, the car perfectly keeps the road and obediently responds to the work of the steering wheel.
In general, the big rank from Fiat was right - with all the external and inner beauty it is not Juliet. In its temperament, this is a real Romeo.
Autopilot thanks Motor Show Alpha Romeo, (095) 959-1433, for the car provided for a test.
The 156th model is a pioneer: she is entrusted to start the revival of buying love for the once famous, and now a thoroughly forgotten brand. That is why such irrepressible joy caused the Italian assignment of the 156th title of the European car of 1998.
Alfa is actually terribly lucky. A few months ago no one even doubted that the title of the car of the year would get a Mercedes A-Class. The rest of the applicants were inflicted - until the very moment when a pretty Stuttgart kid turned over on the forest Scandinavian road during the test, which is figuratively called a detour of the standing elk, and we are more famous for the name of the rearrangement. It is later inverted by a month later, and everything would be different. In general, all these car ranks are a lottery.
But since it was so lucky, Alfa Romeo decided not to miss the moment and develop success. Immediately revised in the direction of increasing the cost of advertising a new car. About the new rank of alpha steel began to pipe press, television, radio. On the rear window of each ALFA ROMEO 156 (and there are already 40 thousand orders, and there are already providing the inscription in the car of the 98th year (somewhat exaggerating the merit of Alfa, which became the first after all in Europe, and not in the world). In total, all this demonstration will cost expansive Italians of $ 2.9 million.
Mercedesovtsovtsy, for their part, are comforted by the fact that anyone has not yet managed to take at least some place with a car that turns out: it means that everything else is really completely in it.
But in general, it's great that everything happened so unexpectedly. Finally, the car of the year was not another to the stupidity of a practical car, "the English Times admitted, and the beauty car. Do not care that on the side there is no so useful when parking moldings, that the back seat does not fold, but the turning radius is too large. But this is a real Alfa in all its former beauty.
Model / Modification ALFA ROMEO 156
FIAT AUTO S.P.A manufacturer.
Manufacturer Country ITALY
BODY
Sedan type
Number of doors / places 4/5
ENGINE
Type petrol with electronic control system for fuel injection
Front location transversely
Working volume (cube cm) 1598
Number / Cylinder Location 4 / Angle
Cylinder diameter x
piston (mm) 82 x 75.65
Compression ratio of 10.3 x 1
Power, kW (hp) with rpm. / Min. 88 (120) at 6300
Moment, nm at rpm. / Min. 144 at 4500.
Number of valves for cylinder 4
TRANSMISSION
Type mechanical five-speed
Front wheel drive
SUSPENSION
Front independent double-handed, transverse stability stabilizer
Rear independent type MacPherson, transverse stability stabilizer
STEERING
Type of gear-rail with hydraulic
Torkemose
Front disk
Rear disk
ABS Standard equipment
Wheels
Tire size 185/65 HR 15
Disk size 6J x 15 ''
Sizes / About EMA / Weight
Length / Width / Height (mm) 4430/1745/1415
Sizes of the luggage compartment (cube dm) 378
Wheel base (mm) 2595
Front / Pig (MM) Pitch (mm) 1519/1506
Volume of fuel tank (L) 63
Dry mass (kg) 1230
Dynamic characteristics
Maximum speed (km / h) 200
Acceleration up to 100 km / h (sec.) 10.5
The diameter of the reversal (M) 11.1
Economy
Fuel consumption (l / 100 km)
90 km / ppm / 120 km / h / urban cycle, l 6.4 / 8.2 / 11.4
The price of a cleared car in Moscow is $ 35,000
And what else
The first time the editorial office went to a dead end when identifying classmates. Usually we try to select cars, similar in power, engine volume, dynamics and, of course, price. We were looking for a four-door sedan with sports characteristics. And they realized that for such money in Russia, do not buy a similar car. Those who pay attention only to overclocking characteristics, we recommend not to look for a similar car among sedans, but to search for alternative options among the sports coupe. But this is another song. But what happened.
For the price and dynamic characteristics closest to Alfa Romeo costs Renault Laguna RXE. True, with the reservation: the engine volume from the French for 400 cubes more, and the power is less than several horses less.
Citroen Xcara. A new model that has just went to the series and appeared on the European market at the same time from Alpha Romeo. It is distinguished by the revolutionary for the company Citroen design and good dynamic characteristics. At the price of Xcara is much cheaper than Alfa Romeo and perfectly suitable for those who carefully watched that he sings the car fashion. By the way, another contender for the title of the year '98. Scored 204 points.
Mazda Xedos 6. So far, not a very popular car, as evidenced by the fact that it is supplied to Russia only on request. For those who understand, it means. In our opinion, the most pretty one among other competitors. With an alfa romeo, the engine volume is clearly losing the 156th in characteristics (weaker) and price (above).
But with all possible similarities and differences, any classmates lose Alfa Romeo in one - a machine, like design, you will not find.
Nikolay Kachurin,
Dmitry Novokreshchenov (photo)
A source: "Autopilot"
