Alfa Romeo 159 3.2 JTS V6 Q4 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Alfa Romeo 159 3.2 JTS V6 Q4
Prices: £28,285- £30,340 – on the road
Insurance Group: 16
Emissions: 273g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 7.2s Max Speed 147mph
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 24.4 mpg
Safety: Twin front, side and knee airbags, ABS, traction and stability control, ABS with brake assist
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4660/1828/1417mm

159 V6 TO THE POWER OF FOUR

Our Rating: 7.4 / 10

Alfa Romeo’s 159 3.2 litre V6 has one or two surprises up its sleeve. Andy Enright reports

Objectivity is easier with some cars than others. As much as I’d love to tell you how many cupholders, how much rear knee room and what sort of pence per mile figure you could expect over a three year/36,000 mile ownership period with Alfa Romeo’s 159 3.2-litre V6, I’m sorry; I just can’t. I’m going to put my hands up, surrender my responsibilities as your doughty motoring correspondent and just sit here for a while looking at the thing.

I’m not the only one who’s been beguiled by this car’s styling. There are whole legions of buyers who don’t care about the interior ergonomics, boot space, fuel economy, emissions, materials quality or even, within reasonable bounds, the car’s asking price. All they know is they’ve seen one in the pages of a magazine and they want one. Badly. This ‘want one’ reaction is something all manufacturers attempt to build into their cars and Alfa are better at it than most. Just don’t look at a 159 and a Brera. It could be financially ruinous.

The 260bhp 3.2-litre model we examine here is the range-topping variant, priced from around £28,000, and is offered not only in saloon guise but also as a snake-hipped Sportwagon model too. I’d hesitate to call it an estate because it’s exactly the same length as the saloon and doesn’t appear to offer too many advantages in carrying room, but it’s also devastatingly handsome. The sleek lines of the long roof give it a coupé feel, as does the roof spoiler and the edgy aerodynamic styling, while a flexible and functional interior offers improved versatility when compared to the old 156 Sportwagon. If you’re planning on hauling furniture about, however, you’ll probably need to shop elsewhere.

Enthusiasts may well be thinking that 260bhp is an awful lot to direct through the front wheels of the car and they’d be right. Although the old 156GTA was an exciting ride, there was no doubt that it was right at the limits of what it could deploy to the tarmac. Accelerate that car hard and the nose would rise, weight over the front wheels would reduce and you’d see the traction control light flashing dementedly as the electronics fought to control wheelspin, the engine cutting power back. Especially in the wet. This proved rather frustrating when trying to exploit the car’s magnificent engine but the 159 has all the answers. Rather than rely on just the front wheels, the 159 3.2 V6 spreads the burden amongst all four. Yes, you did read that right, this car features Alfa’s Q4 all-wheel drive system, giving it some genuine all weather capability.

It’s properly quick too, getting to 60mph in a fraction over 6 seconds and running on to a top speed in excess of 150mph. Based on a Holden unit from Australia, this is not the 3.2-litre many will have been expecting but it’s not a direct transplant, Alfa Romeo having done a whole raft of tuning and fettling in order to give it that characteristic Alfa sound. You won’t buy this engine for its economy or emissions. You’ll buy it for its ability to put a number on rivals from BMW, Audi and Mercedes in virtually any weather condition and at a price that undercuts rivals when equipment counts are taken into consideration.

After watching one appear in my rear-view at the Nurburgring, I can assure you this vehicle has more overtaking presence than almost any BMW, the gimlet-eyed headlamps and razor-sharp front grille looking rather intimidating. The rear end is genuinely tricky to differentiate from the 156 at first glance, but the side view shows sharper creasing and swage lines with a longer front end. As cohesive a piece of penmanship as the 156 was, the 159 is a better-balanced car.

The architecture of the 159’s cabin is p