My Alfa 159Ti

[Rochester TVR]

Owned it for nearly a year now as the family run about... so thought its about time I put some photos up and a good excuse to get to grips with some new photo freeware...

It's my first Alfa and is the 2.4JTDm model.

Here are my efforts.
Cheers.

[Hairspray]

Its not just stunning 'for a saloon', its stunning full stop!

[v1paul]

One of the best looking cars on the market today and your one looks fantastic.

[Pferdestarke]

Superb car. How is the 2.4 lump?

[Flanders.]

I bloody love them.

[snotrag]

I get a little lift every time I see one of these - that somebody has chosen over a 3 series/Mondeo etc.

Sir has taste.

They are quite fantastic looking cars arent they. Alfa's make the world a better place

[Rochester TVR]

Thanks for the comments. It does get a fair few looks on the road.

The 2.4 lump is IMO the best balanced engine for the car and the type of driving I do it in, which is just commuting to the station and the wife doing the nursery run etc. I had it remapped a while ago which gave it 244bhp / 440lbs ft torque so its quite difference to drive than a standard one, alot smoother with more grunt. (I'll dig out the dyno print outs and scan them in if anyones interested?).

Edited by Rochester TVR on Monday 29th March 23:00

[hornetrider]

snotrag said:

I get a little lift every time I see one of these - that somebody has chosen over a 3 series/Mondeo etc.

Sir has taste.

They are quite fantastic looking cars arent they. Alfa's make the world a better place

Agreed. I nodded at a Ti driver this morning as I bimbled past on the motorway and got a nice nod back.

[Killer2005]

Lovely motor

[Max M4X WW]

Ever since I saw one of these with the wheels yours has etc, I loved them.

One thing I have always thought though - are the headlights a mare to clean?

[Paul6217]

Beautiful car , nice photography too

[DBSV8]

trying to get my head around this

Looking at replacing my 3 litre IS sportcross,

so looked at the 159 Sportswagon which is very similar in size .

the figures for the 1.7 are

200 bhp
0-62 = 7.9
146 mph
34 mpg

the 2.2

185bhp
0-62 = 8.9
138 mph
30.4 mpg

the 3.2

260 bhp
0-62 = 7.2
150 mph
24.6 mpg


The question is the 1.7 seems to offer excellent performance compared to the 2.2 or 3.2 is there any reason for this ?

its got better performance than my 3 litre sportcross if the figures are correct

really like the style of the sportswagon for a small estate , heres the 1.7 version





comparison with 300 IS Sportcross

211 bhp
0-62 = 8.4
143 mph
25.2 mpg







The Alfa 1.7 seems to be a very good replacement the Sportcross is bulletproof reliability with excellent dealership , how does the Alfa compare in this respect

[hornetrider]

DBSV8 said:

The question is the 1.7 seems to offer excellent performance compared to the 2.2 or 3.2 is there any reason for this ?

It's a new engine design compared to the older tech in the other two.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Al...

DBSV8 said:

The Alfa 1.7 seems to be a very good replacement the Sportcross is bulletproof reliability with excellent dealership , how does the Alfa compare in this respect

The 159 is a generally problem free car.

http://www.dekra-faultsreport.com/index.php?id=15&...

Oh... and just look at it!

[Chr1sch]

I gotta say with those wheels and the low sporty stance i love them - looks fantastic!

[Rochester TVR]

DBSV8; I had a 1.7 MITO loan car while my 159 was at the dealership, it was a fantastic engine and in the MITO it was quite quick aswell.

I haven't driving a 159 with the 1.7 but if it drove anything like the MITO I had I would choose that engine over any other (Inc. 2.4).

In terms of reliability it has been fine. I get the impression that Alfa are really trying to change the reputation they have over here...

If you do get one make sure it's had it geometry corrected, the factory seem to send out the 159's with the tracking set up for optimal handling ignoring the small issue of wearing through the inside edge on a set of Pirellis in about 5,000 miles.

Lastly if your looking at the SW, they look sooo much better without the roof rails....

Edited by Rochester TVR on Monday 6th December 22:14

[Maty]

Agreed, without doubt THE best looking saloon you can buy at the moment, why there aren't lots more of these out on the roads is a mystery.

What sort of MPG do you get with the remap then? Can you remember whether or not the MPG changed much from before the remap?

I really fancy ones of these next but unfortunately the Ti is out of my price range, good thing is though, even the Lusso in Alfa red looks far better than any 3 series, Merc or Audi you can buy at the moment!

[TVR Tommy]

I really like the look of the TI. I keep meaning to arrange a test drive. Ideal spec for me would be a 3.2 or a 2.4 with Q4. Alfa should pull their finger out and make a GTA version with a Maserati V8.

[ExPat2B]

You have to remember with the IS sportcross is that Lexus, for some completely unknown reason put the end of the 2nd gear ratio at 59/58 mph.

So it needs to go into third to reach 60 which adds a couple of seconds to the 0-60 time. If you look at the in gear acceleration times they are better than a BMW 330, which explains why they feel a lot quicker than the 8.4 second 0-60 suggests.

[jamieboy]

DBSV8 said:

The question is the 1.7 seems to offer excellent performance compared to the 2.2 or 3.2 is there any reason for this ?

As above, the 1750 is a new engine which will eventually replace the 2.2 and 3.2, I think, in different states of tune. The 3.2 is fine, the 2.2 was atrocious - general opinion is that the 1750 is the engine it should have had from launch.

I've had my ti Sportwagon since July 08 and the reliability's been fine. It's had a couple of niggles - a microswitch broke in the latch mechanism for the rear door so the lights in the estate bit didn't work, and the driver's door wasn't quite aligned right so needed to be adjusted. Really, nothing that any other car wouldn't have.

Rochester TVR said:

DBSV8; I had a 1.7 MITO loan car while my 159 was at the dealership, it was a fantastic engine and in the MITO it was quite quick aswell.

They don't do the MiTo with the 1750 engine, do they? The petrols are all different 1.4s (95, 120, 135, 155bhp), and the diesels are 1.3 and 1.6.

[Rochester TVR]

jamieboy said:

They don't do the MiTo with the 1750 engine, do they? The petrols are all different 1.4s (95, 120, 135, 155bhp), and the diesels are 1.3 and 1.6.

My mistake, it was the 155hp petrol, impressive engine though...

Maty said:

What sort of MPG do you get with the remap then? Can you remember whether or not the MPG changed much from before the remap?

It definitely has improved the mpg, according to the trip computer it was averaging 30mpg before the remap, now it shows 34mpg combined, On a long run though it will happily sit at 80-90 leptons and return mid 40¡¦s mpg, there are cars out there with better mpg but Im happy with what it gives. The biggest improvement I¡¦ve noticed from the remap is how much smoother it is to drive, before the remap it could feel quite lumpy at times, sometimes it felt as if it was being starved on fuel for a few seconds when changing from 3rd to 4th giving a hesitation feeling, now all that is gine and its much quicker aswell. Although Im not sure about after-map performance figures.

TVR Tommy said:

I really like the look of the TI. I keep meaning to arrange a test drive. Ideal spec for me would be a 3.2 or a 2.4 with Q4. Alfa should pull their finger out and make a GTA version with a Maserati V8.

A V6 Q4 Ti would be a very rare beasty indeed, but personally if you can live with the clatter of a Diesel I would take the 2.4 over the V6¡K I guess that mine is very close to a V6¡¦s performance, possibly even quicker?
The GTA would be a great car... There was a prototype GTA spotted a few years ago but looks like the plan has been scrapped? A replacement for the 159 isn¡¦t due until 2012 so maybe they could release a GTA in 2011 to get shot of any surplus 159 parts and F430 engines¡K. Mmmmm ƒº

euroboy said:

Lovely car and a great colour. How have you found the paintwork?
I had a 2007 Spider in Alfa Red and it was like chocolate - huge chunks of lacquer lifting off and stone chips around the arches and leading edge of the bonnet.

I¡¦ve heard about people having problems with the lacquer lifting, but its not something I have experience on mine. The Alfa red does seem to suffer from stone chips more than what it should do IMO. I think this is something to do with it being a water based paint and therefore too soft, but Im no expert¡K All 159¡¦s suffer from stone chips in front of the rear wheels, I had mine resprayed not long after buying, and will have them touched up again before it is sold so it is in perfect condition. There are a few more stone chips on the bonnet than their should be considering its done 45,000 miles, but none have actually broken through the paint (except just chipped off the lacquer) so they are not noticeable unless your really close up.

Edited by Rochester TVR on Tuesday 30th March 10:13