Opinions sought on Alfa 156 V6

[Anth73]

Hi All,

I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Alfa 156 fitted with the 2.5V6 and 6-speed manual. Supposedly not a whole bunch were sold here and they offered minimal more "go" than the JTS equipped four's from 2002 on. Handling also suffered due to the additional weight over the front wheels. They sound gorgeous though.

Rumour or fact?

Cheers,
Anth

[Anth73]

I managed to test drive a 2.6 V6 manual and wow, what an engine. It was an enthralling and addictive drive which even had my 7 year old daughter saying it sounded like a racing car...and this was at sensible revs under the speed limit.

A GTA must be absolutley magnificent!

Now to try and find a 2.5 manual - with the 2002 update......

[Chris Ioannou]

How about this one?

http://www.carsales.com.au/used-cars/dealer/ALFA_ROMEO/156/details.aspx?__Ns=pCar_StatusSort_Int32|1||pCar_Price_Decimal|0&Make=ALFA%20ROMEO&__Nne=20&R=765184&Region=All%20Regions&state_id=0&__N=4294967249+0+4294967222++834+285+258+287&distance=25&trecs=92&Model=156&RegionID=&__sid=110C24F14DFB&silo=1000&Cr=19&seot=0&State=All%20States

[Anth73]

That's the example I test drove but unfortunately it is a pre-August 2002 and hence has the original all grey interior. You can't see it that well from the photo.

[magnum]

I had one for nearly 4 years from new (sold it to update to a 159). This is an awesome car. Mine was a Monza, that's only Australian for 156 with sports pack 3.

That 2.5 litre V6 engine is a free revving engine that demonstrates ALFA's racing heritage most convincingly. I had a twin spark (also from new) before that and the v6 stands head and shoulders above. There are no words to describe it other than the words once expressed to me "... as close as you can get to a 156 GTA..." .

Cheers and God bless,
Magnum

[len105]

Hi Guys
Just on the 156 2.5L referred to in the first post some time ago, after some weeks of researching, yesterday I purchased a manual 2002 model with very low kms - for an unbelievably good price.

I'm not sure whether there were many cars ever sold in the manual version, however, I would recommend any of you who are looking for a practical, modern Alfa sedan with grunt, all the bells & whistles ( well at least mine has ), great sound, and plenty of attitude, should seriously have a look thru the classifieds, cos value for money, this is one of the best modern Alfa packages going around............

Of couse, there is the serviceing side of things to consider every 60kms or whatever - which do add up to a few $$$ - but, at this early stage, I'm one happy Alfisti !!!

Cheers all

Len

[alfagtv58]

Great stuff Len, glad to hear you have finally got a road going Alfa, I know you have been looking for a while!