I was in the traffic the other day and i saw a new Daewoo [sorry Holden] Barina Spark, designed to appeal to people who like cheap cars that are unsafe in an accident, and i noticed that it had no rear door handles that were visible, but were on the rear of the door like a 147, but not as neatly done, on a 156 the hidden door handles are made to look like ventilation extractors, Daewoo should have got 147-156 stylist Walter De Silva to show how to do this styling trick properly so it doesn't look like an afterthought, Colin.
And today i saw a Honda, i think it was an upmarket Civic, that also had hidden rear door handles, much better intergrated than the Daewoo, but not as good as on the 156 and 147, Colin.
And that Col is why we own Alfas rather than that other stuff. For we know design integrity when we see it. A bit like also how simple and yet elegant is the design of the alloy front door handles on a 156. So aesthetically pleasing to look at, and the touch. The similarities prevail too into some of the subtleties in design on the GT, the Brera and even the 159 etc, let alone Alfas etc from the days gone by.
I think it is because our Alfas are Italian not Japanese, Korean or from Taiwan !!
And today i saw a Nissan JUKE pull up at the lights next to me, it was a small four wheel drive jallopy like an original RAV, and it had hidden rear door handles, that was seen on the 1997 Alfa Romeo 156, was the 156 the first car to have hidden door handles?, i cannot recall a car that had this styling trick, the Mazda RX8 has no door handles on the back door, that are visible from the outside, but are exposed when the front door is opened, as a safety measure, Colin.
What about the Nissan Pathfinder Colin?
Seems several other car makers have taken on the trend set by Alfa 156. A compliment?
2013 Honda Civic 9th Gen
Holden Barina
And the Seat Leon.
And how often have you had a passenger unfamiliar with your 156 stands there trying to figure out how to open the back door while you are already seated, belted and ready to go. It happens to me quite a bit, I have to get out and open the door for the passenger.
Well in all honesty, my wife does expect me to open and close the door for her, she is the boss.
Actually I think you'll find it wasn't Alfa who invented this. They just made a big deal of it with the 156 launch so that the car presented itself as a coupe styled sedan.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Pathfinder
😄
While the 156 may not be the first car with hidden door handles, I don't think there is any doubt it has been plagiarised extensively. Every time I see a Mazda6 sedan, or current model Mitsu Lancer sedan, it appears that almost every line has been pinched from the 156. The Lancer instrument cluster even seems vaguely familiar.
a ton of cheap cars have stolen styling from alfa, but none of them look half as good, especially the hatchbacks copying the 147
The 147 was ahead of it's time. I suppose I am biased because I own one but it's true. Have a look at some of the modern hatches, high waistlines, smaller windows, hidden rear door handles, bold crease lies down the sides, squat stance and a wheel at each corner, classic 147 features. They may copy Alfa Romeo but that is where the similarity ends. Even after 10 years, my 147 is a 2004 model, it still out performs and out handles most of them.
We are all agreed then - the 156/147 is beautiful both to behold and to drive. You can't beat the original!
But I do have one question - why did they drop the hidden rear door handles for the 159? The 159 so clearly takes so many styling cues from the 156 (which I still think has a better profile - but I am biased), I think they would have made a good carryover - a bit like the gills on the Range Rover and three bar tail lights on the Mustang have become a bit of a signature.
because to appeal to the run-of-the-mill camry loving mum and dad family unit, plain to see door handles are more practical.
They ditched because it didnt fit with the car. The indicator and side door handles follow the same line so it would have looked odd if there was no handle on the rear door. The 156 looked good because there was no real design line on the cars side from front to back.
There was a clip on youtube about 10 years ago, but i have never been able to find it, so it may have been taken down, about a family driving along in their new 156, when one of the kids in the back seat announces, to stop the car as they are going to be sick, driver slams on the brakes other passenger in back seat jumps out of 156, runs around the other side to help sick child out of car quickly, can't find the door handle, yells to driver, that there is no door handle, driver yells back, that its hidden, still can't find it, then sick child projectile vomits all over back seat in car.......not a happy ending, Colin.
Col, the kid was probably sick because the family were on one of our EMR's. :D
I cannot wait until our next Sunday run, Mr. Garribaldi, any idea about the next one?, we need to have one in late January, so we can try out the bits we fitted over Christmas, Colin.
Well, as you know Col we have our early morning run to the Peninsula coming up on Sunday February 23rd. It will be a great day with some challenging roads, great scenery, and a fantastic lunch and wine tasting at Veraison Restaurant in Balnarring. :)
Then there's always the Jeep Compass...
Subtle Yank design.
Cheers
Stu
Yep, now they are part of the family...
Congratulations too to Chrysler for managing to also hide any possible reason for someone to want one.
Before we bought our latest family hauler (Subaru forester), we tested a Jeep Cherokee. Have not seen a worse driving position in years. Who would have thought that in a truck that big, there still wouldn't be any room for your left foot because of the size of the transmission tunnel?