Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon review
by David Finlay (7 June 2006)
The estate version of Alfa's recently-launched mid-range car, the 159, has a satisfying and coherent shape even though it seems to have been created from two different models entirely. At the sharp end, it shares the two sets of three lights also seen on the 159 saloon and the Brera coupé, a design feature which gives these cars a tremendous front-end presence.
Look over the rest of the car and I don't believe you could see the join between the front end and the back, yet at the rear the design is almost exactly the same as that of the 156 Sportwagon introduced in 2000. If you took away evidence such as date-specific number plates, it would take me quite a while to distinguish between these two cars if I were standing directly behind them.
But new things are happening under that familiar exterior. The 156 Sportwagon was more about style than practicality. With the rear seats up, its successor has 445 litres of luggage space - that's nearly a quarter as much again as the 156, and 40 litres more than the 159 saloon (it may seem obvious that an estate has more capacity than a saloon, but that's not always the case). Fold down the rear seats and you release up to 1235 litres if you're prepared to load the thing to roof level.
A good rule of thumb about estates is that they are not quite as precise to drive as their saloon equivalents, and it applies here. By tweaking the rear suspension to deal with possible heavy loads, Alfa Romeo has slightly dulled the 159's handling, though that isn't a big cause for complaint.
In fact it may have a certain benefit. I thought Alfa was overstating the case at the time of the saloon launch when it said that the 159 is a challenger to the BMW 3-Series. In fact it doesn't come close, since there is too little control of body movement by the front suspension. The compromised rear of the Sportwagon actually makes for a better balance.
Apart from that, and the view in the interior mirror, there's not much to let the occupant know which version they are sitting in. The interior is identical in each case, with a notably stylish dashboard display (including very deep-set gauges which look great but become almost invisible when you suddenly drive into a shaded area on a bright sunny day) and a rather odd seating arrangement.
Odd? Well, the point is that the dashboard design allows the front passenger to sit several inches further forward than the driver, and there's a corresponding imbalance in the amount of room available for those in the back. I've referred to the 159 saloon as a three-and-a-half-seater, and the Sportwagon is the same.
The Sportwagon range is identical to that of the 159 saloon in that there are two trim levels (Turismo and Lusso), along with 1.9- and 2.2-litre JTS petrol engines and 1.9- and 2.4-litre JTDM turbo diesels. Alfa reckons that the diesels will account for 75% of UK sales, the bulk of those going to the 1.9. It's certainly an appealing choice, perhaps the best option for the 159 even if it's far from being the most exciting.
The introduction of the Sportwagon range coincides with that of the 260bhp 3.2-litre JTS V6 engine and accompanying Q4 four-wheel drive transmission, both of which have become available on the saloon and the Brera. Fitting these to the Sportwagon produces by far the quickest car in the range, with a top speed of 147mph and 0-62mph in 7.2 seconds.
This version is also, of course, the most expensive Sportwagon, costing £29,350 before options. That's just over £1000 more expensive than the saloon, a premium which applies across the range; prices for the front-wheel drive models therefore start at £21,095 for the 1.9 JTS Turismo and reach £25,495 for the 2.4 JTDM Lusso. The insurance situation is the same as for the saloon; front-wheel drive cars are in Groups 11 to 14, while the 3.2 V6 is in Group 16.
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