In 1993 Alfa Romeo decided there was time to release a follower to the Alfa 155.There were three competing designs. One from Pininfarina, one from Italdesignand one from Alfa Romeos own design department Centro Stile (led by Walter de' Silva).The idea was to give the new 156 the personality that the 155 never had. Centro Stile'sdesign combined three historic Alfa Romeos: the 1900, Giulietta and Giulia
Alfa Romeo was in economical trouble at this time and they really neededthe 156 to be successful in order to survive. They also had the upgraded modelof the 164 on the way - the new 166. But there was not enough money to releaseboth models at the same time so the 166 was put on hold for about a year asthe 156 was expected to sell in higher volumes.
The interior is designed to have a sporty character. The options are Recaro sport seats, Momo leather seats or velour seats. The characteristic rpm and km/h counters are like two eyes in front of the driver and all the instruments are turned slightly towards the driver contributing to make this a drivers car.
The design from Alfas own design department (Centro Stile) was finaly chosen for thenew car. It was directly inspired and drawed with the experiences from designingthe Alfa Romeo Nuvola. Some of the last decades stylistic elements dissapeared. Onlysome of the trace remains along the sides of the car and the shape of the car is a lotmore curved and not so straight lines as it used to be.
They tried to give the new car a sportiness look with references to the old gentlemandriver and the older mythical GTs. All the stylistic elements which makes any Alfa Romeoso unique and recognizable was kept and strengthened at the front. Although it wasstylistic it is still clean and tries to evoke the presence of a strong and powerfulengine. Looking at the side of the car, it gives you associations to a wild tigersslim belly, ready to attack.
The Alfa 156 is a result of a design operation which is extremely well thought outand refined. It has succeded in harmonizing the tough strenght typical for thecoup?with the lightness and almost feminine grace of an elegant and sophisticatedsaloon.
The front suspensions are set up by double triangle wishbone with cast iron, steel and lightalloy components. The geometry also includes 4 degrees of positive castor and 6-7 degreesof kingpin angle. The suspension provides excellent FWD grip, steering feel and precision.At the rear there is McPhearson strouts with unequal length links used. This system givesthe rear wheels same-phase passive rear wheel stearing. Also in the rear suspention therehas been used alloy parts to reduce weight. The ABS brakes are Bosch 5.3 which includesElectronic Brake Distribution (EBD) and uses four break sensors. Alfas fire preventioningsystem and double airbags is standard with optional side arbags.
The 156 was launched at 9th of October 1997 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.And the year after it received the highly appreciated Car Of The Year 1998 award.Until now the 156 and SW has sold 500.000 units and has been the largest commercialsuccess for Alfa Romeo ever.
Alfa Romeo needed a new estate after the 33 Sportwagon and in 2000 the estate versionof the 156 was ready for launch. Allthough the design was more important than just addingmore space, so the boot is not as big as in a standard estate. The Sportwagon is more like alifestyle car then a regular estate car. In March 2000 the Sportwagon was released at theGeneva Motor Show.
In 2001 the Alfa 156 won the STC Teams Championship. The new 156 GTA will be used inthe 2002 season and test drivers say they are very impressed by the power in the GTA.
In April/May 2002 the facelifted version of the 156 was released. There are only minordifferences to the exterior. The most visible differences are the bumper inserts. Theyare now body coloured and likewise for the side mirrors. The most oberservant will also seethe new (optional) Xenon headlights. On the inside, the changes are far more visible. Thesteering wheel is just like the one on Alfa 147. The dashboard is slightly different at thelower end and has new controls for the Aircon which now is a dual sone like on the 147. On theupper dash there is now a new multi function screen that displays trip computer information plusfeedback on any faults and the action required. The selespeed system has also changed and thereare now handles like on the 147, not buttons like before. The engine program also changed a bit.The 2.0TS engine was finally replaced with the all new 2.0 JTS engine which have 165 Bhp. Youcan read more about the engines in the technical section on this page. Last, but not least theVehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) stability system is now standard across the range
On 26.11.2002 Alfa Romeo launched the news about a new Alfa Romeo 156 GTAm.This edition has a new 3,5l V6 engine with 300bhp at 6800rpm. The light alloywheels are 8 x 19" while the tyres are 235/35. Compared to the GTA, the GTAmwill have bigger Brembo brakes with a diameter of 330 millimetres. This versionwas though never intended for resale. What a pitty!All the way from 2002 there was a lot of rumors about the replacement of the 156.Pictures of the so called "Alfa 157" was rapidly spreading on the internet.
2003 was the year of the second facelift for the 156. Now it was time for theGregorio Brera inspired "face" of the car and a slightly modified boot and rear bumper.They said that it would be hard to improve the looks of the 156, but the generalopinion is that they actually did with this new facelift. Introduced in 2004 wasa new name Crosswagon which is a SUV-light with improved ground clearence and4x4 drive system based on the Torsen system with 58% of the power to the rearwheels. Also the standard 156 becomes available with the Torsen 4x4 system underthe name tag Q4.
The year 2005 looks to be the final year of the 156 as the newly announcedAlfa Romeo 159 is going in production lines some time midyear. An era is overand the success of the Alfa Romeo 156 have saved the future of Alfa Romeo.
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