irishcar.com

9 July 2002: A mid-life upgrade to the Alfa Romeo 156 is expected to bring a boost to a somewhat flagging recent sales performance in Ireland of what is arguably the brand's most successful model.

The upgrade is mainly to the 2-litre version of the car, now designated JTS (for jet thrust stoichiometric, which we’ll explain another time), that in Ireland represents some 15 percent of sales, but there has also been improvement to the one percent sales element of the 2.4-litre JTD turbodiesel engine.

For the rest of buyers in Ireland, some detail improvements to the interior quality and specification go along with the general upgrade.

The bottom line is more spec for similar money against the competition. That’s what Alfa Romeo Ireland told us yesterday. If you spec a BMW 3-series to a new JTS 2-litre 156, it will cost you ‘an awful lot more’ was the message. In fact, the only extras available with the launched version of the latest 156 are metallic paint, a sunroof and leather interior.

‘Non extras’ are a 13 percent boost in torque against the older Twin Spark engine, and a 15bhp increase in power. It’s all about Alfa’s interpretation of Gasoline Direct Injection, a technology going back to the 19th century and in more recent times used to provide ‘lean burn’ economy by several other marques.

‘What we do is use GDI for better performance without a fuel penalty’, says Alfa.

You want the ‘firsts’? OK, the new engine is the first ordinary car engine in the world to achieve a specific power output greater than 82bhp per litre. There’s also a 13 percent increase in torque with a much flatter power band than the older engine.

With this 2-litre JTS version comes full Bizone automatic climate control, and a variety of safety elements not least of which are six airbags.

A Selespeed manual/auto transmission is also available.

The latest 2-litre 156 starts at 32,500 euros. In Sportivo form it costs 36,000 euros. And the Selespeed option, only available in Sportivo spec, is another 1,000 euros.