Alfa 159 1.9JTDm Lusso saloon

ALF · Alfa 159 1.9JTDm Lusso saloon

This was the latest (and last, the air con now works thanks to a new pipe) alfa loan car. I was pleased to have a 159 as direct comparison is best, and that day I drove the GTA, 159, and Audi quite a bit.

First impressions were similar to the 2.2 SW I tried before - except that rear visibility is a lot worse in the saloon, and the 1.9jtd engine has better mapping pulling away from a standstill, where the 2.2 can annoy. I find the 159 absolutely the most comfortable car I have ever sat in, in most cars I can't get the relationship between seat, stearing wheel and pedals right at the same time, in the 159 I feel perfectly comfortable. The seats (first time I've sat in the leather items) as excellent. Comfort is helped by a great ride-handling compromise and Alfa's trademark quick steering, which means less flailing at the wheel, and in the 159's case it doesn't tramline either or feel a bit out of touch as in the 156 and MiTo.

Having flung a 159 2.2 about before, I didn't specifically take this off for laps of the local play area (two roundabouts linked by a short stretch of bendy dual carriageway) as I did with the MiTo. The 159 is fun to drive yet very relaxed, a real GT. The engine is probably all most people would want - the 1.9 is a lot lighter than the 2.4 and thus not much slower. It suits the car well but did remind me that I was right, in my case, to not consider diesels even now - I just don't like them. I would have liked more throttle response earlier in the travel (annoyingly long-travel throttles seem a modern turbo Alfa characteristic) and the engine feels a lot less mighty than in the 147, but it serves up decent pace and, except around town, refinement. You would never forget it was a diesel, but it is a good one.

My only issues were the notchy gearbox - easy enough to use but needing more force than I'd like - and the interior quality, which is OK but not amazing. The MiTo's is better, the Audi's much better in terms of clarity of use, and materials. The gearbox is odd because the MiTo's was so light and vague- they need to be somewhere in the middle (indeed, where the 156/147 were!). There was the odd tiny squeak and rattle from the interior, again most un-Audi like.

Overall though, a good car which is great fun yet relaxing to drive, and feels a much more fluid and cohesive handler than the A4, which does everything fine but in an aloof way. The 159 has the Alfa DNA of engaging you in every drive in a way cooking Audi's, for one, do not.

PS - I also had a good passenger run in one of my dealer's cars yesterday, a new Laguna estate, and was for the first time since my 309GTi seriously impressed by a French car! It was a pokey diesel (are they 180bhp?) with by some way the smoothest diesel engine I have ever experienced. Ride/handling was good - quite a similar compromise to the 159's - and the interior quality very nice. I was really quite shocked! It is not for me, but seemed a really good car.

Dr. Hfuhruhurr · Re: Alfa 159 1.9JTDm Lusso saloon

ALF

I'm beyond caring. Much as I'd prefer a 159 to drive compared to the Audi, the Audi uses far less fuel for greater performance, and is rock-solid. I trust it more than I would a 159 for big miles and there is a great, local, specialist. Anyway I'm not taking the depreciation hit on the Audi when is suits my needs. As for her, she would have no special pleasure from a 159 and is perfectly happy with something a lot slower and cheaper to run, which is distinctly what she'll be getting next. Her post-child lack of interest in cars and insistence on driving/being driven slowly appears permanent, so my initial shortlist for her (two years ago now!) of Octavia vRS, A4 2.0T, etc is some way off the mark. Something in the Golf/Focus stakes with a 2-litre NA will be fine.

If there is one thing the Focus has taught me, it is that cars that are neither "sporty" nor "executive nor thatbig, can be incredibly cheap to run over a long period of time while still giving great service.

Gurney

It's a great shame that even now, UK 159 owners do not get the service they obviously do in Germany.

Seen this?

In the 2008 study, Daihatsu was sixth while BMW was No. 2 and Audi was fourth.

Daihatsu's victory comes despite is sales of 13,726 units in Germany last year compared with Audi's volume of 251,393 units and BMW's 253,967 sales.

Audi and BMW also fell behind arch rival Mercedes-Benz, which tied for second with Alfa Romeo.

Mercedes beat No. 4 BMW by a point and was four points ahead of Audi and Toyota, which tied for fifth.

The vehicle ownership satisfaction study tracks how satisfied customers are for 27 car brands and 113 individual models in Germany. The study takes into account vehicle performance, vehicle quality, ownership costs and service satisfaction.

Daihatsu scored very high in service and ownership costs, Martin Volk, senior research manager at J.D. Power and Associates, told Automotive News Europe.

Also making the top 10 were Mini, Skoda and Mazda, which tied for seventh.

Honda slipped to 10th place after finishing No. 1 in 2007 and 2008.

At the bottom of the list were No. 27 Smart and No. 26 Chevrolet.

The Mercedes E class was named top luxury car and the CLK class won best sports car. Toyota Motors Corp swept the mass-market car categories with the Toyota Aygo, top city car, Toyota Corolla, top lower-medium car, and the Daihatsu Sirion, top small car.

PRESS RELEASE: J.D. Power and Associates and AUTO TEST Report: Daihatsu Ranks Highest in Satisfying New-Vehicle Owners in Germany

Munich: June 24, 2009 --Daihatsu ranks highest among automotive brands in satisfying new-vehicle owners in Germany, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Germany Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS)SM released today in cooperation with AUTO TEST.

For the first time since the launch of the study in 2002, Daihatsu ranks highest with a score of 843 on a 1,000-point scale. Daihatsu performs particularly well in two of four key measures: service satisfaction and ownership costs. Rounding out the top five brands are Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz (tied at 835), BMW (834), and Audi and Toyota (tied at 831).

"Providing an exceptional vehicle ownership experience requires an understanding of customer expectations from the purchase process throughout the entire ownership lifecycle," said Martin Volk, senior research manager at J.D. Power and Associates. "For example, low fuel consumption and maintenance costs are among the most important purchase criteria for Daihatsu owners. High-ranking brands consistently understand the most important needs of their customers and exceed their expectations."

Mercedes-Benz and Toyota each receive two segment awards. Mercedes-Benz models earning awards are the E-Class (executive/luxury car) and CLK-Class (sports car), while Toyota receives awards for the Aygo (city car) and Corolla (lower medium car). Also receiving segment-level awards are the Daihatsu Sirion (small car), Renault Laguna (upper medium car), Skoda Roomster (MPV) and Nissan Qashqai (SUV).

German automakers perform particularly well in the executive/luxury car and sports car segments. In the executive/luxury car segment, models by Mercedes-Benz and Audi capture the top two rank positions, while Mercedes-Benz and BMW sweep the top three rank positions in the sports car segment.

"The change in awareness towards customer satisfaction seems to have impacted the results of German manufacturers in a positive way, with Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz models performing well," said Olaf Schilling, chief editor of AUTO TEST. "This is positive news among the negative headlines that have appeared during the past several months."

The study finds that satisfaction levels and brand loyalty are strongly linked, with more than 74 percent of highly satisfied customers reporting they "definitely will" consider buying the same vehicle make in the future. Conversely, only 30 percent of customers who report having a less-satisfying experience intend to do the same.

"In these challenging times, building on a loyal customer base by providing an excellent ownership experience could help automakers weather the current storm and come out even stronger once the automotive market recovers," said Volk.

The redesigned 2009 Germany Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS) is the successor study to the Germany Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) Study. The 2009 study is based on more than 16,200 online interviews with German vehicle owners after an average of two years of ownership. The study includes 27 brands and 113 models. Owners provide detailed evaluations of their vehicles and dealers, which cover 67 attributes grouped in four measurements of satisfaction. In order of importance, they are: vehicle appeal (32%), which includes performance, design, comfort and features; vehicle quality and reliability (26%); ownership costs (22%) including fuel consumption, insurance and costs of service/repair; and dealer service satisfaction (20%).

The annual J.D. Power and Associates study gives consumers access to reliable and accurate information about many vehicle models, and helps manufacturers provide high levels of satisfaction to their customers. More comprehensive study results are published exclusively in AUTO TEST, which is on sale Wednesday, June 24, 2009. A summary overview can be found in the June 26, 2009 edition of AUTO BILD.

Alfa 159 1.9JTDm Lusso saloon

Re: Alfa 159 1.9JTDm Lusso saloon