Topic: Final Drive: 1997 Alfa Romeo 155

[Autos_Editor]

Paul Williams has a chance to sample a rare Italian: an imported Alfa Romeo 155 V6.

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[KD]

Now that is a cool car!  I would like to own one just so i could look at that gorgeous engine all the time!  My bro-in-law had a similar looking alfa back in the 90's, obviously not a 155, but it was red with wedge-type styling and had a fabulous sounding V6 as well!  It was a cop magnet though!  Good article Paul! 

[ChaosphereIX]

thanks for putting up the article Paul, very well written and my baby looks gorgeous in the pics...

she is going away this week for the winter, but in the spring if anyone in the Ottawa area wants to go for a drive, just let me know - she is for driving, not posing, after all...

[hemusbull]

A famous winner! Today few people remember '93 season when Nikola Larini with this car won DTM killing all Germans!

[ChaosphereIX]

A famous winner! Today few people remember '93 season when Nikola Larini with this car won DTM killing all Germans!

I watched those races, no live but Youtube is great for that...wow what a machine.

Same V6 as mine, revving to 12,000RPM and putting out 500hp. Beast of a car! Larini was a god in '93...

[normancw]

Now that is a cool car!  I would like to own one just so i could look at that gorgeous engine all the time!

^^^ Me too!

[dragonfly]

 Okay..let's come back down to earth...For crissakes, look at the enormous front overhang on this bomb!..Must be at least 3 feet of vehicle in front to the wheels up there...159 Lb/ft of torque at 4500 rpm?   What a pig...Nice paint job though...Love the white wheels (hehehe)...Thanks for a nice article  Jack

[aquadorhj]

Okay..let's come back down to earth...For crissakes, look at the enormous front overhang on this bomb!..Must be at least 3 feet of vehicle in front to the wheels up there...159 Lb/ft of torque at 4500 rpm?   What a pig...Nice paint job though...Love the white wheels (hehehe)...Thanks for a nice article  Jack

be kind jack, it's a fellow forum member's car.  he was kind enough to share it with Autos staff for this article.


anyhoo.   i never even noticed front overhang and i'm usually sensitive about this stuff  (my car has less than a foot of it.)

it's a gorgeous car, especially the engine bay.   

159 ft/lbs sounds little, but that's early 90's we are talking about.  camry V6's had 170 HP back then.

[mixmanmash]

Okay..let's come back down to earth...For crissakes, look at the enormous front overhang on this bomb!..Must be at least 3 feet of vehicle in front to the wheels up there...159 Lb/ft of torque at 4500 rpm?   What a pig...Nice paint job though...Love the white wheels (hehehe)...Thanks for a nice article  Jack

be kind jack, it's a fellow forum member's car.  he was kind enough to share it with Autos staff for this article.


anyhoo.   i never even noticed front overhang and i'm usually sensitive about this stuff  (my car has less than a foot of it.)

it's a gorgeous car, especially the engine bay.   

159 ft/lbs sounds little, but that's early 90's we are talking about.  camry V6's had 170 HP back then.

Yup.  The Camry's did that from a 3L.

Personally, I never did understand the attraction to Alfa Romeos.  I have never been one for it's looks.  But they have a great following and there are some neat things about them.  I do respect them.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

[hemusbull]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

With just 100 thousands cars manufactured last year Alfa Romeo isn't Ford although it has more than a 100 years of history and dye hard Alfisti around the globe!

[ChaosphereIX]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

the Contour SVT was 24v IIRC, and the 1998 156 2.5 V6 with the 24v version of my engine puts out a nice even 200hp. Change out the throttle body, intake runners, and add an exhaust and a tune and you are at 250 easy. So for sure it is on par.

Plues the Contour doesnt have chrome on it. That is at least worth 2hp! 

[sailor723]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

the Contour SVT was 24v IIRC, and the 1998 156 2.5 V6 with the 24v version of my engine puts out a nice even 200hp. Change out the throttle body, intake runners, and add an exhaust and a tune and you are at 250 easy. So for sure it is on par.

Plues the Contour doesnt have chrome on it. That is at least worth 2hp! 

\

Absolutely!  Everybody knows that chrome adds power 

Nice car BTW....the whole power thing needs to be taken in the context of the times. Our 96 V6 Mercury Mystique had 170HP

[Blueprint]

thanks for putting up the article Paul, very well written and my baby looks gorgeous in the pics...

she is going away this week for the winter, but in the spring if anyone in the Ottawa area wants to go for a drive, just let me know - she is for driving, not posing, after all...

I'm going to be in Ottawa mid-April for a conference 


Touring Car is what Nascar should be: production-based body and drivetrain configuration.

[mixmanmash]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

the Contour SVT was 24v IIRC, and the 1998 156 2.5 V6 with the 24v version of my engine puts out a nice even 200hp. Change out the throttle body, intake runners, and add an exhaust and a tune and you are at 250 easy. So for sure it is on par.

Plues the Contour doesnt have chrome on it. That is at least worth 2hp! 

I can't see that engine putting out an extra 50 hp by just those modifications.  Unless the stock stuff is extremely restrictive.  And I'd be interested to see what happens to the lower RPM range when the breathing is opened up that much on a NA engine.  Most of the time, when you do that on a NA engine, you lose all the bottom end but gain at the top.  It's a trade off.

[KD]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

the Contour SVT was 24v IIRC, and the 1998 156 2.5 V6 with the 24v version of my engine puts out a nice even 200hp. Change out the throttle body, intake runners, and add an exhaust and a tune and you are at 250 easy. So for sure it is on par.

Plues the Contour doesnt have chrome on it. That is at least worth 2hp! 

\

Absolutely!  Everybody knows that chrome adds power 

Nice car BTW....the whole power thing needs to be taken in the context of the times. Our 96 V6 Mercury Mystique had 170HP

My condolences!  We had a 95 V6 Mistake that we leased for 2 years.  It sounded like a steam engine when i took it back when the lease was up and it had slightly more that 50K on it.  Lease was dirt cheap though!  Nice driving car actually, but that's the only positive thing i can say about it! 

[ChaosphereIX]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

the Contour SVT was 24v IIRC, and the 1998 156 2.5 V6 with the 24v version of my engine puts out a nice even 200hp. Change out the throttle body, intake runners, and add an exhaust and a tune and you are at 250 easy. So for sure it is on par.

Plues the Contour doesnt have chrome on it. That is at least worth 2hp! 

I can't see that engine putting out an extra 50 hp by just those modifications.  Unless the stock stuff is extremely restrictive.  And I'd be interested to see what happens to the lower RPM range when the breathing is opened up that much on a NA engine.  Most of the time, when you do that on a NA engine, you lose all the bottom end but gain at the top.  It's a trade off.

stock is indeed quite restrictive, although the intake is pretty good [already has a cai built in]. The breathing from intake back is the restrictive part. And I have heard no complaints about the torque from members who have done those mods.Oh and forgot that cams might be needed for 30 of that 50 hp bump...IIRC.

For my 12v engine, 220hp is attainable with exhaust, runners, cams, and tune. to get bigger power you need to get into pistons, etc.

oh and Alfas are all about revving high, so it is not a problem that the power gained moves up in the tach...just gives me more of a reason to wind her out and hear her growl!

good to know someone on here really knows their tuning...I will remember to bounce some ideas off of you in the future...

[JohnM]

"Personally, I never did understand the attraction to Alfa Romeos."

If driving an Alfa does not restore vitality to your soul, then just pass the hospital and park at the morgue to save everyone time.

Cheers,
John M.

[mixmanmash]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

the Contour SVT was 24v IIRC, and the 1998 156 2.5 V6 with the 24v version of my engine puts out a nice even 200hp. Change out the throttle body, intake runners, and add an exhaust and a tune and you are at 250 easy. So for sure it is on par.

Plues the Contour doesnt have chrome on it. That is at least worth 2hp! 

I can't see that engine putting out an extra 50 hp by just those modifications.  Unless the stock stuff is extremely restrictive.  And I'd be interested to see what happens to the lower RPM range when the breathing is opened up that much on a NA engine.  Most of the time, when you do that on a NA engine, you lose all the bottom end but gain at the top.  It's a trade off.

stock is indeed quite restrictive, although the intake is pretty good [already has a cai built in]. The breathing from intake back is the restrictive part. And I have heard no complaints about the torque from members who have done those mods.Oh and forgot that cams might be needed for 30 of that 50 hp bump...IIRC.

For my 12v engine, 220hp is attainable with exhaust, runners, cams, and tune. to get bigger power you need to get into pistons, etc.

oh and Alfas are all about revving high, so it is not a problem that the power gained moves up in the tach...just gives me more of a reason to wind her out and hear her growl!

good to know someone on here really knows their tuning...I will remember to bounce some ideas off of you in the future...

Ok - that makes sense - the camshafts would make a notable difference.  If they are setup with a timing belt, adjustable cam gears would be a great idea - just leave the timing belt covers off and then adjust each one independently on the dyno.  You'd be amazed at what cam timing can do for power & torque.

Definitely familiar with the high revving nature of Alfas.  They sure do sound sweet.

Feel free to bounce ideas off me.  But, I would recommend talking to someone well experienced with your specific platform as well.  It makes a huge difference, especially in picking and choosing the mods, as well as in tuning (they know the limits of what can be done, what's safe, what's not and how to make the most of your mods).  Really, it's the custom tuning that makes all the mods shine.

[sailor723]

For comparison's sake, the 1998 Contour SVT was putting out 195hp from it's 2.5L.

Good article though and certainly an interesting car.

the Contour SVT was 24v IIRC, and the 1998 156 2.5 V6 with the 24v version of my engine puts out a nice even 200hp. Change out the throttle body, intake runners, and add an exhaust and a tune and you are at 250 easy. So for sure it is on par.

Plues the Contour doesnt have chrome on it. That is at least worth 2hp! 

\

Absolutely!  Everybody knows that chrome adds power 

Nice car BTW....the whole power thing needs to be taken in the context of the times. Our 96 V6 Mercury Mystique had 170HP

My condolences!  We had a 95 V6 Mistake that we leased for 2 years.  It sounded like a steam engine when i took it back when the lease was up and it had slightly more that 50K on it.  Lease was dirt cheap though!  Nice driving car actually, but that's the only positive thing i can say about it! 

Ours was one of those Red Carpet leases as well.  The car was fine (although it only had about 30K when we turned it in)  I actually quite liked the way it drove. Friends had a 96 V6 Contour that they  kept almost ten years with relatively few problems (obviously an outlier  )