Driver's Airbag light went on. The dealer replaced a cable under the front seat and erased the fault memory in the EDC Unit only on my heavy demand.
The Wiper blades supplied are noisy. Replace with Swb #510 and #190. Don't use Valeo or Bosch!
Rear view is very limited. Order a parking sensor for your 156!
The Alfa Romeo 156 Distinctive is a competitor to Audi's A4 or BMW's 3er class. If You compare those cars, the Alfa is by far the best buy for the money. My car has Momo leather interior and a superb dual-zone Climatronic. The seats are very comfortable and obviously of good quality. The heating and cooling system is a set-and-forget story. Once you set the temperature to the desired level, everything else is done automatically. Great! The common rail diesel engine is controlled by a Bosch EDC 1.55 and runs as smoothly and effiently as expected, however, at speeds above 160 km/h the engine gets a bit loud. Turbo operation can be heard clearly when running on low rpms. Fuel efficiency is 6,8 l/100 km which is leveling with Audi A4 110 hp or the new 2.0 l 130 hp UIP engine. 116 hp output from the 1.9 l 8v engine is satisfactory for the 156 which is a 1,36 tons car. The 140 hp Multijet engine might even be stressing the sporty edge of the 156 a bit more. Regarding the manufacturing quality it must be pointed out that Alfa has gone quite a way from what they produced in the eighties. The Paint and the body make a good impression, but the details clearly show that this is not a Daimler Chrysler or a BMW. Finally, Alfa has understood the need to galvanize the body partly to avoid rust on her best parts... In general, this car is a hot tip as it is reasonably cheap compared to its competitors and equipped with Bosch electronic systems which are known to be reliable. ABS and ESP work great and so does the ASR. To test the system, you can switch it off... And speaking of being able to switch something off - the passengers airbag can be switched off by a hidden key-lock switch, located at the right end of the dashboard. If it is still switched off, but somebody is sitting next to you, a yellow flashlight reminds you to put it back on. If you see the wealth of equipment and systems active in the 156, you'd never believe this car is from Italy!
Accurate comment about the noisy windscreen wipers, but who make/what are "Swb" #510 and #190 windscreen wipers?
Great car, no problems other than the noisy clunking wipers!I just simply bought replacement bosch blades and problem solved.
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