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New engines, new equipment, same style.

The new Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon is now on sale in Australia and, like its sports sedan counterpart launched last year, it has gained a new engine, more performance and equipment and a stylish new dashboard, further enhancing its ideal blend of style, performance and versatility.

"The Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon has to be the ideal car for our outdoor lifestyle in Australia," says Kevin Wall, General Manager for Alfa Romeo in Australia. "The fifth door adds a level of flexibility that, along with features like a reversible waterproof floor, makes it ideal for a wide variety of pastimes and pursuits, or as a business tool during the week. With the renowned chassis and the powerful new engine Sportwagon owners can enjoy the wonderful roads we have in Australia, whist its lauded style makes it a pleasure to own."

Leading the changes to the Alfa 156 Sportwagon is the new 121 kW JTS engine, the most advanced engine of its type in the world. The JTS engine has set a new standard for direct injection lean burn technology, delivering the performance, fuel consumption and emission gains promised by this cutting edge technology and removing the drawbacks encountered by other car makers.

Fitted with the new JTS engine, the Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon in both five speed manual and Selespeed sequential manual gearbox versions now has a top speed of 220 kmh and it dispatches the dash to 100 kmh in just 8.2 seconds, while also offering average fuel consumption in the EU test of 6.8 litres per 100 km.

Safety is enhanced at all levels in the Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon. Active safety - the ability to avoid accidents - is enhanced with the standard fitment of Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC), Motor Speed Regulator (MSR) and Emergency Brake Assist (EBA). These, respectively, help the driver maintain control of the car in emergency situations, stop wheel lock up skids caused by sharp gear changes and take over braking in emergency situations for the fastest possible stop, reducing braking distance by up to 35 per cent in an emergency. Every Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon is now fitted as standard with six airbags, with window air bags joining the front air bags and the side impact airbags fitted in the sides of the front seats. This combination of six airbags enables the new Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon to offer, combined with features such as the occupant safety cell surrounded by deformable sections, a new level of occupant safety in the event of an accident.

Inside the new Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon the classic style that made the 156 such a breath of fresh air compared to the cold clinical interiors of its competitors remains but it has been enhanced with new equipment, a new finish to the dashboard and a new centre console.

The new equipment includes a multi-zone climate control air conditioning system that enables the front seat occupants to set their own temperature settings. Its efficiency is enhanced by larger top dashboard vents in a new unit that also houses the Alfa Romeo InfoCentre, an LCD screen that houses the trip computer and external temperature readout.

Complimenting the glorious sound made by the Alfa Romeo JTS engine, the Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon has a new Blaupunkt audio system that is fully integrated into the new centre console. In addition to its powerful amplifier, six speakers and state of the art CD player, operation is simplified by new steering wheel mounted controls.

Completing the new interior is the new centre console trim that leads to redesigned panels around the handbrake and a new armrest that includes a storage box.

Transforming the Alfa Romeo 156 into the Alfa 156 Sportwagon Following in the footsteps of a car that has been universally praised for it's styling, the 156 Sportwagon had to be something special. To ensure that the Sportwagon is as stylish as its sedan brother, the Alfa Romeo stylists cast off convention and rather than add to the sedan from the 'C' pillar, the wagon starts at the 'B' pillar and, unusually for a wagon, the 156 Sportwagon has new rear doors.

The reason for this decision is immediately apparent looking at the car from the side: The smooth lines with no rough transition from sedan to wagon, along with the hidden rear door handles, provide the 156 Sportwagon with the looks of a coupe. This is further enhanced by narrowing of all the lines towards the rear of the car.

However the stylists and engineers have not allowed these stunning looks to compromise the ability of the 156 Sportwagon to be a wagon. Once again they have ignored the conventions that say that a square tail means a small rear door or a large slopping door means compromised interior space.

The rear door of the 156 Sportwagon opens into the roof of the car by 30 cms. This means it has the opening size of a slopping door, but the interior space of a square tailed wagon.

Inside the rear of the Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon it is clear that the designers and engineers mean this vehicle to be driven like an Alfa Romeo but retain the functionality of a wagon with a host of clever features. These include:

• Four polished chrome tie down hooks
• Spring loaded netting that holds smaller objects against the sides of the boot in ten different positions.
• Two fully lined lockers on either side of the boot.
• The floor of the boot is reversible so that it may either be carpeted or offer a waterproof, easily cleanable surface.
• The boot has a 12 volt power socket.
• A retractable luggage cover provides security in the load compartment.
• The rear seats are split 60/40 and may be fully folded independently. When folded, there are holders for the rear headrests. The centre rear headrest folds fully into the rear backrest.
• There is a through load feature from the boot. This hatch may be used even when two of the three rear seats are occupied.
• The rear seats have three lap and shoulder seat belts and three child safety seat catches.
• The luggage cover has a spring loaded flap to cover the handle hole, so reducing noise from the rear of the car.
• The rear door may be opened by use of the remote control release on the key, the remote release by the driver's seat or via the key using the lock hidden by the badge.
• The rear compartment is not only lit internally by two lights, a third light is positioned on the edge of the rear door, shining white light down on to the ground and red light towards the rear as a warning to other road users.
• The rear door has a full width internal handle with which to close it, making it equally comfortable for left and right handed people.

The new 156 JTS Sportwagon has a recommended retail price of $52,500 and for the 156 Sportwagon Selespeed, the new price is $55,500.

The Alfa Romeo JTS Engine: Delivering the Lean Burn Promise

It has long been known that lean burn technology and direct fuel injection held out the promise of better fuel economy, lower emissions and more power and torque for a given engine capacity. However, until now, the drawbacks of poor high engine speed performance, the requirement for low-sulphur fuel and the requirement for extensive emission equipment to cut the nitrogen oxide emissions (which lead to nitric acid rain) have proven substantial barriers to putting this technology in production.

But for Alfa Romeo, renown for its highly efficient engines - the 2.0 litre Twin Spark engine, with 114 kW was, until the arrival of the JTS, one of the most efficient and highest specific output engines in the world - direct injection and lean burn technology offers a significant step up in efficiency, emissions and performance.

That Alfa Romeo has met its targets is clearly illustrated by the figures. The new JTS engine has exactly the same capacity as the Twin Spark engine it replaces, yet power is up from 114 kW to 121 kW; torque rises from 187 Nm to a remarkable 206 Nm. The new engine meets the ultra tough Euro 4 emission standards and yet, despite the performance gains, fuel consumption stays virtually the same. Of particular importance to Australia, there is no requirement for low sulphur fuel. It also delivers smooth and potent performance to the top of its rev-range.

On the road this translates into providing the Alfa 156 Sportwagon with more tractable performance in all the gears, a smoother torque and power curve delivers more refined performance and, in raw figures, top speed rises from 216 to 220 kmh and the zero to 100 kmh time is cut from 8.6 to 8.2 seconds.

So how has Alfa Romeo managed to achieve what other car makers have been trying to do for decades?

Alfa Romeo's answer is as simple as it is sophisticated. At low engine speeds, which the engine operates for the majority of the time, it operates as a lean burn engine, while at higher engine speeds it progressively switches to a normal fuel air mixture to provide the top end performance so beloved by Alfa Romeo drivers. The later is both enhanced and enabled by the use of direct fuel injection, with the fuel pumped directly into the cylinder head around the sparkplug, boosting volumetric efficiency and performance.

With regard to emissions, the combination of the direct injection and lean burn only at lower engine speeds means that Nox emissions are similar to normal engines. The large Nox catalyst converters that are typically needed and which reduce performance with high back pressures are not required. The absence of these catalysts also means that JTS owners do not have to worry about high sulphur content fuel.

In all, the Alfa Romeo JTS engine is a technical tour de force and is a worthy successor to the array of advanced, high performance engines on which Alfa Romeo has built its reputation.