Alfa Romeo 159 2006-2011 review

The 159 is clattery at idle, and unusually coarse by class standards above 3000rpm. It’s got plenty of usable torque and a slick six-speed box, but there’s more turbo lag than you expect, too.

The 159 rides and handles acceptably, but it’s certainly no sports saloon, coming up short in terms of responsiveness and dynamic poise, as well as refinement.

Its steering encapsulates the nature of the car perfectly: the wheel’s imaginatively contoured and beautifully tactile, wrapped in black leather – but it sprouts towards you at an awkward angle, as if the steering column ran through the bulkhead between your feet.

It also acts on the front wheels with a variable pace, giving the car an unusually large and unpleasant ‘dead-zone’ of steering angle right at the straight ahead, and then a tendency to dart towards an apex mid-corner that comes without a matching increase in required steering weight.

All things considered, the car’s grippy and reasonably game, but feels a little too inert and unpredictable to drive with precision or get much satisfaction from.

This new 159 remains quite alluring in its own alternative, Italian fashionista way, but unless you’re offered a particularly appealing contract hire rate, we’d shop elsewhere – even if you do have to pay a little more company car tax.

A Ford Mondeo is a much more capable saloon, and a BMW 318d, which is broadly comparable to the 159 on price if not equipment, is a much more rewarding drive. Don't think for one moment that the new Alfa Romeo Giulia is a wet lettuce, as it has proven equally enticing, enough to choose over the BMW 3 Series and the Jaguar XE.