Six months after the Alfa 159 berlina first arrived on the market in Hungary, last weekend saw the acclaimed new Alfa 159 Sportwagon version launched in the Eastern European nation. This brand new Alfa Romeo model was only officially unveiled to the public at last month's 76th Geneva International Motor Show, and it has swiftly embarked on a rapid pan-European roll out. Last weekend saw the turn of Hungary to play host to Alfa Romeo's latest - and very significant - new market contender. The national importer, Fiat Auto Magyarország Kft, arranged a upbeat press conference and road tests in Göd, a small city which is located around 30km north of Budapest, and Alfa Amore were on hand to attend.

With the arrival of the new Alfa 159 model range, Alfa Romeo has ushered in an exciting new chapter of its history, a new model project which consists of the Alfa 159 berlina, the 159 Sportwagon, the Brera and finally the Spider. With the alignment of new consumer demands, new conceptions have been drawn, which have never been matched up to the Alfa Romeo brand until this point in time. Did we have properly robust Alfas before? Or an Alfa which reached a impressive 5 star result in the EuroNCAP crash tests? Not really. The comfort and quality were perceptible before this project, but there hasn’t been an Alfa which is as perfect and cossets the driver as much as this new 'breed' does. For the potential car owner it could also be seen as a little bit extraordinary, that the 159 Sportwagon, excluding its “rucksack”, doesn't have any differences to the berlina version. The new 159 Sportwagon therefore gets all the same mechanicals and engine line-up.

The stylish Alfa 156 was very well received on the Hungarian market in the 1990s, and would always be a tough act to follow, although here it was regarded as a little bit comical that the 156 Sportwagon's trunk offered no volume advantages over its berlina sister. So, it is good that this issue has been addressed with the new 159 Sportwagon, and its ease of accessibility was clearly demonstrated during the road test using the packing boxes on hand. The materials used in the 159 Sportwagon are of a superb and luxurious quality meaning that the rubber tray from the official Lineacessori catalogue is likely to be a good potential acquisition for the owner. The engine options just are the same as the berlina. The entrant engine here will be the 1.8 litre MPI engine with 140 HP. The others in the range are: 1.9 JTS – 160 HP, 2.2 JTS – 185 HP, 3.2 V6 JTS – 260 HP, 1.9 JTD – 120 HP, 1.9 JTDm – 150 HP, and finally the 2.4 litre JTDm with 200 HP.
 

The official test drive took place on the M3 highway, and a cross-section of road with differing surfaces nearby. We drove the 1.9 JTDm Sportwagon which didn’t cause any surprises for us, it is very dynamic package, and importantly for the Alfa driver it has a very good sound despite it being a diesel engine. We think the optimal choice will be the 2.4 litre JTDm though, which we have driven in the Alfa 159 Berlina. Since the 159 Sportwagon's bodywork doesn't take anything away from the dynamics and driving pleasure, we can easily imagine this powerplant being the optimum choice in the 'estate', very easily.

The diesel engine has a very pleasing manner, which is helped by the feeling of the lashings of torque which firmly pressed us into the seats. At 140 km/h in fifth gear it is able to accelerate the car, even in an uphill situation. And now it has a sixth gear also, it can accelerate with the same agility. Just like much of the rest of Europe diesels have grown in popularity in recent years, here there is now a current 60-40 market split in favour of the oil burners. The Alfa 159 has seen the 1.9 JTDm being the option of choice with Hungarian buyers' since it arrival six months ago and to this end it should be the most popular in the 159 Sportwagon, while a good chunk of buyers will plump for the powerful 2.4 JTDm.

The Alfa 159 Sportwagon is also environmentally friendly, an important market consideration, as it reaches and conforms to Euro 5 rates, thanks for the installation of a free-from-care particulate trap. The new era brings new extra equipment; and certainly the safety equipment is showing on “full”. Beside the usual air bags, the Sportwagon gets a knee air bag on both sides, and of course get lots of safety electronics such as ABS, ESP and VDC. We can upload the phonebook from our mobile with Bluetooth connection, dial with the voice guide, and can connect our own USB driver to the system to upload our own music.

The price of the Alfa 159 Sportwagon is set here a bit higher than being charged for the berlina, around a 1,400 euro premium. The Sportwagon comes with an two-year unlimited mileage warrantee while the local importer also offered a three year or 100,000 km guarantee, which all adds up to mean that the cost of servicing is eliminated, and this should also have a positive effect for the used car prices. Hungarian car buyers has been shifting towards the 'estate' category vehicles in recent years, with this option regularly outselling a model's stock berlina version. In its last year on the market here the Alfa 156 Sportwagon accounted for 30 percent of Alfa 156 sales, and the official; importer, Fiat Auto Magyarország Kft, is initially targeting this same ratio. They will be looking at a typical buyer for example, a young male, who has got a growing family, needs plenty of flexibility, and who may equally spend his free time either in mountains, or at the seaside. With the increase in load volume of the outgoing 156 Sportwagon, the new car becomes a serious, and at the same time very stylish, player in the 'estate' category.

by  Gabor Balogh / Alfa Amore