Alfa Diesel JTD - FWD etc

["John Griffiths" <john_alfa_griffiths@domain.elided>]

Hello Alfisiti

Lewis Gerald in AD 1411 lists the spec of the new 156 2.4 JTD with it's 5
cylinder common-rail diesel engine.
Keeping it brief, I've had a good test drive in one, and the car is
amazingly good.  A little clatter at start up made up for by an Audi Quattro
rally car style thrum to it's engine note under power and *loads* of torque,
 i.e. grunt. In practice this makes the machine surprisingly rapid in day to
day driving. Overtaking is amazingly easy, in some people's view making them
easier/quicker to drive than even the 190bhp 2.5 V6 version. Driving the 2.4
JTD in this manner does apparently hammer the fuel consumption however,
which magazine road tests confirm. Where a 2.0 Twin-Spark drive gets 30
MPG-ish in general (i.e. general UK style driving), you get maybe 35 MPG
from the diesel which is not a big saving. On long runs this difference will
be much greater however. The power delivery does not suffer from a great
deal of lag, and the machine has a surprisingly broad power band. I've done
many miles in some HORRID "company" turbo-diesels, some with incredibly
narrow "power" bands; nothing below 2,000 rpm, nothing above 3,000, but the
156 JTD pulls smoothly from very low revs right up the dizzy diesel heights
of 5,500 rpm. Sure, in practice, I'd still take the T-spark, not least 'cos
of the better weight distribution as the JTD does feel a little too nose
heavy when cornering with gusto.
I don't want to kick off the hate-mail style stuff on the "Fiat Alfas" and
the "RWD v FWD", that is frankly getting a bit boring. Suffice to say that
IMHO the latest Alfa models (post '96 say) still retain the magic, and their
modern chassis dynamics would absolutely amaze Alfisiti weaned on Spiders
and 75s (Milanos). You simply cannot compare this breed of FWD machinery
with US spec FWD stuff.
Also for info, the price difference between diesel and petrol (gas) fuel in
mainland Europe - not UK however - makes diesel motoring a great temptation
and for many years 164s, & 75s were sold with VM turbo-diesel motors which
were good for their time but not a patch on the latest common-rail "JTD"
technology.

Cheers

John G

Leicestershire, UK
1999 146 ti 2.0 T-Spark 16V

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