2007 Alfa Romeo 159 Diesel & Q-Tronic Gearbox

Alfa Romeo announced today that a new entry-level diesel model Alfa 159 will join the range to meet the rapidly growing demand for diesel-powered cars in Australia. Diesel is becoming more and more popular in Australia, following a similar trend in Europe.

As well as the Diesel variant of the 159, there is now an option for an all-new six speed Q-Tronic electronic automatic gearbox for the 2.4 JTD turbo diesel engine and the 3.2 litre V6 JTS engine, while the new 159 JTD 1.9 Turbo Diesel is fitted with the Q-Tronic automatic range as standard.

“Although the sales of the Alfa Romeo 159 have more than met our expectations since its launch in Australia in June last year, we have always known that, given the Australian market’s skew to automatics, it would not achieve its full potential until the Q-Tronic and Selespeed versions arrived,”

“The Q-Tronic new gearbox marks a significant market shift for Alfa Romeo. Not only do we now have a state-of-the-art gearbox, with six gears, fuzzy-logic operation and Tiptronic-style gear selection, it is also available across most of the range and to further enhance this position we have added an extra diesel model to the range, with the acclaimed 1.9 litre JTD power unit. The Selespeed version was the most popular 156 variant and we expect the 159 Selespeed to account for the majority of 2.2 JTS sales.” says David Stone, General Manager for Alfa Romeo in Australia.

The Alfa Romeo 159 2.2 JTS is now available with an option Selespeed sequential manual gearbox, providing drivers with the choice of letting the gearbox change the gears or doing it manual via steering wheel-mounted paddles or with the gearshift leaver.

Over the first generation Selespeed, which was most popular variant of the Alfa 156, the new-generation Selespeed allows the driver to select ‘Sport’ mode in both manual shifting and automatic operating, as well as using new soft and hardware for quicker, smoother and more responsive operation. For the first time this software is also adaptive to the driver’s style behind the wheel.

Prices & Specifications for the new Models

• 159 2.2 JTS Selespeed, $52,990 – 7.7 litres per 100km – 0-100km 8.8 secs
• 159 1.9 JTD $54,990 – 5.5 litres per 100km – 0-100km in 9.6 secs
• 2.4 litre diesel 159 with the Q-Tronic gearbox $58,990 – 0-100km in 8.6 secs
• V6 powered 159 with the Q-Tronic automatic gearbox $77,990 – 0-100km in 7.0 secs

So there are now six versions of the new Alfa 159 available, priced from $49,990 to $77,990. Powered by four different powerplants. Two new direct injection petrol engines –

• 1.9 JTD
• 2.2 litre 136 kW 4-cylinder unit and
• a 3.2 litre 191 kW V6 – combine the JTS (Jet Thrust Stoichiometric) direct injection technology of Alfa Romeo with continuously variable valve timing, (both inlet and exhaust), for the first time.
• 2.4 litre 20 valve 147 kW 5-cylinder JTD turbo diesel engine powerplant, featuring the company’s renowned JTD MultiJet common rail direct injection systems and exemplify the company’s on-going pre-eminence in the field of diesel technology and this has now been joined by the equally advanced four cylinder version of the same engine, with 16 valves and 110 kW.

Standard features on the new 2007 Alfa Romeo 159 range include:

• seven airbags,
• automatic Dual Zone climate control,
• cruise control,
• rear parking sensors,
• auto dimming rear view mirror,
• a multi-function display and trip computer,
• fog lights,
• 17 inch spoked alloy wheels (18 inch on the V6),
• RDS 8-speaker stereo radio with ten CD stacker and steering wheel mounted controls.

Optional equipment includes a sunroof and metallic paint on all versions, plus 18″ alloy wheels on the 1.9, 2.2 and 2.4 versions.