Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon (00-05) - Review

Review by Parkers on
The 156 Sportwagon is a 'lifestyle estate', which in short means that it's trendy, respectable to have on the drive, but lacks the interior space of a traditional load-lugger. Its subtle and pure styling may give it the edge over rivals like the BMW 3-Series as the choice of a design-led individual, but it's neither as solidly built nor as spacious as its German rivals. It gives a lot of driving pleasure even with the smaller engines, and it's also much cheaper to buy.
3.5 out of 5

Other Alfa Romeo reviews

3 out of 5

Running costs

Harsh depreciation is your biggest cost - it's the nature of this market but buying used counters this, making it more competitive. Servicing is generally good value at Alfa Romeo dealers and insurance is about average for the class.

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£1,805 - £2,668 *

Diesel

£1,364 - £1,563 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

Every 12,000 miles

Warranty

Mechanical 3 years, bodywork 8 years

Road tax (12 months)

£170.00 - £270.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

2.5 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
    160
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M
    291

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The 156 is quite a polluting model and with an average of 202g/km CO2 across the range, its emissions are a touch high for a medium-sized estate. However, it's worth noting that the line up has a high number of diesel models, bringing the average down and giving buyers more choices of low-emission versions. Diesels typically produce less CO2 than petrol engines with similar power outputs. The range is not particularly economical, averaging 36mpg.

Find the exact engine and CO2