Giant test – Alfa Romeo Alfa 6

Auto-test – Alfa Romeo Alfa 6 1980 – some redeeming features. New big Italian saloon with V6 engine, imported to Britain only with automatic transmission. Interesting design, with unusual valve gear, multi-carburettor induction system, and de Dion rear suspension layout. Boxy four-door body with rather upright windscreen; separate boot. Large disc brakes all round, ventilated at front. Air conditioning available at extra cost. Remote control for door locks, and beam adjustment for headlamps.

Noted for originality in their designs, Alfa Romeo have not bothered much about convention in making their first return to big car construction for many years. Although at a quick glance the Alfa 6 may seem to be quite ordinary in its format, it does in fact introduce many unusual features. For example, what other car can boast six carburettors?

Few concessions are made to aerodynamics in the squared-up front, and high roofline. Bumpers have impact-absorbing over-riders and corner protectors In designing the new six-cylinder engine, Alfa have evolved a layout of admirable simplicity that delights the engineer, achieving hemispherical combustion chamber shape without extravagance or complication. The overhead camshaft works the inlet valves directly through bucket tappets, and a simple pushrod and rocker layout across the top of the head operates the exhaust valves. The arrangement is duplicated for each head of the V6 engine, and the camshafts are driven by a long toothed belt with automatic tensioner.

For optimum mixture control, a separate carburettor is fitted for each cylinder, and they all nestle together in the vee of the engine with surprisingly simple throttle actuation. The engine is cast largely in alloy, with renewable wet cylinder liners for the bores.

In this size of car, Alfa Romeo did not perpetuate their now familiar arrangement of a transaxle layout as in the Giulietta and Alfetta. Instead, the gearbox is at the front, and – perhaps noting adverse comment about the awkwardness of the gear change when the model was first launched in Italy last year – the importers here have decided to bring in only the automatic version.

With its de Dion suspension layout at the rear, the Alfa 6 is again refreshingly different from the ordinary run. It has taken a long time for the car to arrive on the British market, and it has been interesting to see now how it all works out in practice. In spite of its rather unpretentious and chunky body style, the Alfa 6 certainly aroused a lot of interest while it was with us for test.

Performance  – excellent automatic

First impressions of the Alfa 6 are decidedly disappointing, and it was notable that those who had driven the car for only relatively short distances did not like it. Considerably more mileage is needed to appreciate its better features, and there was the further drawback that the carburation did not seem to be quite right on the test car. In any low- speed difficult situation, such as a complicated turning manoeuvre with obstructed traffic waiting to go, the car proved a positive embarrassment. The slightest turn of the steering without speeding up the engine at the same time would tend to make it stall, and because of the exceptional quietness of the engine at tickover, there could be other occasions when one would think it had stalled and find oneself trying to restart an engine that was still running.

On one occasion we were in another car and sat watching this go on, and the clouds of dense black smoke emerging from the exhaust pipe revealed the reasons for the driver’s difficulties. A higher tickover speed would no doubt have solved the problem, and there was certainly no difficulty for anyone who has mastered the art of left-foot braking, so that the engine could be given a little more throttle to keep it running, while holding it back on the brakes with the other foot.

Once given more normal running, the engine pulls smoothly over the initial part of the rev range, but then becomes extremely noisy in firm acceleration, emitting a harsh snarl that makes it seem rather fussy. It goes through this stage, though, coinciding with about 3,000 rpm, and then becomes much smoother and more refined again.

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Peak power is quite high, at 160 bhp, developed at 5,800 rpm, and the automatic transmission is adapted to make the best of what is available, with the up-changes occurring just on the peak when accelerating on full throttle. We usually find that by over-riding the automatic change points with an automatic, we can obtain quicker acceleration; but there was no beating the automatic of the Alfa 6. All that is needed for fastest getaway is to plant the foot firmly on the accelerator. In these conditions, changes occur at 46 and 78 mph.

Both up and down, the ratio changes occur more smoothly than is usually experienced with this make of automatic transmission — ZF — and kickdown changedown at full throttle to second can be made up to 71 mph, while a kickdown change to first is possible right up to 39 mph. Because of the ease with which the Alfa automatic changes down to the next lower gear, it was not possible to time acceleration in top gear below 70 mph, or in second gear below 40.

An excellent selector is provided for the automatic, with a long lever easily reached by the driver’s left hand without any stretch, and with ideal gating. From Drive to second gear hold position it is only necessary to knock the lever back, and it is simply moved forward again as far as the pronounced step in the gate to return to Drive. First gear is protected against accidental engagement by another detent in the gate; and need to lift the re-lease collar in the base of the gear knob safeguards the reverse and park positions. Would that the many manufacturers of clumsy or potentially dangerous automatic selectors should try to emulate this ideal layout in the Alfa 6.

In the interests of response, even with automatic, Alfa Romeo have adopted surprisingly low overall gearing. In spite of having a 3.61-to-1 final drive, instead of the 4.55-to-1 of the five-speed manual model, top gear still gives only 18.2 mph per 1,000 rpm at 3,000 revs under power, when torque converter slip is reduced to minimum. An inevitable result of this is that top speed is limited by engine revs – the rev counter beginning to enter the solid red zone at 6,300 rpm, with 115 mph just attainable. The car could possibly be even faster, and would certainly cruise with less fuss and stress, not to mention better economy, if it had been given higher gearing. As it is, there is quite a lot of commotion to discourage the driver from sustaining more than 90 mph for long periods, and even this speed calls for 5,000 rpm.

Economy – automatic penalties

A big engine pulling through an automatic transmission with low overall gearing, and a rather bluff body style with no apparent attempt at aerodynamics, is scarcely a formula for economy. But it perhaps reflects the efficiency of the engine design that the consumption is not even heavier than it is. Our overall figure of 18.2 mpg is not too bad for such a car with automatic transmission and owners may regard 20 mpg as a working target. The lowest figure we obtained in a rather abbreviated test was 16.9 mpg when a fair amount of London traffic work was included.

Fuel tank capacity is a generous 17 gal, making a 300-mile range feasible on a journey in which the car is not pushed too hard. However, the fuel consumption curve dives steeply once the speed is pushed above the 90 mph mark – sufficient to make one wonder whether the extra 10 mph for 100 mph cruising in this particular car is worth the extra time that would be spent on fuel stops, not to mention the added cost. There was no noticeable drop in oil level during the test.

On the road – responsive and taut

Evidently a lot of effort has been put into the design of the Alfa 6 in search of those qualities of handling which are almost implied by the name. In considerable measure, the result has been all that admirers of the marque would expect, and the car can be hustled through corners with a feeling of great confidence in its handling response and in the ability to get round tight corners quickly without a lot of fuss or tyre squeal. There is slight roll, but it is firmly controlled after some initial movement, and although the car carries quite a high proportion of the total weight on the front wheels, understeer is not excessive.

Ride quality is very much in the Italian character, with a suggestion of firmness that makes one well aware of road surface irregularities and makes the car feel taut with a suggestion that the emphasis was on sportiness rather than softness. At low speeds there is quite a lot of firm vertical reaction on bumps, but as speed rises it levels out very well and tends to soak up undulations impressively well. Suppression of road noise and thump from the wheels is very good, and bumps tend to be felt rather than heard.

The suspension uses a de Dion layout at the rear, with an anti-roll bar forward of the axle, and Watts linkage at the rear. Long semi-trailing arms connect the de Dion tube forward to a subframe mounting point on the centre-line of the car, and the layout has been designed to ensure that the rear wheels remain vertical even in hard cornering. It locates the back end of the car very securely, and a tail slide on wet roads is likely to happen only when positively provoked, and is then easily corrected. On dry roads when the car is taken to its cornering limit there is a very gentle transition to a tail-out oversteer movement, helping the car through a corner taken over-ambitiously. The layout also contributes to good directional stability, and in con-junction with very accurate rack and pinion steering it makes it easy to hold the Alfa 6 to a dead straight course.

Power assistance on the steering is standard, but Alfa have been careful not to make it oversensitive; indeed, many drivers might be quite unaware that the steering is assisted, since it is fairly low-geared and takes quite a lot of effort to turn the wheel. The turning circle is a fairly stately 38ft.

Big disc brakes are fitted all round, with internal venting for the front ones, while the rear discs are mounted inboard, either side of the differential casing. They have strong servo assistance with very good progression in response to extra pedal load. Maximum efficiency was 96 per cent, reached at 50 lb load on the pedal; higher effort started to make the wheels lock, and although the rear brakes lock first there is no loss of control, just a gentle slew to one side.

For normal stops from high speed, the brakes give reassuring response, and although there was some initial fade in our repeated tests from 77 mph, they continued working reasonably well although giving off a lot of smell and smoke. The penalty of rear discs on many cars is seen also on the Alfa 6 – a rather poor handbrake. It would only just hold the car on the 1 in 4 test hill. Used as a handbrake for emergency stopping, though, it coped much better, giving 32 per cent efficiency.

Behind the wheel – not in the luxury class

With its very high price, the Alfa 6 may well be expected to offer luxury furnishings; but the impression is given that most of the expenditure went into the engineering, leaving the interior finish looking rather plain and “ultra plastic” in appearance, with not very attractive embellishments of a rather crude simulated walnut around the instruments and on the facia.

Adjustable vertically, after re-leasing a lever to the right of the column, the steering wheel is positioned well forward for a classic straight arms driving position. Those who are not very long in the arm even find that they have to position the seat back rather more vertical than they would wish in order to reach the wheel from a well-back position dictated by the relative nearness of the pedals.

It comes as something of a surprise to be confronted by such a steep angle of windscreen, which also puts the screen pillars in a well forward position. This, in conjunction with rather large and non-removable headrests for all four seats means that all-round visibility is fairly severely restricted. But an adequately high driving position can be obtained by means of the electric adjustment rocker switch positioned just below the forward lip of the seat. Seat shape is not ideal, with a rather pronounced roll of padding at the front edge, under the thighs. A hand wheel at the base of each front seat gives backrest angle adjustment. There is generous legroom in the rear seat, whose shaping is rather better than those in front, but the restricted forward view gives a slightly claustrophobic effect.

Excellent night driving illumination is given by the four round headlamps, all halogen. A column-mounted lever is turned to switch on side or headlamps, and the same lever is then moved up or down for dip/main beam, though it seems odd that the downward movement should be the one to put the lamps up to full beam. A useful provision is a rotary knob on the left side of the steering column to adjust the vertical throw of the headlamps – but it governs only the outer lamps which remain alight on dipped beam. An Alfa peculiarity is that side and headlamps are wired through the ignition switch. If sidelamps are wanted with the ignition turned off, a separate push button on the right of the instrument nacelle must be pushed down.

Thumb pads in imitation walnut on each side of the steering wheel T-piece sound mellow- tone horns. Another lever on the right of the column works the wipers in three vertical positions of the switch, giving intermittent, slow and fast action, and it is pulled towards the driver to operate the screen washers. This automatically gives a few strokes of the wipers on fast speed, but we found that usually more wiping was necessary, after the washers had been used, than the three or four strokes given by this interlinked function. The wipers cover adequate arcs of the screen, but tend to park needlessly high up from the base of the glass.

Living with the Alfa 6

Evidently the complication of providing automatic cold starting enrichment for the Alfa 6’s six- carburettor system was discounted in favour of a manual choke control T-handle, positioned beneath the facia on the right. It often proved scarcely necessary to use the choke in summer weather, confirming the impression that the carburation is on the rich side. However, starting is often a problem, calling for a lot of churning over on the starter when the engine is hot, and requiring very careful use of the accelerator to avoid flooding.

A fair galaxy of warning tell-tales is positioned between the speedometer and rev counter, and minor instruments are temperature, oil pressure, and fuel gauges. Warning tell-tales include a fuel light, and a green tell-tale to confirm that the side lamps are alight. A clock forms the centrepiece of the display, but it is odd that its reset knob protrudes from the middle of the clock dial, obscuring the upper part of the face. The rev counter slightly over-reads, as does the speedometer – accurate at 50 and 60 mph, but progressively optimistic to 4 mph error at top speed. At the base of the instrument nacelle is an indicator for the automatic transmission, showing which selection has been made, and this is illuminated with the panel lighting, eliminating the need for illumination of the gear selector, though with the excellence of the selector itself, as already explained, there is scarcely any requirement for this feature. The driver is never in any confusion as to what selection has been made.

Electric window lifts are standard, and their switches are readily accessible on a continuation of the console, passing between the seats. An isolator switch for the rear window lifts is provided on the right of the row of switches in front of the rev counter. The windows wind up or down rather slowly, but we noted with approval that a manual cranking handle is provided for use in event of failure of the mechanism. With the windows closed there is little wind noise at speed, and when open they wind fully down into the doors.

An automatic light comes on when the small lockable glove box on the left of the facia is opened. In conjunction with the side lamps there are also twin lamps to illuminate the engine bay, and a light in the luggage boot. In addition to the courtesy light positioned above the windscreen, there is a separate map reading lamp, turned on by rotating its base, and adjustable as an eyeball nozzle – a very thoughtful feature when there is need to consult a map at night. Red warning lamps are also fitted on the trailing edge of each door. They come on automatically when any door is opened, lighting also the fellow on the opposite side.

Just beneath the door capping on the driver’s door are a pair of toggle switches. The forward one is the internal adjuster for the driver’s door mirror; but there is no mirror for the passenger door. To the rear of this, the second toggle operates all the door locks with a loud “clunk”, to lock or unlock. Unlocking the car involves using the key in the driver’s door, and then the toggle can be used to open the remaining doors. For locking, the toggle can be used, or simply locking either front door also locks all other doors.

This locking system unfortunately does not extend to the boot, which has to be locked separately. It has a pushbutton release and so can be left unlocked when preferred. The fuel cap is neat and is opened by turning the key in its lock. Three keys come with the car, one for doors, one for boot and glovebox, and the third, with black surround, for ignition and fuel cap.

Air conditioning is available for the Alfa 6 as a factory-fitted option, costing £750 extra in total. Fitted to the test car, it gave good output from footwell outlets as well as three outlets in the centre of the facia, and is controllable for temperature using the sliding temperature lever of the heater controls; this regulates cooling effect as well as the rotary refrigeration control. The heater is a water-valve unit and does not give progressive regulation of temperature to provide gentle heating. In addition to the directional centre vents, there are outlets at each end of the facia for face level cool air (ram effect only), and demister outlets for the side windows.

Ventilation is also carried through to the rear compartment, fed by an outlet at the end of the console extension. The fan operates on three speeds, and is audible, but not excessively noisy, on the lowest speed. When the air conditioning is on, one of the two radiator cooling fans is automatically switched on, but this is not heard once the car is on the move. The air conditioning push button switches include separate buttons for “stop” — which switches the system to re- circulatory action for tunnels and smelly lorry exhausts – and one marked “DEF” for maximum defrosting effect.

No radio or tape unit is provided as standard, but all the wiring is in place, and loudspeakers are installed in the front doors. Alfa Romeo presume that purchasers of the Alfa 6 will want to make their own ICE choice.

The Alfa 6 range

In Italy and other markets the Alfa 6 comes with choice of manual or automatic transmission, but for the UK at present it will come in only with the ZF three-speed automatic. Air conditioning is the only option, though a sliding roof may be offered later.

The boot is quite deep, but has a high sill for luggage to be lifted over. The spare wheel is stowed on the left, into a well. The lid has a lockable release button, but is not secured by the central door locking system. A light is provided in the boot, and there is a useful toolkit in fitted plastic container.

Seats are luxuriously upholstered and have hand wheel adjustment for backrest angle. Loudspeakers are fitted in the front door armrests.

There is a folding centre armrest for the rear seat, and occupants in the back have good leg and headroom counter are circular in square dials, flanking temperature, oil and fuel gauges, with a clock in the central position.

There is a trip distance recorder, and warning tellies are provided or head and side imps, fan, choke, low fuel, charge, and brake servo/fluid, with a separate one for handbrake. Switches in the base of the instrument nacelle are for fog lamps (when fitted), rear fog, heated rear window (with warning light in side of switch), parking lights (independent of the ignition-linked side lamps), and rear window isolator switch.

A lockable cubby hole in the facia it provided, and there is a light inside. Beside the interior light above the windscreen is a directional spotlight for map reading.

All doors are automatically locked by the key in either front door, and central unlocking of the other three doors is done by a remote trigger under the driver’s door window sill.

Well; that’s not too good, is it? The Alfa 6, near the dearest of the batch of five cars chosen for random comparison, comes out bottom of the league for fuel economy, and is redeemed only by the Audi from the further ignominy of being also slowest of the group. The Audi 100 5E comes out a good bit slower still on top speed, and is just beaten by the Alfa 6 on acceleration, but scores with a good economy figure. It’s only right to point out that lack of recent test data for some of these cars with automatic transmission means that we have had to throw in some manual ones. Thus, the Alfa 6 has a slightly unfavourable comparison with the BMW 528i E28, Ford Granada Mk II and Rover SD, but we feel that automatic versions of these cars would still manage to better the acceleration of the Alfa 6, if not also its top speed.

In the fuel1 consumption comparison, it is all too plain that the Alfa 6 is designed with little real thought for economy – a fact all the more astonishing for a car from the country with one of the highest petrol prices in Europe, if not the world. Its shape is too boxy and slab-fronted to present a good aerodynamic profile, and the gearing is far too low.

A significant point from the figures is the good showing made by the Ford Granada 2800i. Although Alfa Romeo manage to get the same power from an engine some 300 c.c. smaller than that of the Granada, they throw the benefit away with a body that’s more than 2 cwt heavier. In this respect, though, the Audi is top scorer with the lightest kerb weight of the group, by a substantial margin.

On the road

Picking the best-handling car of this group is easy enough – the Opel Senator stands out by a good margin, and combines this with a high degree of ride comfort. The Alfa 6 is not quite up to the same standard, but its cornering is very capable and manageable, putting it up near the head of the remainder, perhaps level- pegging with the BMW for second place. In ride comfort terms the Ford Granada scores very high points, as also do the Opel Senator, Audi and BMW, and all are more comfortable than the Alfa 6. Only the Rover, with the limitations of a live rear axle, falls down slightly on ride comfort.

Other aspects of road behaviour find the Alfa 6 rather wanting amongst this distinguished competition, and it has to be admitted that it does not match their refinement, quietness and ease of control. Against the long-legged, relaxed cruising of the Rover, for example, the Alfa 6 is decidedly fussy, and the fact that it has the penalty of automatic transmission is not a real defence because it is not available here in any other form. On the credit side for the Alfa are its good steering and directional stability.

That the Alfa 6 is a fairly spacious car is confirmed by the fact that it has the same front/rear legroom as the Opel Senator. Whether sitting in front or rear there is adequate space, and indeed headroom is generous in the Alfa 6. The spaciousness of the well-designed Granada body, and of the Audi 100 with the advantages of front drive for maximum space utilisation are shown by the figures; and the Rover is also a pleasantly roomy car. When it comes to load carrying, the Rover out-classes all the others in the group with its roomy hatchback tail and removable back shelf, plus the asset of an estate car style rear seat. In contrast, the BMW is an altogether more compact and less roomy car.

Verdict

No one could say that the Alfa 6 is a car lacking in character, and it has redeeming features which will no doubt endear it to many buyers, especially to those who admire the marque and want a car in this size and price category. But there is no getting away from the fact that many .less enterprising cars – not just the ones listed here – can do all and much more than the Alfa 6 and are less expensive to buy. With its lavish equipment, the Audi 100 5E in CD form clearly stands out as the bargain of the group. The BMW 528i E28 might well be chosen for its likeable, sporty character; the Opel Senator and Rover for their refinement; the Ford Granada for all-round competence and value; while choice of the Alfa 6 would have to be mainly because of the special and indefinable mystique of being an Alfa Romeo.

Figures taken at 1600 miles by our own staff at the Motor Industry Research Association proving ground at Nuneaton. All Drive-my test results are subject to world copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the Editor’s written permission.