Compare two cars

Compare any two cars and get our Virtual Adviser™ opinion

Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
1997. - 2003.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
1999. - 2005.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4430 mm
1745 mm
1415 mm
378 liters
378 liters
63 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4466 mm
1743 mm
1462 mm
420 liters
420 liters
60 liters
1997 Alfa Romeo 156
1999 Lancia Lybra

Engine

Alfa Romeo
2.0 Twin Spark
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1970 cc
155 hp
187 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Petrol
5 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1998 cc
155 hp
186 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1260 kg
8.8 s
214 km/h
12.3 l/100km
6.6 l/100km
8.7 l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1325 kg
9.6 s
210 km/h
13.8 l/100km
7.5 l/100km
9.8 l/100km
233 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 5 gears
1260 kg
8.8 s
214 km/h
12.3 l/100km
6.6 l/100km
8.7 l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 4 gears
1355 kg
11.7 s
205 km/h
14.1 l/100km
8.3 l/100km
10.4 l/100km
248 g/km

Expenses

600 EUR
Price from
500 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the large family car segment and utilize the same 4-door sedan body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Alfa Romeo-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 155hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 5-cylinder, 20-valves 155hp engine designed by FIAT.

Safety

Unfortunatelly, neither of the two vehicles was submitted to the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) testing. This makes it virtually impossible for me to pick one over the other and I'm generally against buying such cars as the safety should really always come first. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, Lybra offers a marginal difference of 5% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Lancia as a brand displays somewhat better results, when all the models are taken into account. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Alfa Romeo with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Lancia badge with 4.1 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed 156 as average reliability-wise, and Lybra is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as 156 rank it on average as 4.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.5 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Alfa Romeo is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.8 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 214 kilometers per hour, 4km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be 156, averaging around 8.7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (32 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 13% difference compared to Lybra.


Verdict

Lancia appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Lybra offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with Alfa Romeo offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the Alfa Romeo. Nevertheless, let's not forget that people have different preferences and needs, so what really counts is your personal feel. I'm only here to help. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

Check a car by its VIN number

Follow us

AutoManiac Instagram

AutoManiac Facebook

AutoManiac database currently covers:

47worldwide automotive brands
1.565different vehicle models
2.275engines
14.080specific cars