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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
2005. - 2008.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2004. - 2011.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4520 mm
1817 mm
1421 mm
460 liters
460 liters
61 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4660 mm
1828 mm
1422 mm
405 liters
405 liters
70 liters
2005 BMW 3 Series
2004 Alfa Romeo 159

Engine

Petrol
6 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
2497 cc
218 hp
250 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Alfa Romeo
2.2 jts
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
2198 cc
185 hp
230 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1405 kg
7.0 s
245 km/h
12.1 l/100km
6.2 l/100km
8.4 l/100km
203 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1465 kg
8.8 s
222 km/h
13.0 l/100km
7.3 l/100km
9.4 l/100km
221 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1435 kg
7.1 s
248 km/h
9.7 l/100km
5.6 l/100km
7.1 l/100km
170 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
1465 kg
8.8 s
222 km/h
13.0 l/100km
7.3 l/100km
9.4 l/100km
221 g/km

Expenses

6500 EUR
Price from
1700 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Large family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the BMW and front in the case of the Alfa Romeo). The first one has a BMW-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 218hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 185hp engine designed by Alfa Romeo.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. On the other hand, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the Italian car offers a marginal difference of 4% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that BMW does have a slight advantage, when all the models are taken into account. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW, as well as Alfa Romeo, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed 3 Series as average reliability-wise, and 159 is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the German car rank it on average as 3.8, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.5 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

BMW is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.8 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 245 kilometers per hour, 23km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 8.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (34 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 12% difference compared to the Italian car.


Verdict

Alfa Romeo 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, the Italian car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with BMW being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but BMW. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.

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