Car Feature>>lux Alfa 159

When you think of the storied Alfa Romeo brand, you probably picture a nimble sports car (most likely painted bright red) navigating a racing circuit or a picturesque mountain road somewhere. What you probably don't think of is a luxury-themed sedan dropped on air suspension with chrome wheels and a bunch of ICE inside. Without seeing the car you might think it'd be a crime to such things to an Alfa, but one look at Ewold Van der Maeren's 2006 159 sedan shows that he must be doing something right. It may not be your typical Alfa, but it certainly hasn't lost any of its Italian sexiness.

Alfa's come from the factory with bold styling, but Ewold wanted to tweak the exterior a bit to his tastes. First, he had the car repainted in a brilliant dark purple/burgundy color by Saiko Car Styling in his home country of Belgium. Ewold actually let the shop choose the color as long it was "dark". I'm not sure if I could do that, but the shop seems to have done a great job picking a color for the car.

Ewold also had some additional bodywork done to the car, including a molded MS Design rear diffuser, a shaved trunk, Alfa TI sideskirts, and some custom work to the front bumper.

Those of you familiar with Alfa Romeos will probably be able to spot the body modifications, but it looks factory to those of us that aren't. That's a good thing.

The rear profile is complimented by a classy-looking dual exit exhaust system from Skytune. Outside of the exhaust system and a chip, the powertrain is all factory spec.

As with the rest of the car, a lot of restraint was used in the interior. There's no useless roll cage, suede steering wheel, or other "tuner" parts,

It'd almost be a crime to mess up the beautiful factory Alfa interior, complete with red leather seats. You can see the double DIN head unit that Ewold added there in the dash.

The centerpiece of the car is the BSS air ride suspension that Ewold says took over two weeks to hook up. Such is the case when working with a non-mainstream platform like the Alfa Romeo.

The air ride setup even includes this trick digital display unit mounted in the car's center console.

And finally there's the wheels. Ewold wanted something that fit the character of the Alfa so he went with Evolution S019's in 19"x8.5 all around. He's very satisfied with the look, but says that he wants to eventually swap out the rear set for wider 9.5 inchers to fill out the back fenders.

Ewold's philosophy for building a car is that it should be driven everyday, everywhere. With this Alfa Romeo he's done just that, creating a comfortable, unique, and most importantly stylish machine that can be used day in and day out without worry.

-Mike Garrett

Photos by Kevin Raekelboom

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1

Why dont they sell this car in america?!?!?!?!

Such a beautiful ride!!

2

"...that can be used day in and day out without worry."

It is still an Alfa though...

3

Love it! nice wheels, nice color, nice wheels and stance (for a dd, of course!)

4

@chippeRX7



Because they are crap and finish always last in every consumer test here in europa. And a small FWD sedan isn't realy vip for me!

5

Looks angry, i like it.

6

just beautiful.Exquisite.the perfect slammed car.And hes a true petrolhead because he drives an alfa.

7

I can't believe thats an Alfa. That is one mean looking sedan.

8

hopefully Sergio Marchionne will move towards allowing all Alfas in the US through Chrysler dealerships, I used to love my mom's Alfa 164

9

i'm taking one when chrysler brings em over

10

i'm taking one when chrysler brings em over

11

Stunning. Get Linhbergh over there to shoot it for a desktop that would last for years.

12

wow that is awesome, the first alfa (bar the 8C) that i like.

However at the start u say people think of alfa as good sports cars, i think u'll also find alot remember them for rust and dodgy electrics!!!! (but still for the price i could never see myself buying one over a bmw, merc etc)

14

So beautiful.

15

Love the wheels/paint color!

16

the rear end kinda reminds me of the Evo X especially the tail lights

17

ive never thought anything of alfa's till now. that is a beautiful car the owner has done a damn good job

18

I think I just saw perfection. wow.

19

I like this car too bad they do not sell it in the U.S.

20

I hate alfa romeos with a passion but this car is absolutely gorgeous. I want to give the owner a couple high fives.

21

drop dead gorgeous, might I add

22

looks like the new lancer, taillights

23

This was designed WAY before the new lancer. <2005

24

they used to sell these things in north america, there's a shop a couple blocks from my house that specialises in alfas and fiats actually, but they stopped selling them some time in the early 90s iirc... i very much like the look of the new alfas, especially the brera, i hope they bring them here! even if they are unreliable, it can't be much worse than the local competition ;)

25

this kind of style usually isnt my sort of thing but i gotta say this is straight outta awesome-town

LOVE IT!!!

26

Absolutely love it. awesomness

27

Wallpaper....please.... for Italian readers! (1st or 2nd possibly)

28

Paint and bodywork is nice, but the sideskirts don't match the rest of the aero. I would like to see a better choice in wheels, plus fitment sucks. I dont really understand why this is a "feature" car. Just an Alpha that someone threw a bunch of money at.

29

the car looks like the acura tl & a 525i had a baby. very well executed,i'd drive it.

--side note

@Rob McAllister



it's still a well put together car that anybody can appreciate. I think felt a little bit of hater in your words. U mad? this is not hellaflush.com,not every car has to be fit to a t.

31

I hope this is one of the platforms that Chrysler brings over now that alfa merged with them.

32

Wallpapers please!!!!



Do it for the Alfa Lovers!!!

33

I've been driving Alfas my whole life.



I currently have a track Milano 3.0, Alfetta Sprint Veloce, a 95 164 LS, and a couple of parts cars. I also have a Kouki AE86 with a blacktop 20V in it running on stand alone.



I can tell you that Alfas are WAY more fun to drive than even the corolla, but are too fragile to clutch kick and all that crap. Basically, all of you people hating on Alfas are MISSING OUT BIG TIME.



I've even talked to Moto-P of club4age fame, he loves Alfas. Get some taste folks. The cars are hard to maintain, but as a weekend toy, driving doesn't get much better than this.



Seriously...driving nirvana. I hope you guys at least test drive a nice older Alfa some time in your life. The new cars I hear are a lot less "Alfa" than the old cars, not quite as exciting as the older cars, but still have a lot of Alfa essence from what I've been told. I live in California, so the newest Alfa I've driven in our 164...one of the last 500 imported to the US.



You're missing out......

No hate, I'm just trying to open your eyes. We all love cars here. Peace.

34

One of the most beautiful cars in the world, slammed, stanced and coated in sex.
 
I think I need a few minutes alone with this, if you will excuse me.
 
Delicious. 

35

Does anyone have any information on what front bumper that is, I really love the look and want to recreate it!

36

Hello, how can I also get the black part that is on the bumper,

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