2004 Alfa Romeo 166 2.4 JTDm

This is my honey, which is upgraded to 227 bhp and 486 Nm. It’s a beautiful and quite fast beast with a great sound for a diesel powered car. It’s lowered by 4 centimeters so I need to watch the road ahead a bit, especially because of the design of the bottom of the car. Scrapping the surface is nothing special if the owner of a lowered 166 or a 166 TI is not careful :D. The height of my beauty is the same as the height the TI version.

My latest upgrade is a new turbo and a Ragazzon exhaust system, which ads a little more to the whole feeling from the car. All in all it’s very comfy even on those 19’ inch wheels. I give it all the care a car can have, which includes the best oil every 8 to 10 thousand kms, the best diesel etc. etc.

Some people are afraid of the 2.4 20V JTDm engine especially from the 159s, but the concerns aren’t so necessary for the 166. The engines are different. The main problem with the 2.4 20V in 159s are caused cylinder heads, because many people are just incompetent and push the engines to the limit when cold. This attitude can easily end up in a cylinder head cracking. The engine in the 166 is generally more durable, but you need to be careful as well to avoid the cylinder head cracking.

The engine in the 166 is much more natural than the version in the 159, because there is no DPF from the factory. It makes it more alive in the bottom end and more responsive. The engine is also less prone to clogging, but I need to check the egr ever once in a while.

If you really care about the 2.4 20V in the 166, then you can start with some little adjustments for power increase. Then you can enjoy the power and the sound. It’s a 5 cylinder unit and according to my personal opinion it sounds much better than any 6 cylinder diesel like for example the inline 6 from BMW or some V6s.

As every Alfa, it has its issues, which are caused by some shortcuts in design. For example the passanger airbag cover is prone to distortion from the sunlight. Rear suspension is quite a complex structure and its repair can be very expensive. Mine is still OK, but I will probably need to go through a complete correction next spring. You can easily check by testing the camber of the rear wheels. If they tend to have a too much negative camber, you will need to repair it.

Some people diss the diesel engines in Alfas. I agree that the 4 cylinder units are boring but the 2.4 is a different story. From the factory, it’s not as fast as the 3.2 busso, which is a glorious engine. Such a smooth and powerful NA unit, which has one of the best reaction to throttle input, that I’ve ever tasted. But the 2.4 is easier tune and can be a joy to drive as well. Even though mine has 227 bhp compared to the 3.2’s 240 hp, it’s a tiny bit faster.

I just hope, that this honey will serve for a long time alongside my 166 3.2 and other Alfas I am planning to buy. Before this car, I’ve been a huge BMW fanboy, but when I saw this beauty offered for sale almost two years, I was staggered by the looks and handling. It needed a lot of work, but the feedback from the car is so great, that I don’t regret anything, absolutely anything. Now I am planning to buy more Alfas, it’s a disease. :)