5 Things You Didn’t Know About The Alfa Romeo 145/146
Although it may seem like yesterday, the Alfa Romeo 145 was presented over a quarter of a century ago, in July of 1994. Time to go down memory lane and discover five things you’ve probably never known about the Alfa Romeo 145 and 146.
1. The Boxer
The 145 and 146 have been the last Alfa Romeos powered by the flat-four engines first introduced with the Alfasud in 1971. But few people know that Alfa’s boxers were actually supposed to die with the outgoing 33 models. However, since Fiat couldn’t produce enough inline-four engines for all the Group’s brands, Alfa’s boxer engines were retained for the 145 and 146 until 1997.
The base 1.3 liters and the range-topping 1.7 liters 16-valve engines were carried over from the outgoing 33 with little to no modification, while the 1.6 liters flat-four was derived from the outgoing 8-valve 1.7 liters via slightly smaller (-2mm) cylinder bores.
2. Different layouts
The 1.3 (1351cc), 1.6 (1596cc), or 1.7 liters (1712cc) boxer engines and the five-speed manual gearbox (no automatic option was offered) were installed longitudinally in the 145’s…
