Alfa Romeo 164

The Alfa Romeo 164 was a four-door executive sedan manufactured and marketed by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo from 1987 to 1995.

1994
Alfa sold less than 400 cars in the first half of 1994, and its 28-year-old Spider model was finally put out to pasture. That left the company with only its 164 front-drive sport sedan to sell in North America. It competed with the Acura Legend, Lexus ES 300, Infiniti G20 and the low- to mid-price European sport sedans from Audi, BMW and Mercedes- Benz.

1995
There were two major questions concerning Alfa Romeo for 1995: First, would there be a U.S. Alfa for 1995; and second, will a new Spider convertible ever get here? The answers were yes and maybe.

When released, the 164 was unchanged for 1995. It was available in two versions, LS and Quadrifoglio, which is Italian for "4-leaf clover", Alfa's early racing insignia. The beautiful 3.0-liter dohc all-aluminum V6 used Bosch Motronic engine management. The 230-hp Quadrifoglio version used larger intake runners to get its extra 20 hp. Other Quadrifoglio differences were sport seats, sport alloy wheels, electronic suspension, and a "ground effects" spoiler kit. All 164s had leather upholstery, air conditioning, power seats, cruise control and a power sunroof. The optional automatic transmission was limited to the LS, as was metallic paint and unique front sheetmetal.

Wheels for both Quadrifoglio and LS were 15 ´ 6 in. with 195/65 tires, wider wheels and larger section tires, further enhancing the already excellent handling. The Quadrifoglio V6 was the most powerful 3.0-liter available in a sedan, only the Acura NSX and Porsche 968 had more powerful 3.0-liter engines.