The best non-German wagon; The five-door Alfa 159 is better than the four-door and practically German. So what's the problem?(News)

Byline: Matt Davis

STATION WAGONS are huge business in Europe. In the large C and D segments, wagons make up around 55 percent of sales. And now the moment has arrived to drive this Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon, replacement for the 156 wagon.

After driving the four-door, we came away feeling the most attractive version from our American perspective-the loaded 3.2 V6 with Q4 all-wheel traction-is heavy compared to the Germans with which it means to compete. 159 sedans, along with 159-based Brera models, are too heavy by about 300 pounds. To really feel the Alfa thrills we seek, revs in these cars need to be kept high to adequately tug around the weight. Despite this, these are great cars with attractive Italdesign-Giugiaro exteriors.

This Sportwagon, introduced at the Geneva motor show, is still a bit portly, but we enjoyed it more than either the 159 sedan or Brera coupe. First, the car is gorgeous from any angle and extremely Italian. Helping to overlook any paunch issues is the outstanding ride and handling, even in the twistiest narrow parts of the 1.5-lane Italian coastal-road network.

The stouter suspension rate ensures every unpleasant bump and all of the aggressive corners are gobbled up whole while maintaining a Germanic sense of comfort and purpose. Another gain comes from the steering wheel orientation, which is closer to a parallel plane with the dashboard, instead of being angled too much forward.

So we again jumped into the 3.2 V6 Q4 version with six-speed manual (engineered by Fiat-GM Powertrain-the best entity to come out of that alliance) and were ready to hike up the rpm count. Pulling the 159 Sportwagon around the seaside hills of the Liguria region, the Holden-sourced HF V6 sounds ...