ALFA ROMEO 916 GTV & SPIDER
The Alfa Romeo Type 916 GTV and Spider are among the most usable of sporting modern classics, but there’s still lots of scope for improvement
’Later rose-jointed suspension just bolts on to an early TS’
Alfa Romeo is no stranger to producing distinctive and desirable cars, but the Type 916 GTV and Spider are on another level when it comes to standing out from the crowd. First launched more than 20 years ago, the 916 is thoroughly usable even in standard form. However, if you want something a little sharper there’s a host of modifications available.
The 916 was current between 1995 and 2004, and in the UK we got just two engines: a 2.0-litre twin-spark (TS) four-pot; and a fabulously indulgent 3.0 (3.2 from July 2003) V6. Other markets also got a 1.8 TS unit and a turbocharged 2.0-litre V6. The 2.0 TS engine features variable valve timing, twin cams, 16 valves, two contra-rotating balancer shafts plus two spark plugs for each cylinder, and in JTS guise (from 2003) featured direct injection, too. The 24-valve V6 is even fruitier, looks fabulous, sounds glorious and offers serious performance. Four-cylinder cars are more common than V6s and unsurprisingly they’re quite different to drive – not inferior, just different.
All came with a five-speed manual gearbox, aside from post-June 1999 V6s, which had an extra ratio. It’s possible to fit a later six-speed gearbox to an early V6 but it can’t be fitted to a four-cylinder car.
Front suspension is MacPherson struts, lower wishbones and an antiroll bar, while at the back there’s an independent multi-link set-up with coil springs and an anti-roll bar. The suspension bushes are set up to give a degree of rear-wheel steering for greater stability when cornering at high speed. As a result, the bushes need to be in tip-top condition to maintain good handling, but those at the back wear out, potentially damaging the rear subframe on early 2.0-litres; later 2.0s and all V6s got rose-jointed suspension, which is easy enough to fit to an early Twin Spark – it just bolts on. The various 3.0and 3.2-litre V6
engines are interchangeable, while the four-pot units are known as CF1 and CF2. The CF1 has metal cam covers that date from before 1997 and are shared with the 147 and 156. The CF2 was fitted to the GTV and Spider and is given away by its plastic cam cover. Alternatively you could fit a Fiat Coupé 2.0-litre turbo engine, which endows the 916 with a superb turn of speed.