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The range begins with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which is smooth and willing; the 1.8 is similarly refined and both make a nice noise at higher revs. The petrol engine of choice, however, is the 2.0-litre JTS with direct-injection. It pulls well throughout its very broad rev-range and sounds good too, developing 165bhp at its peak. The 1.9 JTD Multijet turbodiesel is a Euro IV compliant 140bhp unit, fairly quiet at idle and reasonably powerful. The best-performing diesel, however, is the 175bhp 2.4-litre five-cylinder JTD turbodiesel. This has fairly astonishing pace above 2000rpm because of its 283lb ft of torque (pulling force). In fact, GTA (reviewed separately) apart, it's the fastest 156 on offer, because the 2.5-litre V6 model is dropped from September 2003. Shame, because it's a lovely engine and (galactic depreciation aside), made an intoxicating car.
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