Here is a view of the driver's seat location, the area to which you will be most familiar. A noticeable alteration is the steering wheel, where the Q4 gained a more attractive design and a color Alfa logo. (Note: North American 164's sold in 1995 had the new steering wheel but no color cap.) Another update is in the door panel. Notice that the new interior makes provision for a treble speaker located in the panel's mid front, so the tweeter and woofer do not have to be mounted co-axially as in the S. Note that the S has red stitching around the instrument pod and down the side of the center console. The wooden shift knob in the S is not stock; it is an aftermarket knob marketed by International Auto Parts. The cellular telephone holder in the Q4 is obviously not stock - by the time of this writing it has been removed (see the Gallery for an updated Q4 interior photo featuring a wooden shift knob from Tuning Zubehör). Both the S and the Q4 had advanced Recaro sport seats available as options, but unfortunately neither of these two cars have it. The standard seats are extremely comfortable however, with ample side bolstering. The Q4 has eight-way power seats as opposed to six-way in the S; they are also perforated. Note the headlight beam adjustment lever next to the steering wheel on the Q4; a European feature not available in U.S. 164's.

While most respectable 164 owners would never contemplate sitting in the passenger seat, as it implies someone else is driving the car, sometimes it has to happen. :-) I myself have ridden shotgun on numerous occasions, for example when I was teaching some friends how to drive standard. Yes, in Trinity I have taught four friends the finer art of driving. And no, the clutch has not been fried since I bought the car two years ago. It can mean either one of three things: that I'm an excellent teacher, the clutch in the 164 is especially tough, or it's going to go real soon. But I digress. The front passenger area is very spacious. The dashboard stretches out horizontally only a few inches from the windshield before it slopes down steeply into the glovebox. The room inside the compartment is also quite generous, but note that neither of these two cars have passenger airbags. In 1995 all 164's sold in North America were equipped with one as standard equipment, and while I have not been able to carefully examine a 1995 N.A. 164, I expect the glovebox to be much smaller. Note that the latch for the glovebox in older 164's is located on the console (next to the "SPORT" switch"), while newer 164's put it in a much more intuitive location.

A major gripe of many reviewers concerns the design of the center console. As you can see in the leftmost image, the S has three rows of identical buttons, and it takes a while to familiarize yourself with them all. Perhaps as the result of a slew of complaints, Alfa Romeo redesigned it completely for the new cars, and while it still has a myriad of buttons, it is more intuitive. In both cars the economy button shuts off the air-conditioner, and "auto" gives the computer full control over fan speed, cooling and vent selection, based on the set temperature. A beautiful but ultimately bone-headed decision was the inclusion of an LCD display in the newer models. The display consists of four sections indicating the status of the air-circulation system and a clock. This unit, manufactured by a German manufacturer (Bosch I believe, but please correct me if I'm wrong) has a tremendously high failure rate. Many owners report failure within 40,000 miles of driving, and the replacement cost is a ridiculous 1000 U.S. dollars. Luckily the Q4's unit is still fully functional, but I'm knocking on wood here. Bob Gauthier has fixed the early-failure syndrome and sells rebuilt units; please visit the 164 Discussion Forum for more info. Note that the headunits in both the S and Q4 are not stock. The S provides room for what is called a "1.5 DIN" unit, and you will notice that the stereo is slightly taller than the one in the Q4, which is a "1 DIN" unit. Please keep this in mind if you are contemplating on upgrading the headunit. Note: some 164's in Europe and other parts of the world were offered without automatic air-conditioning. In those 164's, the center console is much more traditionally designed, with twist-knobs for fan speed and ventilation controls. The two images on the right showcase the area between the two front seats. In the S the switches for all four windows are located here, while in the Q4 the ones for the fronts are installed in the driver's door. The suspension buttons are lodged between the seats in the Q4 versus above the climate-control panel in the S. And finally, mirror switches for the S are located on the driver's door. Note that the Q4 has power-folding mirrors.

Let us examine the overhead consoles. In the United States, all 164's except the 1991-93 base models were equipped with a sunroof as standard. In Europe however, sunroofs are not as in vogue so some units, for example this Q4, did not have one. There are ups and downs to this, of course - more headroom, less wind noise, stiffer bodyshell, but gone are the pleasures of open-roof motoring. Perhaps as the result of not having a sunroof motor, this Q4's overhead console is equipped with a pair of very bright valet lights plus two map lights, making the interior very pleasant at night indeed. I no longer have to squint when reading maps as in Trinity. Note that she does not have an automatic-dimming rear-view mirror, as was the case for all newer-model North American 164's.

To your left we get a close-up view of the rear interior door panel. A welcome improvement is the location of the window switch, which has been moved up to the grab handle from its previous obscure location down below. Interestingly, if you look closely the S has a section with "imitation" perforated holes on the bottom right. It looks like a speaker grille, but it is not. In both models, the rear co-axial speakers are mounted on the rear shelf. The wood trim in the Q4, if you were wondering, was not standard equipment, nor was it officially an option. The door panels were originally filled with leather, as in the S. The kit was installed by the dealership from whom the previous owner bought the car. While the wood unfortunately is not the genuine article, it is good enough as to deem it surprisingly pleasing. A huge difference between the two cars can be observed in the trunk. Most 164's were front-wheel-drive, and as such they had a capacious amount of boot space. The AWD capability of the Q4 comes with a price. The small "bulge" in the center of the Q4's trunk is the rear AWD differential, and this limits practical cargo space considerably. Note that the amplifiers in the S and the CD changer in the Q4 were not standard equipment. Toward the top of these two photos you may spy the rear speaker grilles. All models had a pass-through ski hatch, rear sunshades and a first-aid box compartment.

Please email me with comments or corrections
Page best viewed at 800x600 resolution or higher