Alfa Romeo has broken the Nürburgring lap record for SUVs, with the new Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio clocking a time of 7:51.7.
This usurps previous lap record holder, the Range Rover Sport SVR, which lapped the circuit in 8:14.
The Stelvio’s time equals those of the BMW M4 in 2015 and places it among the top 100 road cars to ever post a lap time. It's an accolade that the brand hopes will mark it out from a burgeoning sports SUV segment, with existing as well as upcoming rivals like the BMW X3 M, Audi RS Q5, Jaguar F-Pace SVR and Porsche Macan Turbo all vying for supremity.
The Quadrifoglio would have to shed a further minute and six seconds to be the fastest road car car ever around the 'Ring but is only eight seconds off the Honda Civic Type R’s 7:43.8 time – the fastest front-wheel drive lap of the track.
The Stelvio Quadrifoglio is 39bhp down on the Range Rover Sport SVR, but its kerb weight, some 600-plus kilos lighter than the SVR, gave it the edge.
It’s the second Nürburgring record posted in as many days: Porsche set the production road car record with the 911 GT2 RS, achieving a time of 6:47.3 – more than one minute and four seconds quicker than the Stelvio Quadrifoglio.
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So what makes this an SUV?
Looks like "just another hatchback" to me. Actuelly a rather bland one, bordering on ugly...
Presumably with 4WD, but you could never put it in the same class as a Range Rover, even a slightly lowered one.
It started with the Tesla Model X....that's NOT an SUV, it's just a car that's built a bit higher than the norm (but the norm is increasing year-on-year anyway).
Maybe the headline "Another Ugly Alfa hatchback goes around the Ring slower than some other Hatchbacks" didn't have the same impact..
manufacturers game
Its nice to have such an accoldade but really its not important to 99%
Aww come on guys its just a
Aww come on guys its just a bit of fun.. doesn't it give you a bit of a smile that the pasta express has stuffed all the Germans.. not to mention the Coventry tractor too.