What is it?
This is the second chapter of Alfa Romeo’s grand new epoch, ready for sampling on UK roads for the first time. With the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Turin follows up the well-received Alfa Romeo Giulia saloon, and answers some questions that be considered key to the success of the rebuilding process that it’s currently undertaking.
Can the firm successfully appeal to the tastes of buyers outside of the segments it has traditionally occupied? How effectively can that expensive new ‘giorgio’ platform be applied on a more challenging vehicle type than a compact executive saloon? And can we really expect Alfa to make the best driver’s car in every part of the market it enters from this point onwards – or was the Giulia just a wonderful exception?
It won’t be long before we’ll all have a chance to find out. The car goes on sale in right-hand drive form in September, initially with a choice of 276bhp petrol and 207bhp diesel engines - but with an entry-level 177bhp diesel and a 197bhp petrol available soon afterwards. It comes with punchy UK pricing starting under £34,000, with a mid-level trim 177bhp diesel undercutting an equivalent Audi Q5 by a cool £3000.
Besides value, the Stelvio can claim a promising power-to-weight ratio courtesy of a kerbweight between 100- and 200kg lighter than rivals, for which its relatively compact proportions, aluminium construction and carbonfibre propshaft are all contributing factors.
In advance of the arrival of the first right-hand drive cars, Alfa brought a left-hand drive 2.2-litre 207bhp diesel Stelvio over to the UK to provide us with an introduction on British roads.
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My thoughts
I have driven a basic spec Stelvio diesel hire car with 10000km on the clock (Europcar from Barcelona airport) in Spain this week so can only comment on how it felt on Spanish roads. My initial thoughts were that it looked imposing on the road, it certainly turned a lot of heads.
The forward visibility was pretty good. The front bumnper had clearly taken a knock with a previous driver and had a crack in it. You can not see the outer corners of the car, but some of the bonnet is visible. There was a scrape on one of the doors where someone had obviously opened a door on to it, possible consequence of the width of the car, but that seems to be the case with many vehicles these days.
The ride certainly seemed to be jiggly on the motorway - there was quite a lot of low amplitude pitching at speed. Wheels were 18" on 235/60 tyres. The steering was certainly sharp around the straight ahead, and initially steering on motorway curves was like going round a series of small straight lines. I found the brakes to be fine.
Seats OK, rear seats a little lacking in lower back support, and there was a bit of creaking from the PVC / fabric on the split between the 60/40 seat backs. Plenty of space for me (180cm adult) to sit in the rear behind someone else of a similar size.
Quite a bit of wind noise around the driver's door. It was quite and stable at speed, I thought it would be fine on a long journey.
I did not like the standard sat nav. It refused to acknowledge most of the road names I tried to enter. The voice in English was hilarious at pronouncing Spanish road names though, even worse than my poor pronounciation. I didn't try plugging a phone into the USB ports to see how that part of the infortainment system worked.
Stop start button on the steering wheel I thought was a nice detail. It was a shame that the DNA switch wasn't on it as well. Proper dials for the heating & ventilation which was good.
Instrumentation clear - large digital speedo in the central screen was very easy to read. Would have definitely benefitted from a reversing camera, at least for the hotel car park where we were staying.
Some of the plastic grains on the centre console left a little to be desired, not up to Audi standards for example. Overall though, whilst not an exciting interior, the deep grains made a pleasant change from the leather look ones you generally find.
I have not driven a F-Pace, Macan or any other SUV of this type so can't compare them to the Stelvio, but I would say that if you are in the market for this kind of vehicle, then it is ceretainly worth driving.
My thoughts
I have driven a basic spec Stelvio diesel hire car with 10000km on the clock (Europcar from Barcelona airport) in Spain this week so can only comment on how it felt on Spanish roads. My initial thoughts were that it looked imposing on the road, it certainly turned a lot of heads.
The forward visibility was pretty good. The front bumnper had clearly taken a knock with a previous driver and had a crack in it. You can not see the outer corners of the car, but some of the bonnet is visible. There was a scrape on one of the doors where someone had obviously opened a door on to it, possible consequence of the width of the car, but that seems to be the case with many vehicles these days.
The ride certainly seemed to be jiggly on the motorway - there was quite a lot of low amplitude pitching at speed. Wheels were 18" on 235/60 tyres. The steering was certainly sharp around the straight ahead, and initially steering on motorway curves was like going round a series of small straight lines. I found the brakes to be fine.
Seats OK, rear seats a little lacking in lower back support, and there was a bit of creaking from the PVC / fabric on the split between the 60/40 seat backs. Plenty of space for me (180cm adult) to sit in the rear behind someone else of a similar size.
Quite a bit of wind noise around the driver's door. It was quite and stable at speed, I thought it would be fine on a long journey.
I did not like the standard sat nav. It refused to acknowledge most of the road names I tried to enter. The voice in English was hilarious at pronouncing Spanish road names though, even worse than my poor pronounciation. I didn't try plugging a phone into the USB ports to see how that part of the infortainment system worked.
Stop start button on the steering wheel I thought was a nice detail. It was a shame that the DNA switch wasn't on it as well. Proper dials for the heating & ventilation which was good.
Instrumentation clear - large digital speedo in the central screen was very easy to read. Would have definitely benefitted from a reversing camera, at least for the hotel car park where we were staying.
Some of the plastic grains on the centre console left a little to be desired, not up to Audi standards for example. Overall though, whilst not an exciting interior, the deep grains made a pleasant change from the leather look ones you generally find.
I have not driven a F-Pace, Macan or any other SUV of this type so can't compare them to the Stelvio, but I would say that if you are in the market for this kind of vehicle, then it is ceretainly worth driving.
Sorry
Sorry I managed to post this twice
What ?! The styling is "not
What ?! The styling is "not the visual success the Giulia was" ?? The giulia is hardly a "visual success", sure the grilles in the bumper look cool, but the rest of the styling is bland characterless and "me too" - take the Alfa grille off and it could be anything. The Stelvio is the more successful of the two - if they dumped the horrid Audi A6 esque headlights, the fat rear bumper, lowered it (and removed all the heavy fake SUV suspension mods) and crucially gave us the option af a proper manual gearbox it may even be good.