Nissan Pathfinder vs Alfa Romeo Stelvio

What's the difference?

It looks good, offers benchmark safety and combines strong engine performance with sure-footed traction, particularly on low-grip surfaces. There’s also a spacious, comfortable and practical cabin that can seat up to eight and it can tow up to 2.7 tonnes. Apart from its V6 thirst, based on our at-pump figures, there’s little we can criticise about the latest Pathfinder in Ti 4WD specification, which is certainly worthy of consideration for large SUV buyers.  

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Veloce is the car you get when you want a sports car but happen to have a kid or two. Its ride comfort is on the lower end but it has heaps of power and enough features that it manages to slide into its price tag without feeling too cheeky. The back seat’s size will limit this to smaller families, though. And I would prefer to see better tech at this grade level, so this gets a 7.1/10 from me.

My son didn’t spend much time in this one but he liked the red paintwork. My mum, however, loved the power and sexy packaging. She gives it an 8/10.

The latest Pathfinder rides on a 2900mm wheelbase with an 11.8-metre turning circle. Although it's shorter in overall length with less frontal overhang than its predecessor, it has a wider stance (aka track width) for improved handling plus a height increase for more headroom. There’s also more leg and hip-room.

The sumptuous interior is a tasteful mix of leather accents, piano black and satin chrome with classy exposed stitching along numerous seams including the leather-wrapped steering wheel. It exudes a high-quality look and feel.

The 2/3/3 seating layout can theoretically cater for up to eight occupants, starting with seating for the driver and front passenger which is spacious and comfortable with ample adjustment.

For those in the grandstand-style second row, it also feels spacious thanks not only to the wide-opening doors and increased head and legroom, but also the flat floor with no transmission hump to restrict foot placement for those in the middle. The recline of the 60/40-split backrests can be adjusted for added comfort.

Second-row passengers also have access to their own control panel on the rear of the centre console that allows individual adjustment of seat-heating and temperature/fan speed for vents located under the front seats and in the roof.

The second row tilts and slides forward to provide access to the third row. This is designed to carry up to three occupants, but by our measure only small kids could manage that.

For adults, it’s really a two-seater and that’s only for short trips and only with the second row slid forward at least 100mm to provide adequate knee room.

Even so, the third row offers adequate headroom (even for tall people) and with large glass areas and overhead cooling vents does its best to minimise a claustrophobic feel.

So, we see it as either a seven- or eight-seater, depending on the kid-to-adult mix.

While the Veloce has had a facelift, the changes are so minor I would dare to ask, why bother?

The daytime running light signature has been tweaked but only die-hard Stelvio fans will notice it. I do like the larger 12.3-inch digital instrument display but surprisingly the multimedia screen remains on the smaller side at 8.8 inches.

Otherwise, there’s no denying the Veloce looks like an Alfa Romeo, staying true to its Italian heritage. It’s solid, with a 1903mm wide stance, but so robust that it moves away from words like 'sleek' or 'sexy'.

The black grille, 20-inch alloy wheels and red brake calipers make it look sports car mean and hint at what's under the bonnet.

The interior looks well made and it's got a bat cave element with the black headliner and panoramic sunroof. There's a plethora of soft touchpoints throughout and the circular air-vents found in both rows add some flair.

Overall, though, the interior is understated and if you’re looking for something as flashy as the exterior, you may be disappointed.

The Ti 4WD’s 2044kg kerb weight (unladen and full of fuel) and 2750kg GVM (how much it can legally weigh when fully loaded) provides a load capacity of 706kg.

That limit could easily be reached or exceeded just by eight adults, before you could think about loading their luggage.

So, be mindful of combined passenger and luggage weight, particularly when planning a trip, to ensure you’re not over the GVM limit.

It’s also rated tow up to 2700kg of braked trailer, which is suitably large to cater for many recreational towing tasks.

However, as there’s no published GCM (or how much the Ti can legally carry and tow at the same time) we don’t know if it can haul its maximum payload while towing its maximum trailer weight.

Even so, it offers 205 litres of internal load volume with the second and third rows upright (ideal space for a supermarket shop), which expands to 554 litres with the third row folded flat and 782 litres with the second and third rows folded.

There are four cargo tie-down points and a surprisingly large bin hidden under the rear floor.

In terms of internal storage there’s a glove box, console box, overhead glasses holder and seat pockets plus a variety of bins, bottle holders and cupholders thoughtfully placed throughout the cabin catering for all three rows.

Nissan claims a total of 16 cupholders, but by our measure there are 18. Either way, there’s more than ample storage for drinks and personal items in this well-designed cabin.

The front row benefits the most in terms of space and features. I have stacks of headroom and legroom in the front seat and didn’t feel like I was too close to my passenger this week.

I like the comfortable electric seats and the fact you can adjust the side bolsters and under-thigh support.

Individual storage options are on the slim side throughout the car and it was something my mum and I found annoying on our road trip because there aren’t a lot of spots to put your little items up front. Think snacks, sunglasses, lip balm etc.

The two cupholders are really drink bottle holders because they’re too large to fit a small takeaway cup without popping the lid off but I like the large storage bins in each front door.

It's a tight squeeze in the back seat for my 168cm (5'6") height and that’s behind my driving position! It could feel a tad cramped back there for those with longer legs.

It’s also a bit awkward getting in and out of the back seat because of the large wheel arches.

The storage bins in the doors are too small to hold a drink bottle but the middle armrest has two cupholders and a phone holder.

Charging options are fantastic up front with two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, a 12-volt socket and a wireless charging pad to choose from. You even get an 'aux' jack, too.

The amenities in the back seat are okay and you get a couple of net map pockets, reading lights, a USB-A and C port, as well as directional air vents.

This Alfa has a no-nonsense approach with the other tech, though. I usually don’t mind that but the touchscreen multimedia system is a little too no-nonsense for this spec-level.

I found it to be laggy and too small. It also regularly turned itself off and rebooted. This happened a few times while needing satellite navigation directions, which was annoying.

Also on the sat nav, you can’t search for a general name of something, like a business, you have to input an address which meant using my iPhone anyway. It’s great that you get wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though.

The digital instrument panel looks upmarket but isn’t properly customisable and I was disappointed the ambient lighting package only meant that there are lights in the footwells and a tiny overhead light. Adding some extra lighting would have transformed the night-time driving experience.

The boot is the highlight for me because you get a decent capacity at 499L. The load space is level and I like the back row's 40/20/40 split-fold. We had plenty of room on our road trip for luggage and shopping.

You get a temporary spare tyre and a retractable cargo blind. The latter is stiff enough to double as a shelf which is handy and a handsfree powered tailgate comes standard, as well.

There are three models for the Stelvio and ours is the mid-spec Veloce grade, which will cost you $82,950, before on-road costs. The pricing should make it competitive compared to its rivals but the features list isn’t as robust as it could be.

The interior gets most of the big-ticket items with leather upholstered sports front seats, extended leather trim on the doors and dashboard as well as a heated steering wheel.

Both front seats are electric with six-way power adjustment, powered side bolsters and four-way adjustable lumbar support. They also feature a heat function and extendable under-thigh support.

The luxury items continue with the panoramic sunroof, real aluminium accents throughout and a premium Harman Kardon sound system that boasts 14 speakers.

Other standard features include full LED adaptive 'Matrix' headlights, aluminium sports pedals, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry, push-button start and a handsfree powered tailgate.

It's the technology that lets the Stelvio down but I'll go into that later.

The Pathfinder is powered a lusty direct-injection 3.5-litre petrol V6. It produces 202kW at 6400rpm and 340Nm at 4800rpm.

It’s paired with a nine-speed torque converter automatic transmission which offers the choice of manual sequential-shifting using steering wheel-mounted paddles.

The full-time 4WD transmission offers seven different drive modes via a rotary-dial on the console, which optimises performance in each selected mode. These include 'Standard', 'Sport', 'Eco', 'Snow', 'Sand', 'Mud/Rut' and 'Tow'.

The Veloce has a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine that gives a maximum power output of 206kW and 400Nm of torque. It’s an all-wheel drive and has an eight-speed auto transmission which is very smooth. 

Checking out the specs I didn’t think this would be as powerful as it is. But it’s really fun when you need to put your foot down! I mean, it can go from 0-100km/h in just 5.7 seconds.

Nissan claims combined cycle average consumption of 10.5L/100km and the Ti’s dash display was claiming 12.9 at the completion of our 213km test, which was mostly city and suburban driving with some limited highway running and from one to five occupants on board at different times.

Our own figure, calculated from actual fuel bowser and tripmeter readings, came in higher again at 14.5L/100km which exceeds the usual 2.0-3.0L/100km discrepancy between manufacturer figures and our own.

In other words, it drinks more than a diesel but is about average for a powerful six-cylinder petrol engine of this size under test conditions.

So, based on our ‘real world’ driving and at-pump consumption figure, you could expect a driving range of around 500km from its 71-litre tank. And it requires premium unleaded.

The official combined cycle fuel economy figure is 7.0L/100km and my real-world usage came to 8.4L/100km.

I drove our test model hard but did A LOT of open road driving - 2051km to be exact - so I was happy with the average but I would expect it to be higher in the city.

Based on the official combined cycle number and 64L fuel tank, you theoretically should be able to get a driving range of around 914km but my real-world tests see that figure come in closer to 700km.

Alfa Romeo recommends a minimum 95 RON petrol be used for the Stelvio.

A good example of its comfort range is that I’m 186cm tall and my wife is only 165cm, yet we both managed to find comfortable seating positions. However, she said that ideally the range of seat-height adjustment could be a tad higher given her smaller stature.

Even so, she liked the Ti and found it easy to drive, particularly in negotiating busy shopping centre car parks with its various cameras, parking sensors etc.

She also appreciated how easy it is to fold down the trio of headrests on the third row of seats when not in use, to provide a clear view through the rear window.

We encountered heavy rain at times during our test, when the superior traction of its 4WD system was most noticeable and appreciated when cornering.

It also ensured no wheelspin from standing starts, which is reassuring given the V6 engine’s vigorous low-down response. This engine has excellent performance.

We also liked the ride quality, steering feel and braking, along with the nine-speed automatic thanks to its near-seamless shifting and good all-round response. We did try manual-shifting using the paddle-shifters for a more ‘engaging’ driving experience at times.

It also makes a comfortable highway cruiser given its low engine, tyre and wind noise and suitably long gearing, that requires only 1500rpm from the V6 to maintain 110km/h and optimise fuel economy.

The Veloce is downright fun to drive because of how damn responsive it is. There is plenty of power, so much so, that you’ll look forward to hitting the open road. 

The sporty steering makes for sharp handling and the car moves decisively. I have felt confident all week that it would do what I wanted it to do. It's wide stance also makes it hug the road like an old friend.

However, the suspension is also sporty, aka firm! The padded seats help soften the impact when you hit a bump but you’ll still know it when you hit one. There's also a resonating 'ker-thump' in the cabin, in case you didn't feel it.

The big thing that marred the driving experience for me, at least for a longer trip, is how loud road and wind noise are at higher speeds. It’s loud enough that you need to raise your voice to talk, which I didn’t enjoy.

The Veloce earns back points with how easy it is to park and it handles those stupidly small hotel car parks extremely well.

I don't rate the reversing camera, though. The quality of the image is terrible for this grade-level.

The Stelvio has most of the major items that I like to see on a family car and the standard safety features include adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, driver attention monitor, traffic sign recognition, lane keeping aids, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera, daytime-running lights, front and rear parking sensors, and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

It's important to note though that the safety systems only scored a 60 per cent with ANCAP.

It has autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and car detection and is operational from 7.0 - 200km/h.

The Veloce has a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating but it was done ages ago in 2017, which means it will expire this December. It also only has six airbags, which is low for a family car but the curtain airbags cover the back row.

There are ISOFIX child seat mounts on the outboard rear seats and three top tethers in the second row but two seats will fit best.

You can just squeeze a 0-4 rearward facing child seat in but it will encroach on front passenger comfort.

Nissan covers the Pathfinder with a five-year/unlimited km warranty including five years roadside assist.

Scheduled servicing is every 12 months/15,000km whichever occurs first.

Capped-price servicing for the first five scheduled services is $2581 or an average of $516 per service.

The ongoing costs aren’t too shabby on the Stelvio because it comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and you also get five years roadside assistance.

It’s a 24/7 complimentary service that covers a host of items but check out the terms and conditions for more information.

There’s capped priced servicing for five years or up to 75,000km, whichever occurs first.

Services cost an average of $573, which is competitive for the class and servicing intervals are good at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.