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Alfa Romeo was late to the SUV party when it launched its first sports utility vehicle, the Stelvio, in 2018 to take on the likes of Porsche’s Macan and the Jaguar F-Pace.
Despite the high-riding stance, nobody could deny that the Stelvio looks every bit an Alfa Romeo with that plunging V grille and blade-like headlights, while the interior has all the style you’d expect from this Italian brand.
A mid-sized SUV with five seats, the Stelvio, takes its name from the world’s greatest driving roads - the Stelvio Pass in Italy – and is available from $65,900 to $149,900 for the entry level grade Stelvio and the top-of-the-range Quadrifoglio respectively.
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio's interior is stylish but understated. The mixture of leather trims, soft touchpoints and the choice of either Oak Wood or Aluminium accents remind you of its Italian heritage.
The dashboard is uncluttered and looks sleek but it’s still headlined by an 8.8-inch multimedia system with looks small for the market now. The 12.3-inch digital instrument panel looks great behind the leather-wrapped steering wheel and its (massive) shifter paddles.
With all seats in use, the Stelvio enjoys a healthy 499L of luggage capacity. You can bump that up to 1600L with the rear seats folded.
That’s quite a broad range of abilities you’ve listed there. Both the Jeep and the Land Rover are pretty serious off-roaders while, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio is an SUV that really has no pretenses to working on a bush track.
None of this trio would be cheap to service, and modern turbo-diesel engines really do need their maintenance to remain reliable. In terms of industry reputation, the Jeep has a background of electrical and build-quality problems, while the Land Rover and Alfa Romeo also have their share of quality glitches. Many owners put up with this stuff, but if you’re going to head seriously outback, there are probably better choices.
The other part of the equation is what happens when you wish to sell the vehicle in a few years. Frankly, all three of these cars will be a reasonable bet to suffer plenty of depreciation although, to be fair, a 2021 version of each will already have done some of that.
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The very worst of the bad old days of Alfa Romeo's questionable build quality are behind us. At its worst, brand-new Alfas were rusting within in their warranty period and the electrical systems were a total mess. Many owners swore off the brand at that point, not willing to be caught out twice.
In the intervening decades, however, overall quality has improved dramatically. Of course, this has been an industry-wide phenomenon, not just an Alfa Romeo one, and is the result of better design, metallurgy and materials. Not to mention the increased use of robotics to physically build the end product. For all that, though, there's still some suspicion – if not resentment – towards the Alfa Romeo badge.
For the record, Alfa Romeo was ranked number one in the luxury segment in Sales Satisfaction Index for 2022 in the USA in the annual survey by JD Power. The survey is one of the more credible quality surveys and placed Alfa in first position (up nine places) from the 14 luxury brands included in the survey. However, the fine print is interesting, because the SSI result is based on the buyer's experience of six factors; delivery process, dealer personnel, working out the deal, paperwork completion, dealership facility and dealership website. Which is a different thing to actual vehicle build quality and reliability.
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Standard accessories for the Stelvio include: 19-inch alloy wheels, LED adaptive 'Matrix' headlights, leather upholstery, heated front seats, real oakwood accents, a heated sport leather steering wheel, alloy-covered sport pedals, dual-zone climate control, keyless-entry, push-button start, a powered tailgate, reversing camera with guidelines, front and rear parking sensors, a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel, an 8.8-inch touchscreen multimedia system, wired Apple CarPlay, wired Android Auto, a wireless charging pad, three USB-A ports, two USB-C ports a 12-volt socket and an 'aux' jack.
There is one engine to choose from before you get into the performance spec Q and it is the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine. It has a maximum power output of 206kW and 400Nm of torque.
The Stelvio is an all-wheel-drive and has an eight-speed auto transmission.
The official 0-100km/h sprint time for the Stelvio is just 5.7 seconds. Its max speed is 230km/h
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio comes with five seats, configured in a 2/3 setting.
Leather upholstered seats come as standard but are upgraded to sports leather seats with powered bolsters on the Veloce model.
Both front seats are electric with six-way adjustments and four-way adjustable lumbar support. The drivers seat also features a two-way memory function.
Heated front seats come standard.
The back seat features a 40/20/40 split-fold and has a fold-down armrest that has two cupholders.
There are two standard trim colours: ‘Black with dark grey stitching’ or ‘Chocolate’. On the Veloce model, you can choose ‘Red’ instead of the ‘Chocolate.
Based on the official combined fuel cycle of 7.0L/100km and the 64L fuel tank, you should see a driving range of approximately 914km.
Alfa Romeo recommends a minimum 95 RON petrol to be used.