Alfa Romeo's blistering Stelvio Quadrifoglio is now on sale in Australia, with the lightning-quick SUV to wear a $149,900 sticker price.
The 1830kg Quadrifoglio, or Q for short, sits atop the Stelvio tree in Australia, owing to its twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 engine borrowed from the Giulia QV, which will fire 375kW and 600Nm to all four wheels via its eight-speed automatic. And that means a sprint to 100km/h of just 3.8 seconds and a flying top speed of 283km/h.
And that's very quick indeed. The AMG GLC63 S ($164,529) will match it with a 3.8sec sprint, but it will leave the (soon to be replaced) Porsche Macan Turbo ($146,600) in its wake.
The secret to its speed is its Q4 all-wheel-drive system with Active Torque Vectoring. The set-up apes that of a traditional rear-wheel-drive system, shuffling 100 per cent of power to the rear wheels in normal driving, but with the ability to call the front tyres into action should the rubber at the rear break traction.
Standard performance kit also includes active torque vectoring and Alfa’s Chassis Domain Control. The later is described as the Q’s “performance brain”, coordinating everything from the driving modes to the all-wheel-drive system, while the former employs two clutches in the rear diff to control the torque flow to the rear tyres.“We are excited to offer the hotly anticipated all-new Stelvio Quadrifoglio SUV at such a competitive price and look forward to attracting new fans to the brand in search of a practical SUV without comprising on performance and driving excitement,” Alfa Romeo Australia CEO Steve Zanlunghi said.
“The arrival of the Stelvio Quadrifoglio marks the next step in the local expansion of Alfa Romeo with a mode mix that provides an option to suit every customer’s needs.”
Alfa bills its Stelvio Q as a performance car in an SUV suit (this is the Nurburgring slayer, after all, which set a - just beaten - SUV-record lap time of 7:51.7 of the world's most infamous racetrack), claiming "near perfect" 50:50 weight distribution as well a quick-thinking automatic gearbox that can shift cogs in less than 100 milliseconds.
Predictably, the top dog in the Stelvio range also gets the pick of the standard equipment, with forward collision warning with AEB, active cruise control, lane departure warning and a brake-by-wire system (which Alfa calls its Integrated Brake System) which is designed to produce "instantaneous brake response", so the Stelvio Q takes less time to come to a stop.
Outside, the Stelvio Q arrives with a vented bonnet, side skirts, quad exhuast tips and 20-inch alloys, while inside there's a mix of carbon-fibre and Alcantara trims, as well as powered leather seats, a leather-wrapped wheel and an 8.8-inch screen (with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) to control your infotainment options.
You'll find the Stelvio Q in showrooms from January, with the order books now open.
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