By: Colin Windell
Cape Town - The strong band of Alfa Romeo loyalists, known as the Alfisti, will quiver in delight in their designer Alfa clothing at the tagline the company has chosen to herald the latest generation of its sporty D-segment SUV, the Stelvio.
Launching under the banner of ‘Evolving is Performance Art’, the new Stelvio is a cosmetic upgrade of the 2.0-litre runner that marked the company’s first venture into the SUV market.
At R1.2-million, the Stelvio is a niche market model but Brian Smith, marketing director for the Stellantis-owned brand, gives some perspective when he says the D-segment SUV (DSUV) market is around 4.0% of the total local market.
“The DSUV premium sector is just under 30% of that market and last year Stelvio sold 103 units or 1.5% of the market segment.”
While that may not sound all that impressive, the fuel choice by the buyers was 72% diesel, 26% petrol and two percent electric – and, since the Stelvio is a petrol-only offering, that does make it a major player in the sub-sector in which it competes.
“Very simply,” says Smith, “Alfa Romeo is dedicated to providing a visceral driving experience for its followers – hence the tagline of evolving is performance art.”
Most noticeable about the revised Stelvio is the new-look front end that brings it into line with other Alfa models such as Tonale through the fitment of the ‘3+3’ full LED adaptive matrix headlights which, the Alfisti would remind us, recalls the design of the iconic SZ Zagato of the 1990s.
the Trilobo front grille (where the logo is positioned) and the lower grilles of the two main air ducts have also been given a fresh and contemporary finish while, at the rear, are new taillights in glass with a transparent finish.
The new, completely digital instrument panel has a 12.3-inch TFT screen that can be reconfigured into three layouts: Evolved, Relax and Heritage. Evolved uses the central area of the screen, despite keeping its two lateral quadrants in place. Relax focuses on comfort, is free of detailed vehicle information, and goes without the two quadrants. Heritage is inspired by the brand’s iconic Sixties’ and Seventies’ models, with distinctive details such as inverted numbers at the end of the speedometer.
However, Alfa Romeo is all about driving dynamics and performance and the Stelvio offers more than enough in this department with 206kW and 400Nm of torque coming from the 2.0-litre engine that drives through an 8-speed automatic gearbox.
What truly sets Stelvio apart is the fact it has a perfect 50:50 weight distribution and this is relevant not only when attacking the twisties but also at low speed in traffic.
Very simply, when applying the brakes hard (or suddenly) there is no eye-popping weight shift to the front and no ‘nosedive’. In motoring around the Western Cape passes such as Sir Lowrys, this stability is immediately noticeable and felt.
The car retains a flat posture even when pressed quite hard into corners – the all-wheel drive system providing additional surefootedness, especially when then are rapid directional changes through a series of corners.
Indeed, as a reminder, the Alfa Romeo Stevio is named after the 75-hairpin Stelvio Pass in Italy where the Q4 drive technology would certainly be pressed into use. This allows the car to travel in two-wheel drive until it senses loss of traction via the Active Transfer Case and can provide 50% of the torque to the front wheels in 150 milliseconds.
Alfa has used lightweight materials such as aluminium for the engine and carbon fibre for the driveshaft to reduce the overall mass as well as to improve efficiency as it claims an average fuel consumption of 5.7 l/100 km with 161 g/km on the emission scale.
Part of the driving experience comes from the contribution made by the Alfa Link suspension architecture that sees double wishbones with a semi-virtual steering axis up front and a multilink with four and a half arms at the rear.
Ignoring the tech-speak, what this all translates to is a set of extremely competent systems all working together to provide impeccable handling without sacrificing cabin comfort – and, being a premium segment vehicle, there is plenty of that.
The features list is a long one – the good news being everything is standard with the only option available being a electronic sunroof – and these include six crash bags (Driver, Passenger, Side & Curtain), Forward Collision Warning, Intelligent Speed Assist W/Speed Limiting, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keep Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Drowsy Driver Detection, Hill Descent Control and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) all on that list.
There is an 8.8-inch Touch Screen Infotainment System that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an 8-speaker audio system, wireless charging pad and USB ports in the front and rear.
So, is evolution performance art? Take a drive in the new Stelvio and decide.