First Drive Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio

ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QUADRIFOGLIO
The Alfa that
thinks it’s a
Lamborghini
An Urus, to be specific. The 503bhp Stelvio QF
corners like a sports car (almost), outpaces the
Porsche Macan Turbo and moves the needle for SUV
driving dynamics into the red. By Chris Chilton
UP AGAINST
BETTER THAN
Mercedes-AMG GLC63
Benz handsome but heavier, less fun
WORSE THAN
Porsche Macan Turbo PP
Less performance, more polish
WE’D BUY
Porsche Macan Turbo PP
So desirable, so complete
FORGET HUNTIN’, shootin’ and
fishin’, the only ‘sport’ that matters
in this utility vehicle is scalping
icons at the traffic lights. The
Stelvio Quadrifoglio reaches 62mph
in 3.8sec, meaning the list of cars that can
outsprint it is shorter than a slain M3 driver’s
fuse – and doesn’t include the one car Alfa has in
its crosshairs: the Porsche Macan Turbo.
Expect Amnesty International to put out
an appeal on Stuttgart’s behalf any day now,
because even equipped with the optional 40bhp
Performance Pack, the Macan Turbo makes
just 434bhp and requires 4.4sec. Without it, it’s
way back there on 4.8sec. Ah, remember when
that was quick? It still is, of course, in absolute
terms, but nowhere in marketing and pub
bragging ones. Among SUVs only the unhinged
Challenger Hellcat-engined Jeep Trackhawk
(3.7sec), and Lamborghini’s new Urus (3.6sec)
are quicker. And of those, only the Lambo
has a hope of besting the Alfa’s 7min 51.7sec
Nürburgring record for SUVs.
The Stelvio’s kind of physics-cheating
performance requires huge amounts of
energy, and energy requires fuel. Lots of it. So
it might seem appropriate that we’re driving
the Stelvio in the Middle East, a region whose
wealth was kickstarted by the realisation that
its inhabitants were sleeping over a crude-oil
swimming pool.
But the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is actually the
most economical car in its class according to
official figures that put the combined mpg figure
at 31.4mpg, something that can be attributed
to a class-leading kerbweight and the ability to
shut down three of its six cylinders.
The lightweight platform and V6 engine are
shared with the Stelvio’s saloon sister, the fourdoor
Giulia Quadrifoglio, but there are some
important changes in the conversion to SUV.
First, the Stelvio comes only with a ZF eightspeed
auto, and doesn’t get the Giulia QF option
(available outside the UK) of substituting that
for a not-very-good-anyway six-speed manual
alternative. And second, that ZF transmission
has sprouted a front diff and extra pair of
driveshafts to spread the engine’s power across
all four wheels rather than just the rear pair.
That extra transmission hardware, together
with the additional sheet metal (the wheelbases
are almost identical but the Stelvio is slightly
longer, wider and significantly taller) adds a
hefty 306kg to the kerbweight, though by class
standards it’s a proper twig. The hottest Macan
is around 100kg tubbier again.
Bonnet vents, colour-coded rather than black,
wheelarch trims and chunky quad tailpipes
help distinguish the QF from its slower Stelvio
brothers. It looks purposeful, but relatively
subtle given the performance. And too high.
February 2018 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK
27

Interior looks
fine but some of
the controls feel
cheap and the
tech is one step
behind rivals’
The aftermarket suspension industry is certain
to sort the awkward tyre-to-wheelarch gap in
short order.
Peer closely at those tyres and you’ll uncover
a couple of interesting clues to the Giulia’s
character. One is that it wears ordinary Pirelli
P Zero tyres rather than the stickier P Zero
Corsas fitted to the Giulia QF. And the other
is that unlike most SUVs, the rear rubber is
substantially wider than the front.
That’s because in normal driving the Stelvio
operates as an essentially rear-wheel-drive car.
As the limit of grip nears, the transmission
diverts torque to the front axle, but only ever
a maximum of 50 per cent. You’ve got torque
vectoring on the rear axle done the proper way,
not just by braking an inside wheel, but with a
pair of clutches in the rear diff to apportion the
torque left and right and help rotate the car.
Jumping into the cabin you get a sense before
you’ve even thumbed the steering-wheel starter
button (red for QF cars, rather than black for
cooking models) that Alfa has really made that
kerbweight advantage and rear-biased torque
split count. The standard sports seats feature
huge bolsters anyway, but if you’re prepared to
sacrifice their comfort for even more restraint,
you can swap them for the gorgeous carbonbacked
buckets available in the Giulia.
The V6 doesn’t sound especially supercar-
Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio
> Price £75,000 (est) > Engine 2891cc 24v
twin-turbo V6, 503bhp @ 6500rpm, 443lb
ft @ 2500rpm > Transmission 8-speed auto,
all-wheel drive > Performance 3.8sec 0-62mph,
176mph, 31.4mpg, 210g/km CO2 > Weight
1830kg > On sale Spring
like at start-up or low revs and Alfa’s
annoying electronically assisted brakes still
feel inconsistent underfoot. But the absolute
stopping power is excellent, especially with our
car’s optional carbon ceramic brakes (prices
have yet to be confirmed, but expect them to
cost a lot). Carbon brakes on an SUV? Sounds
like pure vanity until you dip your toe deep into
the right pedal’s arc for the first time. There’s
a little lag and a big kick coming out the other
side of it as the rev needle makes for 7000rpm,
the segmented white lines on the road start
to coagulate and the induction and exhaust
systems suddenly find their voice.
The ZF auto never feels as sharp as Porsche’s
PDK twin-clutch in the Macan, but it has the
refinement sewn up at low speed. With the
Alfa’s DNA selector in the Race Mode reserved
for QF cars, the next ratio kicks home with a
thunk to amplify the sense of excitement.
It’s a little overdone, and in any case the
Stelvio doesn’t need any assistance on the
excitement front. Flick the wheel into your first
fast corner and your shock at the steering’s
Supportive standard sports seats have a bit of
carbonfibre; optional buckets have a lot more
speed is quickly replaced by respect – and relief
– that the QF has the body control to pull it off.
For a tall and still relatively heavy car, the lack of
roll is seriously impressive.
So is the steering precision. You need to
recalibrate your brain not to make allowances
for the squidge and vagueness you might expect
from even a good SUV. In the Stelvio you pick
your apex, lock the nose on and use the fourwheel-drive
traction to slingshot you to the next
vector change. And despite the hyper-quick
responses, there’s an easy, entirely natural feel
to way the Alfa demolishes a road.
Having said that, it’s not quite as much fun
– and never feels as truly rear-wheel drive – as
the lighter Giulia equivalent. The Stelvio’s not
as steerable with the right foot, either on lift-off
in an attempt to tuck the nose in and kill the
understeer you’ll encounter when really pushing
hard or by trying to shove the pedal through the
bulkhead.
Only when you’ve pushed through some front
slip will the rear end start to move to the point
where you might need to apply some corrective
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CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | February 2018

Torque split is
rear-biased but
Alfa could have
gone further still
lock, and it all feels a bit snatchy.
Given that this car is never going
near a farm track I think Alfa could
have been even more aggressive
with the rear-biasing, or allowed it
to revert to fully rear-wheel-drive in
Race mode, as the BMW M5 does.
Now that really would have brought
something new – if ultimately
irrelevant for most – to the class.
Where the Stelvio falls down has
almost nothing to do with its reardrive-ness,
or the QF components
at all, but the failings inherent in all Stelvios.
The interior looks pretty smart, and those shift
paddles are as good and tactile as anything
you’ll find in a supercar, but a closer look reveals
the QF is a step behind the competition in terms
of quality and technology.
The console-mounted gear selector looks
like a BMW’s but the minute you touch it you
can’t help but think Alfa’s team copied it from
a photograph without ever having laid a finger
on the real thing. Same for the iDrive-style
LOVE
Supercar-like
acceleration
HATE
Supermini-like
cabin quality
VERDICT
Super-Sports Utility
Vehicle
++++ +
control wheel and the media
system it connects to. There’s no
head-up display option, no virtual
instruments, no air suspension.
All of which you might be
persuaded to overlook at the
bottom end of the Stelvio range.
But at more like £70,000-£75,000
there’s not much more slack to
cut. And that price is a hopeful
guestimate based on what Porsche
is asking for a Macan Turbo PP
and Stelvio pricing that is more
competitive in the UK than it is in Europe. In
Germany the Stelvio QF has a confirmed price
of €90,000, which corresponds to £80,000…
On the other hand the QF does have practical
appeal. It’s strong on interior space and luggage
room, and is cleaner and more economical than
the competition. At the same time it offers a
tangibly different take on the Quadrifoglio
experience to ensure it puts distance between
itself and the Giulia.
It’ll take confirmation of the UK price and a
twin test on UK roads to know for sure, but my
gut feel is that Porsche’s slower Macan Turbo
still has the best spread of talents in this small
sector, including a better interior and the draw
of a badge not tarnished by association with
rebadged Fiat Puntos. But on the road the
Stelvio leaves its rivals in the shade. If you want
the fastest, most exciting SUV of the moment
this side of a Lamborghini Urus, this is the one.
@chrischiltoncar
Steering is precise and natural, helped by the Stelvio
being significantly lighter than its key SUV rivals
February 2018 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 29