Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio (2020) – Review
When Alfa Romeo announced to the world that it’s building an AWD SUV, and that there will be a class-leading performance version of it, they weren’t taken seriously. Until the Stelvio Quadrifoglio arrived.
Around three years ago, Alfa Romeo launched its Stelvio AWD SUV, honouring the famous and dangerous Stelvio pass in the European Alps with its name. This large, 2-litre, 206 kW car would not be the only Stelvio.
If its rivals didn’t take the excellent 2-litre Stelvio seriously, things suddenly got real: Alfa released a Stelvio that wears the white-and-green Quadrifoglio, or four-leaf clover.
According to the internet, the four-leaf clover is a very rare variation of the common three-leaf clover. According to tradition, such clovers bring good luck, faith, love and hope. First used by the legendary driver Ugo Sivocci, this symbol has also been the emblem of all Alfa Romeo racing models, since 1923.
Styling
If the Audi Q7 or SQ5 are the epitome of visual restraint, with fewer curves than a coffin, the Stelvio’s styling proclaims it to be a living thing, with heart and muscle. It’s even more so in the Stelvio Quadrifoglio, with its shark-like bonnet gills and oversized wheel-arches. Its crowning glory is the uncompromising triangular trefoil grille, which brazenly shifts the number plate to the side. The bold 20” wheels, in the typical Alfa telephone-dial design, are finished in black. Up front, traction is is provided by 255/45 tyres, while 285/40 rubber bring up the rear. The profile of these tyres isn’t overly skinny, suggesting a measure of comfort on gravel, included in our evaluation.
Related: Stelvio – The essence of Alfa
Drive
Of the Stelvio Quadrifoglio Alfa said: “Conceived to be the best in its class and excel in terms of power, dynamic performance and handling capabilities, the car is created to embody Alfa’s La Meccanica delle Emozioni: to ignite a driving pleasure that goes beyond measurements. It’s something more than a cold, unimaginative telemetry: it is a feeling, as true love is.”
Much of this has been missing from Alfa Romeo for some time. Can an SUV help bring it back?
The red power button, integrated with the steering wheel, is a damn good start. It strongly suggests that you’re about to pilot something special.
Gear-shift paddles are usually obscured by the steering wheel, but these, made from aluminium and fixed to the steering column, are very tall. This makes them easy to pull, no matter where your hands are.
Shift the gear lever into drive and the car immediately feels impatient, like a Staffordshire terrier on a leash, post lock-down.
As with its 2-litre sibling, the steering on the Quadrifoglio Stelvio is super quick. It’s not that noticeable at 20 km/h and under, but its lighting reflexes put a grin on your face above that. It’s just so refreshing in car meant to be a daily driver.
By large-4×4 standards, the Q is light – and mostly feels that way too, despite its 1 859 kg mass. A bit of lateral movement, as if the car gently rocks from side to side, was noticeable on a patchy city road. It almost felt as if the car struggled to bring the opposites of on-road comfort, sports car handling and ground clearance of 200 mm together. Well, Alfa did say the car is uncompromised. If they had to prioritise, handling would have gone to the top of the list.
Related: Alfa Romeo Stelvio 2.0T Super Q4: An Italian supermodel in Gucci hiking boots
Performance
With its 375 kW (510 hp) and 600 Nm 2.9 V6 aluminium bi-turbo engine, developed with Ferrari, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio can reach a top speed of 283 km/h. Transferring its power to all four wheels through an 8-speed auto-box, it can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds.
But this car is about more than straight-line speed. It also has the cornering ability of a modern-day sports car.
On the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife, it was 0.3 seconds faster than the BMW M4 in 2015. It also managed to beat the quickest time of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S by 3.3 seconds. Fitted with the optional carbon ceramic brakes, it’s still the quickest SUV to complete the track’s 20.8 km. Its time? Just 7 minutes and 51.7 seconds.
But what does this mean for the lucky sod who gets to drive it daily? That a milk-and-tobacco run becomes an occasion.
Like all contemporary Alfas, the Q has a “dna” switch for unleashing more power or limiting it. “D” is a sporty, dynamic setting, “N” is the normal setting, and “A” is a laid-back setting for all-weather conditions and maximum fuel efficiency. A fourth setting is available and it’s activated by turning the dna selector anti-clockwise and holding it for a second or two. This setting is “RACE” and it deactivates certain safety features, like the stability control system. We do not recommend this, unless you have sufficient racing talent and you’re driving on a race track or a closed road.
The “d”-setting automatically firms up the suspension, but the driver can override this by pushing the button in the centre of the dna knob.
To hear the quick-shifting automatic transmission fire off gear changes in the exhausts like a large-caliber rifle, while the pitch-perfect V6 sing like Pavarotti performing Nessun Dorma, etches deep memories.
On the third and final (rainy) day of the test, we drove it on a wet gravel road. Traction was faultless, as expected, but good ride comfort came as a surprise, in the light of its sports-car beating on-road performance. It certainly beats the Range Rover Velar and a handful of other premium SUVs for off-tar comfort, and was was free of squeaks or rattles. Alfa says the Stelvio Quadrifoglio can wade through water almost half a metre deep.
Space and comfort
It’s hard to imagine a car so massively capable to be practical too. The Stelvio has a cavernous boot of over 500 litres, plenty of headroom, enough legroom and a general air of roominess. It can carry people and luggage of up to of 550 kg.
The manually-adjusted, part-suede-and-leather seats are fantastic in the way they hug and support the driver. The materials used inside won’t give Audi or BMW much to worry about and might even disappoint some prospective owners. Those who want their car’s interiors to reflect a R1.7m asking price, should maybe look elsewhere.
Safety
The Stelvio Quadrifoglio scored 5/5 in the EuroNCAP crash test. Its safety suite includes the usual features, like six airbags, ISOFIX anchor points for compatible car seats and park-distance warning front and rear. Its amazing road-holding also contributes to driver and passenger safety. Although it’s an all-wheel-drive vehicle, power goes to the rear wheels most of the time. If they lose grip, the transmission can apportion as much as 50 percent of the drivetrain’s power to the front wheels.
Alfa sys two electronically controlled clutches in the rear differential make it possible to control torque delivery to each wheel separately. “This ensures the optimal transfer of power to the ground, even when the car is pushed to its dynamic limits. This makes the Stelvio safe and fun to drive at all times, without recourse to intrusive inputs from the stability control system,” it says.
Fuel consumption
Considering the Q’s performance capabilities, it’s a real miser, thanks to the ability to deactivate three of its pistons under light engine loads.
In city, highway and combined use its average figures in litres per 100 km consumed are 12.3, 8.4 and 9.8 respectively, according to the manufacturer. These figures are achievable, but only if driving the Q with restraint.
Price
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is priced at R1 679 485, while the Stelvio 2.0T Super Q4 sells for R838 822. The Stelvio Quadrifoglio Q4 sedan counterpart, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, can be had for R1 430 244.
You can find Stelvio Quadrifoglios with very low mileage at R250 000 off the price of a new car, while a nearly new Alfa Romeo Stelvio 2.0T Super Q4 can be found on this site for R500-600k.
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio has a maintenance plan that lasts 6 years / 100 000 km and factory warranty for 3 years / 100 000 km. The service intervals are 15 000 km.
Verdict
It’s been said of Alfa Romeos before: That they feel alive and that they have soul. But these statements are mostly applied to older Alfas. Although a car like the Alfa 159 was beautiful to behold, driving it felt like driving a large Fiat. The same goes for the Giulietta and Mito. The Stelvio – in its normal or Quadrifoglio guise, is the first true Alfa Romeo produced in many years. If you do have the good fortune of putting a Stelvio or Stelvio Quadrifoglio on your shortlist, allow us to throw just one spanner in the works: Where the subject of this review lapped the murderous Nürburgring in just 7:51.7, its sedan counterpart, the Giulia Quadrifoglio, needed only 7:32. Still want the SUV?
With the Stelvio Quadrifoglio, Alfa reminds the world of it's pedigree, and to a time when Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo were spoken of as equals.