New Alfa Romeo Stelvio launched
SUPERB: A WELL-ENGINEERED CAR THAT WILL SATISFY THE MOST ARDENT DRIVER
It takes its name from the famous pass on highway 38 in northern Italy.
Two thirds of the launches I attended this year have been for vehicles classified as SUVs. This is either indicative of my colleague’s impression of what suits my advancing age group – apparently performance cars are no longer for “oupa”– or maybe a result of the impact SUVs are having in both the global and local market. I prefer to think it is the latter.
I have experienced examples of this genre from Japanese, Korean, French and British manufacturers but now it is the turn of the Italians. The Italian offering launched last week is an SUV with serious attitude, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, the manufacturer’s first vehicle of this type, but that is not strictly true.
Between 1952 and 1954 the company produced a limited number of 4x4 Jeep look-a-likes for the Italian military named the Matta, with a very limited number offered to the public. Imagine a 1.9 litre DOHC in a military vehicle, only Alfa Romeo could do that.
Aimed at the mid-sized premium SUV segment, the dynamic Stelvio takes its name from the famous pass on highway 38 in northern Italy. The country’s highest drivable pass is a 20km route with no less than 75 hairpin bends. The Stelvio shares the Giulia platform and exactly the same wheelbase, but both front and rear track have been increased, the front up by 54mm and the rear 29mm. These increases provide a more stable platform and a more spacious cabin for occupants and their luggage.
Styling of the Stelvio leaves no doubt of the vehicles lineage, from the iconic cloverleaf front treatment with large air intakes below, the body flows in a series of well proportioned curves to the “Kamm” styled tail and the two very large tail pipes. Ten spoke alloy wheels, 18-inch on the Super and 20-inch on the First Edition provide a ground clearance of 200mm plus.
Good interior space and a dashboard featuring simple, elegant instrumentation and switchgear gather themselves in a layout centred on the driver. Materials and finishes are very good throughout and luggage capacity is very acceptable. At 499 litres with the rear seats in position and carrying a spare wheel, this can increase to 525 litres when using a tyre kit, fold down the seat and you have 1 600 litres of carrying capacity.
At launch the Stelvio is available in two versions, the base line Super and the limited First Edition.
Standard features on the Super include front and rear parking sensors with rear camera, power tailgate, power folding heated mirrors, dual exhaust tailpipes, automatic headlight activation, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, integrated brake system, hill descent control, autonomous emergency brake, tyre pressure monitoring, VDC, steering wheel mounted satellite controls, an instrument panel with 7-inch colour TFT display, Uconnect Touch 8.4N DC/ DVD/MP3/NAV, 8 speakers, Stop/ Start function, electro chromic rearview mirror, auto wipers, USB charging port and full leather seats.
The Limited Edition model adds a 10 speaker Hi-Fi audio system, luxury leather seats, exterior door handle courtesy light, bi-xenon headlights with adaptive front light system, blind spot monitoring with cross-path detection, heated front seats and steering wheel, tinted rear windows, Keyless Go, paddle shift on steering column, 8-way electrically adjustable driver and passenger seats, active cruise control, sport style pedals and steering
wheel, electric sunroof, headlight washers, wood trim, auto headlight levelling and tinted privacy glass.
Stelvio features a number of sophisticated safety systems.
These include an Integrated Brake System (IBS), Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Brake with pedestrian detection, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) with Rear Cross-Path Detection and Active Cruise Control.
Both the Super and First Edition utilise the same power train and transmission. The four-cylinder 2.0-litre, twin scroll turbo charged unit, delivers 206kW at 5 250rpm with a very healthy torque of 400Nm at 2 250rpm, in an all up weight of 1 660kg that equates to an impressive 124kw per ton.
Acceleration from standstill to 100km/h is claimed at 5.7 seconds with top speed at 230 km/h.
Coupled to a very smooth and slick eight speed automatic transmission, power reaches the road via Alfa Romeo’s Q4 all-wheel drive system, which provides the benefits of all wheel drive but with the driving pleasure of a rear-wheel drive. Normal driving sends 100% of the torque to the rear wheels but with constant monitoring when the vehicle approaches its maximum grip levels, the transmission transfers up to 50% of torque to the front axle.
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is a superbly engineered and executed product that offers all the attributes of an excellent and very comfortable SUV, with the ability to provide a drive that on both performance and chassis dynamics will satisfy the most ardent driver and certainly satisfy the true Alfa Romeo fans. As I said earlier, this is definitely an SUV with attitude.
Pricing starts at R810 000 for the Super 2.0 Turbo Q4 with the First Edition derivative at R946 000.