Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bigger is beautiful for Alfa’s Stelvio
PRODUCT planning in the car industry has never been simpler – just build SUVS, and preferably in several different sizes.
It’s also a great recipe for getting yourself out of trouble. It’s working for Jaguar, which has transformed itself from being a sports car company into a four-wheel drive firm and, with it, bringing sales its accountants could only dream of.
Now Alfa Romeo has performed the same simple trick. For years it has tried to compete with Audi and BMW with its sporty saloons without much success – primarily because it didn’t build very good cars – but first up of the new breed is the Stelvio SUV.
Clearly Alfa Romeo is doing very well with it too because there’s a bit of a supply problem at HQ and we have been struggling to get a test car.
However, I thought I’d give my local dealer a go – Hersham and Walton Motors, which also happens to be the longest serving Aston Martin dealer in the world. So thank you to Paul Flitter for lending us this Stelvio Milano Edizione fitted with the 2.2-litre diesel engine. Most customers, Alfa Romeo Stelvio Milano Edizione five-door SUV
Price: £43,990
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel, 207bhp 0-62mph: 6.6sec Fuel consumption: 58.9mpg
says Flitter, choose the 280bhp petrol engine. He also tells me that interest in the Stelvio is significantly stronger than for the excellent Giulia saloon.
The stylists have done a commendable job of giving it an Alfa-like look and it’s one of the best-looking SUVS on the road, more interesting to look at than the Jaguar F-pace and as attractive as Volvo’s new XC40 although