An SUV at the race track? Believe it
If you need space but crave speed, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is unbeatable
You’re in the market for a new car, but you’ve encountered a perplexing conundrum. Your gut is telling you to get a track-capable sports car. However, your mature familial obligations dictate that you should settle for an SUV. Well, Alfa Romeo feels for you, and has responded by introducing the 2018 Stelvio Quadrifoglio, one of the highest-performing production SUVs made to date.
While the standard Stelvio is no slouch, with its 2.0-litre, 280-horsepower turbo-four, the Quadrifoglio borrows its 2.9-L twin-turbo V-6 from the Giulia Quadrifoglio, claiming 505 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. While engine specs are identical to the Giulia, the V-6 has been altered slightly for packaging purposes, and the turbos were relocated to make room for the front axle of the Stelvio’s all-wheeldrive system.
Styling alterations on the Quadrifoglio are stealthy — the only things giving away its higher performance over the standard Stelvio are gill-like vents in the lower fascia, a different rear bumper with four tailpipes, and hood louvres. Like the regular Stelvio, its hood, fenders, roof, doors, and tailgate are made from aluminum, while the chassis is steel.
The interior is Giulia-inspired with a neat, intuitive dashboard and centre-stack layout. There’s abundant use of carbon-fibre trim, and the start button is mounted on the left side of the flat-bottomed steering
wheel. The electrically adjustable seats are firm and snug, and the side bolsters are adjustable to hold you tight if you intend on generating high cornering G-forces at the track.
On the road the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is very civilized, with little other than a firm ride giving away its nefarious underpinnings. It’s relatively quiet, though there’s noticeable wind noise that makes its way into the cabin, which seems to originate from the side windows.
Since the Stelvio Quadrifoglio’s emphasis is on performance driving, after a road drive we’re let loose at Circuit of the Americas to test its racetrack prowess. The trackprepped
Stelvios are equipped with optional carbon-ceramic brakes, though they roll on the standard-issue 19-inch Pirelli P-Zero tires. A couple are also equipped with optional carbon-fibre racing seats made by Sparco, though I’d stay away from those because the standard seats offer exceptional lateral support and are much more comfortable for real-world driving.
Despite its size, it can be pushed hard into corners and through S-curves, though you have to give the chassis a moment to settle on tight-turning transitions. This is mostly from the increased body roll it exhibits over something like
a BMW M5.
Its 50-50 weight distribution provides balanced handling that is emphasized through a double-apex right-hander, where a mild frontend push at entry is easily converted to slight oversteer mid-turn using the throttle. The balanced nature of its chassis is remarkable, so much so that I needed to constantly remind myself it was an SUV.
I usually refrain from turning off traction and stability controls on cars approaching 500 horsepower, but the Stelvio Quadrifoglio exhibits excellent feedback and inspires great confidence despite the lack of an electronic safety net.
Auto mode provides quick, intuitive gear changes, but I resort to more engaging manual shifts using the long, column-mounted shift paddles. The Stelvio Quadrifoglio shifts almost immediately when operating the paddles, and it does so while belching out an angry, if artificially induced, burble.
The optional carbon brakes can handle an 80 per cent pace at this track without overheating, but when pushed to full attack mode, warnings in the dash came on after about three laps. A brief cool-down time in the pits was all that was needed to continue. It is worth noting that Circuit of the Americas is hard on brakes; there’s one straight where I saw 229 kilometres an hour before braking hard for a sharper-than-90degree left-hander.
The base Stelvio starts at $51,845, so it’s a jump to the Quadrifoglio’s $95,000 price. But what you’re getting for that premium is more than 500 hp, a zero-to-100 km/h time of 3.6 seconds (two-10ths of a second quicker than the rear-drive Giulia Quadrifoglio), remarkable handling and all of that performance in an attractively styled SUV that offers comfortable seating for five and has a 1,360-kilogram towing capacity.
Even though one is even less likely to thrash an SUV on a race track than taking it off road, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is a track-bred anomaly of an SUV that will satisfy your impulsive and your rational sides. Just don’t show your spouse the spec sheet.