Captain sensible
FOR Pretty and practical cabin, sharp cornering for a crossover
AGAINST Hard to drive smoothly in town. Ride a little disturbed
The Tonale is far more pragmatic than most previous Alfas a car not so much for dreamers as for actual buyers Squillions of people purchase a compactish crossover If just a tiny proportion went Alfa’s way it’d be transformative for the company Our favourites in this field are the ones that lean towards relaxation the Evoque and Volvo XC The ‘sporty’ ones are less successful So the Alfa is aiming at an openish goaL.
As a concept car in the Tonale’s shape was widely liked Commendably its lush curves and Alfa motifs have survived unscathed In the cabin the Tonale’s design tickles you with some sentimental Alfa heritage garnish But crucially it also nails the fundamentals space ergonomics quality general habitability
The centre screen is well organised Graphics are clean and the pixels responsive It’s also not crowded by climate softbuttons they’re below the vents Three people can sit in the back and behind them is a competitive litre boot There are loads of gadget chargers Family crossover boxes ticked
An AWD plugin hybrid follows soon But the launch version is a bhp litre engine with DCT and front drive and some hybrid assistance and energy recuperation Even though the motor runs on just V in the WLTP test cycle the engine is silent for half the time though obviously much less than half the distance Buried underneath are some platform and suspension parts from the Jeep Compass But Alfa has done a thorough rework to metamorphose from an offroader into a sharpish road crossover But at narrowstreets speed there’s too much steering assistance which combined with the directness feels nervy Kerbed alloys and grazed mirrors ahoy
The driveline is also unpredictable in town seemingly unsure whether to boost the engine shift down or employ hybrid assistance when all you want is a gentle nudge forward It’s more settled at speed even if the performance is no more than average
Alfa of old being notorious for plummeting residuals and poor dealer service here are possible remedies First the Tonale’s warranty is five years Second each Tonale is linked to a nonfungible token a digital artefact into which are encoded mileage servicing and number and depth of battery cycles It’s a cyberpromise that you’ve looked after your Tonale theoretically pumping up the value As I said pragmatic