How To Describe A Performance SUV Like This One?
This serves as a justification for Alfa Romeo to offer a couple of SUVs in its lineup. The Stelvio being the first of the two.
A Victory & Reseda review of the 2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio
In previous writings about Alfa Romeo, I pointed out that historically it was a company that built sports and luxury cars for enthusiasts.
I’ll leave it at that. If I added Jeremy Clarkson’s famous series of quotes about Alfa Romeos, then I may have gone too far.
As part of Stellantis, Alfa Romeo is now positioned as a premium brand with Italian flair while honoring its sporting heritage. This serves as a justification for the brand to offer a couple of SUVs in its lineup. The Stelvio being the first of the two.
One could say that the Stelvio is unlike any Alfa Romeo and/or SUV in the marketplace. If you add the 505-horsepower 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine into the mix, then you clearly separate it from anything else.
This is how you would describe the 2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio.
It is one thing to describe this vehicle. It is another to experience it.
The first thing we were enthralled by was the paint job. The Verde Montreal hue is a sight for sore eyes. When the Stelvio Quadrifoglio got around amongst the general public, that was the first thing people noticed. It is a fine green shade that attracts a lot of people. Some of which indicated that they never seen that shade of green before on a vehicle. Obviously, they have not seen a lot of Alfa Romeos in the area. This is one a few exclusive signature colors the brand offers to its Quadrifoglio customers.
Secondly, I learned from onlookers that they have never seen a Stelvio before. Fewer have indicated that they never have seen an Alfa Romeo before. That I cannot believe at all. Yes, they are rare sights, but once you’ve seen one – regardless of age – it is a sight to see.
The Stelvio does follow brand design conventions. The shield grille and the badge have been hallmarks of Alfa Romeo for a century or so. The shape follows classic curves and surfaces that are traced back to the 1950s.
Yet, it is a modern SUV. It is taller and offers a liftgate at the rear. Still, its personality is truly Milanese. You may argue, but you cannot state otherwise…
New for 2024 are the Trilobe LED adaptive matrix headlamp units. Each “bulb” is separated by a combination daytime running light and turn signal giving a new Alfa Romeo lightning signature.
Quadrifoglio models are first distinguished by the four-leaf clover badge on each front fender. A badge worn on every Alfa Romeo that have competed in motorsport. One guy thought because of the badge that the Alfa was Irish. I do not recall Enzo Ferrari had any Irish blood in him.
Further distinguishing the Quadrifoglio from mere four-cylinder models are the 20-inch five-hole black-finished alloy wheels. Pirelli provided P Zero III summer rubber to the mix. They’re certainly grippy on dry surfaces, but they are quite noisy and somewhat resistant to bumpy surfaces. Then again, what high performance tire will manage rougher surfaces?
Stepping inside is an all-new digital 12.3-inch instrument cluster that features a heritage screen that has two “dials” in the old Jaeger font. You can switch to something more modern, but why? The screen also has modern readouts for multiple but of information. The entire reimagining of the old dials – under the dual curved cowl – works for those of us who love Alfas.
One thing I wished Alfa Romeo – er, the premium Italian side of the Stellantis conglomeration – would do is to upgrade the Stelvio’s infotainment screen to a UConnect 5 platform. Rather to increase the size of the screen from 8.8 inches to something similar found on the Tonale. I know, it may take a redesign of the dashboard to do so, but it may help customers out to get something more functional to go along with all that horsepower.
Sound came from a lovely Harman Kardon 14-speaker audio system. It has smartphone integration and wireless charging, but, again, I wished they would get current with wireless integration aside from Bluetooth connectivity. Then again, if you have your tunes ready, it could accompany the exhaust note coming from the back.
The front seats are supportive. They do give after several miles to accommodate multiple body shapes. Rear seat room is fine for three people – realistically, for two adults. Cargo space is actually quite good and can accommodate my rollator perfectly. Due to slope of the roof, you only 18.5 cubic feet of space before you fold down the second-row seats. Below the roofline is more critical for me, where most of that space exists. Yet, you do get 56.5 cubic feet when you fold down the second-row seats.
About that 505-horsepower engine…it puts down plenty of thrust and is quite speedy. We did not do any 0-60 MPH sprint times, but you can feel the acceleration when you put your foot down. Lane changes and onramps are absolutely no problem. It has 443 pound-feet of torque, which is plenty for a 4,313-pound track-bred SUV.
This engine gets an uprated ZF eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive to keep it planted. You can make things more interesting when you work the DNA knob on the center console. “D” means Dynamic, which firms up the suspension and raises the revs on each gear.
If you dare, you can flip the knob and hold it for a bit to go into Race mode. It takes Dynamic to 11, with even firmer suspension feel and higher revs per gear. It also disables ESC stability control and ASR. In other words, you just took full responsibility on completely controlling the Stelvio Quadifoglio.
There is really nothing wrong with outing it into “N.” You get a balanced ride, and the shifts are on point. You can still let the exhaust out for a burble and kick-back when you need to accelerate.
Fuel economy might be the last thing on your mind in a Stelvio Quadrifoglio. However, we achieved an average of 18.6 MPG with a high mark of 19.4 MPG.
We could go deep into the driving dynamics of this SUV. Two things stand out here. One, the steering is pretty sharp at the turns. You certainly feel when you square up to a curve, then take it. Although, you do have a higher ground clearance. That means that cornering and handling with yield a bit of lean and roll. However, it is controlled thanks to the larger tires and wheel set.
Then, there’s the brakes. I get that it is a brake-by-wire system. When we finally got the hang of this system, stops were short and precise. Even panic stops yielded short distances with massive force to do so.
You can still get all of this four-leaf clover SUV goodness starting at $87,870. Our Verde Montreal example came with a sticker price of $93,360.
Before we go any further, Stellantis announced that this will be the final model year of the Stelvio Quadrifogilo. There is a run-out model available in very limited numbers – the Super Sport version. After this model year, only the 2.0-liter four-cylinder version will be available – as far as we know.
The Stelvio Quadrifoglio does break tradition for the pure Alfisti. Then again, an Alfisti understands that the brand must remain relevant to not only the Stellantis corporate family – but for consumers in the premium/luxury performance space.
Therefore, the Stelvio has already made an impact on the Alfa Romeo brand. Adding the performance of the Quadrifoglio package is more than just icing on the cake. Rather, that gooey layer inside the cake. That’s another way to describe the Stelvio Quadrifoglio.
It really is the one that snaps necks and provides memories. Sounds like an Alfa Romeo to me. Albeit one with 505 horsepower.
DISCLAIMER: Vehicle provided by Stellantis North America
All photos by Randy Stern