the Bucket: Bucket Seat: Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q4 Veloce

With anything Italian, there is always a lot of passion involved, from their food, to their music and obviously their cars. Having flirted with a few brands in the past, I finally got my chance to sample something from the much loved Alfa Romeo stable. The brand has always been spoken off with great enthusiasm by many, as it offered the performance side of Italian motoring at a price that was reachable to the general public, unlike the super car brands of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. The GTV6 still holds a cult status in this country with many who owned in the 70's having the pleasure of enjoying one of the best performance hatchbacks of its time. The company however took a dip in the 90's and early 2000's with dribs and drabs coming out from Cassino with only a few models to speak off that really inspired the purist. However in the past 5-6 years, Alfa has been revitalizing its stance in the market with some excited models like the Giulia sedan and the introduction of their SUV range starting with the Stelvio and most recently the Tonale. With the global shift to SUV's, the market is primed for these products from the Italian company as it offers the consumer something different to what is coming out of Germany, Korea and China. I spent a couple days with the Stelvio Q4 Veloce and even if I had it for a week, it wouldn't have had enough time with it as you will find out in my review of it below.

DESIGN

The design of the Stelvio is eye catching to say the least, it follows the Alfa design language with the focal point being the triangular grille at the front with everything else sort of emanating from that. The bug eye styled headlights house the LED daytime running lights and main headlamps. The bottom part of the front bumper has dual air intakes with a honeycomb grille giving the front end a sporty look. The profile of the car is curvy with large wheel arches housing the wheels with a black trim around the edges. the roof line is coupe inspired but with a gradual gradient rather than a acute angle, the bulk curves from the wheel arches tie around to the rear of the car which has the rear lights housed in a triangle shape mold with LED outer lights. The large 20-inch alloy wheels design is synonymous with Alfa heritage as they have had similar designs on popular models in the past. The details in the design is subtle but add to the charm and charisma of the Stelvio.

PERFORMANCE

The Stelvio is powered by a 2.0-liter Petrol Turbo engine forged in that aluminium block which is light weight, high performance and efficient. Power output on it is 206kW and 400Nm which is more than decent for a car this size. The motor is controlled via a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission which Alfa say "optimises their response in terms of fluidity, comfort, performance and efficiency", all I know it kicks ass. It also has large racing style padels behind the steering wheel to give you that sporty feel when driving. The driving feel of this car feels more of a performance hatch than a medium to large SUV. When people asked me to describe the on road driving dynamics of the Stelvio, it was difficult to put into words as it is a very emotional experience, I know this review is sounding weird but when you get behind the wheel of this car, you will understand what I am saying. The various driving modes on the dna settings dial gives off a cool animation on the infotainment screen when selected. All the emotions are good, but more so the "a" which is the sport mode, this one awakens different senses and captivates you in every drive and makes you want to drive it more. While it was parked off, all I could think of was the next time I could drive it, I even took unnecessary longer routes home or to work just so I could drive the car more.

COMFORT

The Stelvio could have the most bland interior in the world and it wouldn't make a difference to me because that is how much I enjoyed the drive of it but these are Italians we talking about, obviously the interior is going to be "Gucci". The full black cabin had a good mixture of leather and high quality plastic, the styling was that of a sports car rather than a family SUV with the sporty style 3-spoke steering wheel with ignition button located on it, very Ferrari-esque. Another sporty design detail is the huge aluminium paddle shifts behind the steering wheel, really gives you a racing type of feel when driving and using them in manual mode. The rest of the dash looks pretty ordinary in comparison to how the car looks from the outside, I really feel that Alfa could have done a whole lot more with the interior design and especially the design of dash. While the materials used are of good quality and has a nice touch to feel, it just lacks that Italian flair you'd expect, it just seems plain especially the area beneath the aircon controls, just seems meh. Maybe its just me, but anyway moving onto the seats, beautiful leather with neat stitching and the Alfa logo embossed in the headrests for the driver and front passenger. The sporty styled seats continue in the back with perforations for detail and extra comfort. While the roof line is slanted, it still is quite roomy in the back and you can get in and out without having to worry about hitting your head. With the climate control the whole cabin is kept at an appropriate temp, mobile apps are accessed via a USB cable which plugs into the front, the gear selector was nice, and the added detail of the Italian flag behind it was cool. Luggage capacity is surprisingly a lot, I don't know the exact number as its not listen anywhere but with the ol golf bag measurement, it could fit 2 with ease.

VERDICT

While it's difficult not to speak bad about this car, the only critisim I have about it is that I didn't have it for long enough! It really is a dream to drive and while it may not be every ones first choice, after driving one, and you see others on the road, you just know exactly how much they are enjoying being behind the wheel of theirs. Alfa have a stunning product on offer, it's exactly for the type of consumer that wants a practical family SUV but not only wants to stand out from the crowd but enjoy every minute of driving it. The car is well balanced, has plenty of power and looks fantastic. It comes with most of the safety tricks that other competitors come with while you might think the price may be a bit out of touch with the rest of the segment, it really does warrant it with what you are getting in terms of performance, build quality and choice of materials used. Overall, my first Alfa experience was and exceptional one, can't wait to get behind the wheel of another!