ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QUADRIFOGLIO: MOST FUN TO DRIVE SUV?

Hey guys, last time we discussed the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio and it’s the car that has put Alfa’s reputation back on the top, most of the journalists were shocked that Alfa came up with such a beautiful car. A 500 Horsepower rear-wheel-drive Saloon that looks and drives like a proper supercar. Everything was going fine for Alfa until they decided to drop another Bomb in the market in the form of the Stelvio. Today, we are not going to discuss the Standard Stelvio, we are going to discuss its performance version, the more exciting one, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio.

Alfa launched the Stelvio as a small SUV, the Arch rival that I can see as of now for the Stelvio is the Porsche Macan, it’s all a performance backed small SUV that is loved by everyone, and it’s just that we have an option of going with the Italians now too. The Stelvio is essentially a Giulia on steroids but that’s a compliment. It has the same twin-turbo 2.9 Litre V6 engine that produces 503 horsepower and 443 Pound ft. of torque. Not much of a difference. The acceleration remains the same at 3.8 seconds to 60Mph, that’s very impressive considering the weight and the general profile of the car. The Stelvio is predominantly Rear-wheel drive but if its system senses a loss of traction at the rear wheels it would send in some power at the front and I found this to be very thoughtful of Alfa, the Stelvio is heavy, its SUV characteristics lead to a weight of 1,830 Kg but considering that its competition weighs over 2 tonnes and has less horsepower, the Alfa seems to be pretty good. The ability to slide around corners is just as good as in the Giulia Quadrifoglio, it’s very playful. The quad exhaust in the rear sound insanely good at lower RPMs and it just keeps getting better as you move high up into the rev band. The design is inspired from the Giulia, I just wish that the wheel haunches could have been bigger to add to the muscular stance of the car, I love the wheel design particularly on the rear side, there is something in the design that just makes you stare at the car in Awe. In race mode, the suspension of the Stelvio becomes stiffer and handling improves. Apart from the adaptive suspension, the brakes are pretty good too, if you have 6,000 Pounds extra to spend you can go with the Carbon ceramics that would provide you an upper edge while braking. The noise insulation is well done, you don’t the external road or tire noises while you are sitting inside the car. The sport seats come as standard and are well-bolstered, they hold you in your place while you are sliding in the corners. Now, Alfa of course lets you have the option of adding some carbon bits to make your car look more aesthetically pleasing. For 3,000 pounds you can have carbon fiber seats. The steering wheel has been placed perfectly alongside the driver. The pedal shifting is quick and you will get sort of the feeling of shifting in a Ferrari, yep they feel that good. However, even at 70,000 Pounds, the quality of the materials is a bit questionable. The infotainment system is not the best in the class but it does the job pretty well, it’s well loaded with modern features but it’s not as good as the ones you will find on the Porsche Macan. But if you are going to buy your car based on the quality of materials you probably aren’t a car guy. The Stelvio Quadrifoglio is a true Driver’s car in every possible way and I can’t think of any reason why anyone would choose the Macan over the Stelvio because the difference in their prices isn’t that much.

It's really surprising that Alfa Romeo just launched two great cars back to back and everyone around the world is appreciating it, hopefully, Alfa will come up with more interesting and driver-focused cars in the future, Alfa has a huge responsibility to save Italy’s name in the field of practical performance cars, we are counting on you Alfa.

That’s it for this time guys, I hoped you liked it, tell me in the comments section on which cars will you want me to write my views upon.

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