[Auto] Alfa Romeo Stelvio 2.2d Sprint Q4 2020

[The GodFather]

 

What is it?
This is what will soon be the older and bigger of two SUVs from Alfa Romeo, the Stelvio - and it has just had a mid-life facelift. 

There are tweaks and upgrades for the interior, whose relative shortage of genuinely impressive perceived quality and up-to-date on-board technology came in for criticism when it was launched three years ago. The car’s equipment levels have now been improved across the range, while new active safety and level two semi-autonomous driving technologies have been added to the options list.

What is it?
This is what will soon be the older and bigger of two SUVs from Alfa Romeo, the Stelvio - and it has just had a mid-life facelift. 

There are tweaks and upgrades for the interior, whose relative shortage of genuinely impressive perceived quality and up-to-date on-board technology came in for criticism when it was launched three years ago. The car’s equipment levels have now been improved across the range, while new active safety and level two semi-autonomous driving technologies have been added to the options list.

UK-based Stelvio buyers can choose a car in Super, Sprint, Lusso Ti or Veloce trim and powered by a 197bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol or 188bhp 2.1-litre diesel four-cylinder engine across most of the range, with only Veloce models increasing the power outputs of those engines to either 276bhp or 207bhp respectively. And then there's the madcap 503bhp Quadrifoglio performance version, a car that, in just the right circumstances, may even be a faster and more dependable way to make your children return their breakfast than any emetic drug.

The Stelvio uses standard coil spring suspension, with lowered and firmed-up springs and ‘frequency-selective’ dampers coming on Veloce versions. A Performance Pack that adds fully adaptive dampers and a mechanical limited-slip differential for the rear axle is optional on all bar the entry-level Super version.

All Stelvios get an eight-speed automatic gearbox, and all get Q4 clutch-based four-wheel drive except the rear-driven, entry-level diesel. Prices now start at a whisker under £40,000, which is a hike of between 6% and 10% on 2019-model-year brochure prices - although that comparison doesn’t allow for the new car’s enriched specification.

Alfa’s Stelvio engines were made Euro-6D WLTP-compliant in 2018, and no revisions have been made to the car’s suspension or steering systems, or to any of its powertrains.

What's it like?
We tested the car in mid-range four-wheel-drive 2.1-litre turbo diesel Sprint form, in which it provided a broadly familiar driving environment and experience. If you’re a keener driver, you’re still more likely to be attracted to the Stelvio by the latter than the former, though, in spite of Alfa’s attempts to smarten up the interior.

The changes to the cabin certainly take a keen eye to spot. There’s a new grooved aluminium finish to the centre console and some richer trim materials on the gear selector lever and infotainment controls. There’s also a neat little tray just ahead of the armrest cubby to simply drop your smartphone into for wireless charging (where compatible), and - in the wondrous era of keyless car operation - also a new, roughly key-fob-sized storage cubby just next to the gearlever where you can keep your car key while driving. What, exactly, was wrong with an ignition barrel in the first place is a question that still puzzles so many of us.

There remain plenty of places where the Stelvio’s interior looks and feels just a little bit cheaper and plainer than an equivalent Audi, Mercedes or BMW, though. The grade of the plastics used on its air vents and column stalks can be all too easily compared with what you might find in a holiday rental, and the look and feel of its steering-wheel-mounted switchgear isn’t a lot classier. Much of the ‘leather’ used around the lower reaches of the fascia quite clearly isn’t what it’s pretending to be, either. 

On the plus side, the part-leather seats are smooth and tactile enough, and there are other material niceties to discover besides. The oversized, column-mounted aluminium gearshift paddles are easy to find without looking, and they reward you with a cool metallic touch.

There’s also an Alfa Romeo logo ‘designed in’ to the two-piece load-bay cover that reflects appealingly in both the rear-view mirror and the rear screen. It’s the sort of thing a designer would come up with to add a sense of richness and occasion to a car in a fairly cost-effective way. 

The bottom line, however, is that Alfa could certainly have done more to lift the quality look and feel of this interior if it really wanted the Stelvio to finally tempt people out of Q5s and X3s in bigger numbers. What it has done isn’t too convincing, and only narrows very slightly what remains a sizable deficit to those German rivals.