NEW ALFA ROMEO STELVIO

Alfa Romeo is joining everyone else in the automotive world with a new SUV model, its first, called the Stelvio. The Stelvio is named for the Stelvio Pass, one of the world’s famous driving roads.

Based on the underpinnings of the Alfa Romeo Q4 all-wheel-drive the Stelvio is instantly recognisable as an Alfa with its huge shield dominated grille. Indeed the Stelvio probably looks more Alfa Romeo than anything else in the Italian marque’s range.

Give Italian stylists all the frontal real estate and there’s no way they would deliver a shy and retiring shape…

The overall shape is more tall station wagon than SUV, something Alfa is hardly unique with as the relentless move away from conventional passenger cars and station wagons continues.

The Stelvio will be offered with a choice of turbocharged petrol or diesel engines driving through Alfa Romeo’s Q4 AWD system.

The 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine is all aluminium and uses Alfa’s sophisticated MultiAir electro-hydraulic valve system. It generates 149 kW and 330 Nm, promising a zero-to-100km/h time of 7.2 seconds.

Stelvio’s 2.2-litre turbo-diesel is the first all-aluminium diesel among the new-generation Alfa engines. It has the MultiJet II injection system with Injection Rate Shaping (IRS) and electrically-operated variable geometry turbocharger.

Fascinatingly, this turbo-diesel has more power and torque than the petrol, 156 kW and 450 Nm and get off the line to100 km/h in just 6.6 seconds. Don’t forget we are talking about a diesel 4WD here…

Power is through all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission with Alfa’s DNA (Dynamic, Natural, All-road) multimode settings.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio will be sold as Super Lusso Package with the emphasis on luxury. This includes Pieno Fiore leather upholstered front seats, heated steering wheel, and walnut wax accents in the front cabin.

Or you can opt for the Veloce Package with bright red brake calipers. Inside there are sports leather seats, sport steering wheel, and aluminium interior trim highlights and sports pedals of that same lightweight material.

The first Alfa Romeo Stelvio will arrive in Australia in the early months of 2018. We can’t wait to get into the driving seat of one – or perhaps two!

Prices and specs for Australia are yet to be finalised, but expect it to begin in the high 50K to mid 60K range.