Welcome to Autodrivel

Until now, Alfa Romeo made cars which were beautiful to look at, but that was about it. Not with the Alfa Romeo Stelvio and the Giulia however.

Nowadays everyone makes a crossover, any size and any color. The whole craze started around 1800 with the Toyota Rav4, then around 2006 (I don't really care about the year) came the Qashqai and here we are in 2015 when everyone makes crossovers. And today we're talking about Alfa Romeo's attempt at building a crossover - the Alfa Romeo Stelvio.

Which is a bit off-putting to say that Alfa Romeo built the Alfa Romeo Stelvio because the Stelvio is actually an Alfa Romeo Giulia on stilts and that's big question mark.

But then again, Alfa Romeo knows exactly what its customer base wants and, oddly enough, the Stelvio is what its customers want, not what Alfa Romeo wants. If the Alfa 166 was a failure because it was built for their own whims and was more of a after dark project, the Stelvio was and is a commercial success. First of all because it's a crossover and everyone has the crossover fever these days. There are no normal cars anymore, there are no compacts anymore, there aren't even city cars anymore. It's all SUVs and cross-overs.

As I said about Aygo X or Picanto, how far will the cross-over rave go?

Secondly, Alfa Romeo knows that people who buy this kind of car will never go off-road, so the Stelvio has no off-road capabilities at all. It is a pure-blooded street crossover, with the 4×4 system adapted for the road and stability in bends, and nothing to do with climbing muddy hills. No no, here you have 300 horsepower, rear-wheel drive, sports steering and sports suspension as Alfa Romeo knows how to do. In other words, it is the official crossover of "floor it". As long as it works, and disturbingly Alfa Romeo Stelvio really has a tendency to work. I wonder what is going on there, since they took over Jeep? Could the statement that 2 bad things make 1 good be true?

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Engines

Petrol

• 2.0 GME-T4 Turbo of 197, 247 and 276 horsepower – Sure, we have problems with the turbo failing and the Multi-Air unit not being particularly reliable neither, but we also have a minimum of 200 horsepower, up to 276 horsepower stock and alot more if you start tuning. By far the most balanced engine for the Stelvio, in terms of bangs for buck.


• 2.9 690T Turbo of 503 horsepower – Built by Ferrari for Alfa Romeo, it is actually their 720 hp V8 engine but with 2 cylinders removed and the power reduced to "only" 500 horsepower. As for maintenance, what I can say is that it is a Ferrari engine, with Ferrari maintenance costs.

Diesel

2.2 Multijet II of 150, 160, 180, 190 and 210 horsepower – The 150 horsepower one only comes with rear-wheel drive because Italians. When everyone makes crossovers with either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, the Stelvio and X3 in the basic versions come with rear-wheel drive. Because why not? Otherwise it's a modern engine and that means problems with the AdBlue installation, issues with the injectors, clogging of the particulate filter and, in true Alfa Romeo fashion, water pump failures. Well, you won't have them all at the same time  or maybe you won't have any of the problems. All we know is that this engine should be kept away from the city just like Chris Brown should be kept away from Rihanna because it riles him up.

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Reliability Issues

• The brakes either barely work or don't work at all because Alfa Romeo thought of putting in an electric brake system, and electrics has never been Alfa Romeo's strong suit.


• And since I mentioned the magic word "electric", there must come a complementary moment when I say that Alfa Romeo is as good at electrics as I am at asking for a raise. Okay, you could blame the Italians, but on the other hand modern cars are packed with electronics, and there will always be issues . Bonus points for the air conditioning tho.


• The infotainment is taken from the old 147, which is not bad for Tom Jones fans, but for a car that started at 55,000 pounds new, it's a little unfortunate. As is the rest of the interior, which is as sober as a tuxedo. There's nothing wrong with it, it just feels like the interior of the 159 to me.


• Sure, you'd expect for the Stelvio to have sports suspension and if you're okay with that and it's lack of comfort, that's fine. After all, the Stelvio is a sports SUV and that's all, so you should be fully aware of what you bought.


• Not necesarilly an reliability issue because it isn't, but I should mention that the automagic transmission is old-fashioned, so it's more reliable but less sporty. They didn't want to put a dual-clutch transmission on a sports car because why would you put a performance transmission on a performance car? Because the Italians.

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Verdict

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is one of the more interesting choices on the market. Like the F-Pace with which it is often compared, the Stelvio is a sporty asphalt SUV and that's it. Sure, it costs a bit more than an X3 if you only look at the price, but if you compare an X3 with similar features and power, you will see that the Stelvio is actually cheaper. So if you want something different, a sporty cross-over that is not found in every parking space (or 2 spaces) in the mall, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio is definitely worth it. Especially the 2.0 turbo petrol.

What engines do I recommend? The 2.0 Turbo with 276 horsepower is fantastically bombastic, but any power version is correct. And for diesel you only have a 2.2 anyway and on the market you can find either the 150 or the 180 version, so I'll recommend the 180.