Unlike with other hobbies where you can actually build a collection of things—collecting cars is not something within most people’s reach. It’s not just the initial investment, but ongoing costs associated with storage and maintenance. So for people like us, for whom a car is more than just a tool, a great deal of thought and compromise often goes into the decision of what to get, for there is no single car that can fulfill both our practical daily driving needs and our desires. Or is there?
I recently spent a weekend with a 2022 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio AWD. It was my first time getting into an Alfa since I was 17 years old and living in England, where to teenagers, a red Alfa Romeo was the stuff dreams were made of, and perhaps should been called an ‘Alpha’ Romeo.
Three decades later, not only was I getting being the wheel of an Italian brand which is yet to really entrench itself in the U.S., but I was going to drive the company’s sport utility offering. Despite what I had heard from other automotive writers, I was curious to see what the drive would be like on a road-trip from New York City to Boston.
The first thing I noticed was that my Alfa wasn’t red. It was Verde (green) Montreal Tri-Coat Exterior Paint (a $2,200 option). This is a green I had never in my life seen before on a vehicle. Combine this color with the beautifully muscled body and hulking tires on 21 inch allow wheels, a $1,500 option, and the Stelvio looked like a horny mermaid on steroids.
Another immediately noticeable feature of my Stelvio was the company’s famous quadrifoglio shamrock symbol (a nod to their racing past), which on a car this green made me look like a don in the Irish mafia. How perfect for Boston. What if every gangster in Massachusetts had one?
After an hour diving north toward New England, the old image I had of Alfa from 1990s England was all but gone. In normal driving mode, there was a lovely throatiness from the 2.9L V6 Twin Turbo PDI Engine, capable of just over 500 HP. For me, it was not dissimilar to driving any compact sports car, such as the Porsche Cayman—except this little green goblin was an AWD SUV which means it can be driven year-round in the North East—though arguably on different rims and tires. It soon dawned on me that this could be a perfect vehicle, an automotive unicorn, as it’s a sports car that can be driven in wretched, freezing conditions. Not only that—the (heated) rear seats weren’t cramped at all, which means it could also function as a family car—or something you can take skiing with friends in the back seat checking their phones.
Driving the car in heavy traffic, there was no problem merging as other drivers seemed curious as to what was in front of them. The black rims and Brembo brakes also made the Stelvio appear a little fierce, as though at any moment it could blow fire from its massive exhaust pipes. The handling was enormously fun, though driving at 65 felt much slower than in other vehicles.
What really makes the Stelvio stand out from other European compact SUVs with racing in their DNA however, is, in my opinion the incredible interior. I just can’t say enough about it. There is nothing that can be seen or touched that wasn’t in some way beautiful, in addition to having a function. For instance the carbon fiber dash panels were not overdone so that we felt trapped in an 80s video game. Each panel was balanced beautifully with something in leather or brushed aluminum. There was also an abundance of soft lines and curves everywhere from the dashboard which featured a real analog speedometer and tachometer to the vents, so elegant that I couldn’t stop playing with them. The info system screen was ideally sized and easy to use. The silvery paddles shifters felt cool to the touch, a nice contrast to the fat, heated leather steering wheel. The dual pane sunroof, a $1,350 option, was a nice addition, as was the Active Assist Plus Package, a $1,495 option, which included everything you can imagine from lane centering to Intelligent Speed Assist. I found the best safety features however, to be four things that come standard: the big side mirrors, the blind spot and cross path detection, the lane departure warning system (a charming bell), and the back up camera which made parking in downtown Boston a cinch.
I only have three complaints with the Stelvio, and two are an easy fix. First of all, the petrol pump handle on the petrol pump icon is on the wrong side. As you well know, the icon is supposed to have the handle on the same side as the fuel cap, so when pulling into the gas station, you know which side of the vehicle needs to be closest to the pump. My second suggestion is to put in a HUD display, because this is a vehicle that screams to be taken on road trips and can certainly handle them in all seasons. A HUD display is nice because you can check your speed, the GPS, and other critical information without moving your head, though as my teenage daughter pointed out, you could always just listen to the instructions… oh, the irony!
The third issue might be harder to fix, and that’s the price. The Stelvio featured in this story comes in at $92,790 with four worthwhile options included. Base cost is $84,650. Is this price fair? From my experience of driving the vehicle it absolutely is—but without the brand awareness that’s so necessary in the US to sell cars for six figures, I worry that drivers won’t take the Stelvio as seriously as its mostly Japanese and German rivals. But anyone looking for a sports car that can carry four people, all their luggage, an be driven year-round should seriously consider the Stelvio, not only for its design and solid performance, but because it might be the only one in the parking lot at your whichever ski resort you decide to visit — and there’s something very, very cool about that.
