Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio 2024 facelift review: updates transform this fast SUV

Verdict

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is not to all tastes, but in reality it’s one of the most exciting and fastest SUVs money can buy. It offers Porsche Cayenne Turbo levels of performance and sharpness, but at half the price. A much improved interior package also adds to its appeal, as does a recent boost in overall quality. Hard to fault, and very easy to like for the money.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is a better car to drive than the road after which it’s named, and in places the Stelvio Pass is quite some road. But then the Quadrifoglio has always been one of the world’s more exciting SUVs, and Alfa Romeo has just made it a whole lot better for the 2024 model year.

The 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 engine has got a touch more power (512bhp), with torque unchanged with a thumping 600Nm. The eight-speed paddle-shift auto gearbox it’s attached to is also the same as before, but has had tweaks to its drive modes and software to make it sharper when needed, and more refined when not.

The resulting performance is pretty savage for a 1,850kg car with five seats and a very big boot (525 litres with the seats up, or 1600 litres with them down). Zero to 62mph arrives in just 3.8 seconds, thanks partly to the car’s aggressively-tuned four wheel-drive system, but mostly a result of the amount of energy produced by the twin-turbo V6. Top speed is 177mph, up to which the Stelvio never feels – or sounds – anything but nutcase-fast in any of its fruitier drive modes.

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Of greater significance, arguably, are the modifications Alfa has carried out to the suspension, which was already good but has become brilliant thanks to its sheer range of abilities. In comfort mode it’s softer, while in race mode it’s become even more hardcore. In between, it’s simply become a better all-rounder.

For an SUV it goes round corners more like a full-blown sports saloon, the ride – though still firm – has become more bearable. On relatively smooth surfaces, you could even call it refined.

But the biggest improvements of all have been made to the Stelvio’s cabin, which at a stroke has been transformed from outdated also-ran to a pretty lovely place to be. There’s a pair of superb new sports seats, and a TFT instrument cluster that works a treat. There’s also a new 12.3-inch central touchscreen that operates nicely, while the switchgear has been simplified in its design and layout and is all the better for it.

The interior also has a welcome level of quality to it that was sorely missing from the original Quadrifoglio, with a more refined feel to the buttons, plus less road noise on the move. 

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On the outside the car is distinguished by new Matrix LED headlights and various bits of carbon fibre along the flanks and at both ends, all of which adds to its visual appeal. It now feels like the class act that it is, and on the UK roads we drove it on there was much to like about it, and very little to loathe.

Some might not like the super-fast responses from the deliberately light steering, but you get used to this after a while, at which point, the Stelvio can feel disturbingly alert if you’re not ready for it. 

Grip is huge and traction flawless. As is the way it will devour a B-road, its extra height allowing you to see above some hedges that a Giulia Quadrifoglio driver could not. It rolls a touch more than the saloon on which it’s mechanically based, and it doesn’t have the ultimate body control of that car, either. But as a more practical way of driving a Quadrifoglio, the Stelvio has a lot going for it.

Faults? The gearbox isn’t the fastest, the brakes have big power but could do with more of the feel that you get from the Giulia’s pedal, and the fuel consumption claims aren’t anything to write home about. That said, in comfort mode the engine runs on only four of its six cylinders, which dramatically improves real-world economy on a motorway.

Otherwise, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is a thoroughly lovable, much improved, and extremely fast SUV. One of the very best there is this side of £100k, without a doubt.