Long-term test: Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio

In an unusual twist of fate for long-term test cars in my possession, our resplendent green Stelvio was pressed into action as a versatile SUV this month. It’s hardly been suffering the trials of child-ferrying or camping holidays, though. Shifting a bootful of flowers, decorations and some outdoor chairs for a wedding (not mine) is about as hardcore as my practicality needs get. 

And the car did a brilliant job. The Stelvio is something of a middle-ranker in terms of size, so while it’s not quite as commodious as the BMW iX3 we’ve recently welcomed onto the fleet, it was plenty for my requirements. The rear seats fold nearly flat, although this is the first car I’ve come across to feature a lever for the folding mechanism mounted on the seat base by the rear footwell. In any case, I’ve been impressed with how easy it is to switch into van mode, without the Alfa feeling too big or cumbersome in the city.

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio: first report

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Hot SUV joins our fleet as we explore the importance of legacy in a fast-changing car world

• Mileage: 9,450 miles 
• Efficiency: 24.5mpg

You could be forgiven for asking why we are running an ostensibly old Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio as a new fleet car. It’s been on sale for nearly eight years, and while there were some recent updates – such as more power, improved tech, and better headlights – there is a much broader reason for featuring this car: to find out how important legacy is in our new fast-food world of cars. 

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The last three long-term test cars I’ve run have been from ‘new-age’ manufacturers: Tesla, Polestar and most recently BYD. And the experience got me wondering about the part that history plays in choosing a new car. 

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2019 Volkswagen

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94,000 milesManualDiesel2.0L

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2024 BMW

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To answer this we’ve turned to Alfa Romeo, a brand whose story stretches back 115 years (it turns 116 on 24 June). And for a bit of context, China was still ‘Imperial China’ when Alfa was incorporated in Turin.

While the form of this ‘legacy’ car – a high-performance SUV – is on the contemporary side, it’s also the purest Alfa Romeo product in the brand’s current line-up. The chassis, engine, interior, tech interfaces and more, were all designed and developed in-house by a small skunkworks team, even though Alfa is part of a much larger conglomerate.  

The Stelvio might be a relatively old design, but its technical spec is still compelling. It has been developed on a lightweight saloon-car platform with the engine mounted mostly behind the front axle for improved weight distribution. That unit is a 513bhp 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine that’s connected to an eight-speed automatic transmission sending that power to all four wheels, although with an obvious rear-drive bias. 

It’s also a very light car for its type, at 1,830kg. For comparison, a Mercedes-AMG GLC 53 is more than 300kg heavier, and if you consider electric rivals, the Porsche Macan Turbo weighs almost 600kg more. 

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The cabin is often where cars can feel their age, and that is certainly true here. While I love the steering wheel and the paddles behind it, the simplicity of the air-con controls and the drive-mode switch, the main digital interface – which felt a little behind the curve in 2018 – is pretty poor. Its resolution is low, it’s slow to react and the rear camera view looks like someone’s smeared Vaseline on the lens. At least the system includes Apple CarPlay, but it’s only able to be connected via a wire.

A nice contrast to this is the high-res screen behind the wheel that replaces the physical dials. It was introduced in 2024, and although it’s not particularly configurable, its vintage instrument set looks great. You can even set up three extra ‘performance dials’ to re-create the iconic five-dial layout that defined Alfa Romeo cabins for decades. Legacy, it seems, is already seeping its way into the experience. 

This isn’t a cheap car, though. Its basic price is £96,090, and although our car only has three options, it still costs £102,040. But mid-size SUVs in their high-performance form cost that much these days. A Macan Turbo Electric costs from £97,565, for example. There’s another question to consider, too. I live in London and for almost five years, I’ve been almost exclusively driving EVs day-to-day. So is switching back to a petrol car a good idea? 

Will I relish not needing to search out public charging points? Will sitting in traffic in a gas- guzzling high-performance SUV get the guilt-meter twitching? And what role does legacy really play? I’ve got six months to find out.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

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