New Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio review

If you think it's impossible for an SUV to be a true driver's car, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio might change your mind.

You see, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio – aka the Stelvio QV – is a sports SUV based on a well-sorted performance saloon, the Giulia Quadrifoglio (via the regular Alfa Romeo Stelvio family SUV).

That means it benefits from a fire-breathing 512bhp 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6 engine, plus a four-wheel-drive system borrowed from Maserati.

With a 0-62mph time of just 3.8 seconds and an eye-watering 176mph top speed, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio certainly sounds promising – but how does it perform in the real world? That's what we'll tell you in this review.

We'll rate it against the best sports SUVs you can get – including the Audi SQ5 and Porsche Macan. Read on to find out how it stacks up...

It only takes a short stint behind the wheel of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV to realise that it benefits greatly from being based on the Giulia QV.

On fast, flowing B-roads, you’ll be amazed by how well it hides its weight. Plus, the steering manages to be super sharp without making the car feel overly nervous in a straight line.

The Stelvio has four-wheel drive, but retains some of the rear-wheel-drive Giulia’s sense of fun thanks to the mechanical limited-slip rear differential the models share.

The result is that if you give the Stelvio QV a big boot of power out of tight corners, its rear end steps out of line progressively and predictably. Then, as the four-wheel-drive system shuffles power to the front wheels, you get dragged out of the corner at a right old lick.

In short, this is a car that can be as precise or as lairy as you want it to be.

The 2.9-litre V6 petrol engine is another highlight of the experience. It delivers razor-sharp accelerator responses with hardly any lag, despite being heavily turbocharged.

Meanwhile, every upshift of the slick eight-speed automatic gearbox elicits a delicious crackle from the quad exhaust pipes when you’re accelerating hard in Race mode. As its name suggests, Race mode is best left for sessions on a private circuit – it dials the stability control system right back to a level where there’s not much of a safety net.

The suspension is firmer than that of the (much lighter) Giulia QV, and as a result the Stelvio QV is less adept at soaking up bumps. The Audi SQ5 and Porsche Macan feel more supple, although the Stelvio is by no means brutally firm, and deals with potholes and sharp bumps better than the Jaguar F-Pace SVR and Mercedes-AMG GLC 63.

Driving overview

Strengths Brutal power and acceleration; remarkably nimble handling for a substantial SUV

Weaknesses Not the most supple sports SUV over bumps; Race mode is best used away from public roads

Let’s start with what’s good, shall we? The Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV’s interior truly feels like a step up from the regular Stelvio’s.

It exudes class, with a leather-wrapped dashboard, raw carbon-fibre trim and beautifully crafted aluminium gearshift paddles. Meanwhile, the 12.3in digital driver’s display looks crisp and offers a choice of four lay-outs, including one designed for track days called QV.

The optional Carbon Shell sports seats look fantastic, offer loads of support and allow you to sit down low behind the steering wheel and well-positioned pedals. Just, bear in mind that they're expensive, and the only electric adjustment they have is for height.

The standard sports seats, which are heated, are electrically adjustable for seatback angle, seat cushion angle and lumbar support, as well as fore and aft movement. Finding a comfy driving position is easy.

However, the Stelvio QV can’t match the sheer feeling of quality you’ll experience in similarly priced sports SUVs. Nothing feels offensively cheap, but none of the switches operate with the pleasing precision of those found in the Audi SQ5 and Porsche Macan.

Where the Stelvio’s interior does score highly is how easy its controls are to use. It bucks the trend for air-con settings buried in an infotainment menu, instead giving you dedicated dials that are easy to adjust at a glance – or even by feel alone – when you’re driving.

Plus, the infotainment system is among the most intuitive out there. As well as entering commands on the 8.8in touchscreen, you can use a rotary controller between the front seats. The dial is far less distracting than the touchscreen on the move, but the touchscreen makes it quicker to input sat-nav destinations when you’re parked up.

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring are included as standard, and we like the Performance Pages feature, which shows turbo pressure, a track timer, the temperatures of the main mechanical components and other useful information for track days.

It’s just a shame that the display is a bit dim and muddy, and is not as snappy to use as the iDrive system in the M Competition version of the BMW X3.

Interior overview

Strengths Good driving position; controls are well laid out and easy to use; infotainment system has a physical controller

Weaknesses Material quality not quite as good as the best rivals; infotainment graphics are a little dated

As a sports SUV, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV is capable of out-accelerating some supercars, but practicality is also an important consideration too – and here it’s a mixed bag.

Four adults of average height will fit easily enough. Plus, the optional Carbon Shell sports seats are slimmer than the standard items, so free up useful extra rear leg room.

However, the curved roofline eats into rear head room, so six-footers might find they have to slouch in their seats. And that's not even an option for a central rear passenger, because the centre console that runs between the front seats extends back too far.

In terms of in-car storage, all four door pockets are just about wide enough for a small bottle of water, and there are plenty of cubbies in the front for keys, phones and other paraphernalia. As a bonus, one of them includes traditional USB port and the smaller USB-C type.

At 525 litres, the Quadrifoglio's boot trumps the Porsche Macan's but can’t quite match the capacity of a BMW X3 or Mercedes GLC. The load area is a usefully square shape with no internal load lip – it’s just a shame you don't get many hooks for bags or eyelets to hold down loads.

Practicality overview

Strengths Generous interior storage; boot is a good size and shape

Weaknesses Rear head room isn't great; middle rear-seat passenger will struggle for foot space

It’s unrealistic to enter into sports SUV ownership and expect it to be a cheap experience, but nobody wants to simply throw money away either.

Still, it’s worth bearing in mind that the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio costs more to buy outright than the rival BMW X3 M Competition and Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S.

That said, unlike with those rivals – or indeed the Porsche Macan – there’s little need to go crazy on the options list. The Stelvio QV comes with 20in alloy wheels, adaptive dampers, xenon headlights, leather and Alcantara seats, cruise control, sat-nav and Bluetooth as standard.

Remember, you can compare prices using our New Car Deals pages.

The Stelvio QV's official average fuel consumption and CO2 emissions figures (23.9mpg and 267g/km) are competitive among sports SUVs, but this is not a frugal model – or a tax-efficient choice as a company car.

As part a 2024 update to keep it fresh, the Quadrifoglio was treated to a whole host of new safety features.

On top of automatic city braking technology with pedestrian detection (AEB), blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-path detection, and lane-departure warning, it also has lane-keeping assistance, active cruise control (with traffic jam assist), traffic-sign recognition, active blind-spot assist and driver attention assist.

Euro NCAP awarded the standard Alfa Romeo Stelvio a full five-star safety rating in 2017. The rating has now expired, but closer inspection of the scores shows that it outperformed the Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC in the adult occupant protection test, but there were a few issues noted that weakened the child occupant protection it offers.

Alfa Romeo gives you a three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, which is fairly typical in this class. The brand did badly in our 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey, finishing in 31st place out of 32 brands.

Costs overview

Strengths Generous standard equipment list

Against Alfa's poor reliability record

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